I was watching the cable news last night and the headlines are saying that the recession is over. 

It might be over for some, but if you talk to the people of Main Street I think they would say that they are still hurting and if you talk to real estate sellers on Hilton Head Island I think they will agree that the recession is not over – we have an oversupply of real estate inventory and lots of foreclosures that are putting pressure on prices. 

We will continue to keep a close eye on this as we see more and more changes in the real estate and job markets.

Of course nobody knows for sure if we’ve been through the worst yet but there are some interesting statistics that I recently heard.  I was on a webinar the other night where one of the top foreclosure experts was going over some statistics.  She had actually been monitoring sales in the 4 worst markets in the country: California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida.  California sales have been up for 15 months in a row, Nevada’s have been up 14 months in a row, Arizona’s have been up 15 months in a row, and Florida’s have been up 14 months in a row.  These are the four worst real estate markets so it’s good to see even the bad market sales are increasing.  I think that’s an indication that now might be the time to consider to look for that vacation home on Hilton Head.  I don’t want all my clients to be sitting around four years down the road saying they wish they had bought in 2010. 

There are some great deals available.  If you go to our website JamesWedgeworth.com we have a foreclosure section where you can see some of the best deals. 

Also, if you’re interested in a foreclosure property please type your interest in and we’ll call you.  Some of the best deals are sold even before they are on the market.

Jane and I were in the mountains recently and we drove by a building supply office and it said “recession hours – 7:30 – noon”.  We thought that was unusual. 

I think the lumber company was saying that they did not have enough business to stay open all day. 

The lumber business is a lot different than the real estate business; our recession hours are longer.  I am working more than I have in my 28 years of selling real estate on Hilton Head Island.  These are my “recession hours”.  We are working harder to try and make deals. 

I am sure that there are some Realtors who have “recession hours” where they are working less because they have the attitude – why work – nothing is selling.  You can be assured that this is not what is happening in our office.

Most everyone would agree that there the one thing wrong with our economy is real estate.  Real estate has a snowball effect on the rest of the economy; when property values decrease people default on their loans, banks have big losses, the real estate market slows down, builders, remodelers, home inspectors, appraisers, real estate attorneys and Realtors go out of business.  More homes go into foreclosure because of all of this.

If you fix real estate, I truly believe that it will help get the economy back on its feet.

The cash for clunkers was very successful because it got people in the showroom and it got cars sold. 

If you gave a tax credit of $15,000 to anyone who buys a home – whether it is a first home, second home, beach home, lake home or mountain home, I believe the real estate market would get a great boost.  There was the bill passed for first time home buyers which helped the low end of the market.  Unfortunately, the whole market is sick – not just the low end.

I believe everyone would benefit if you could stimulate the real estate market. 

I encourage all my friends and clients to write their Congressman.  I truly believe if you can solve the housing market you can solve the other problems connected with it and we will be on the road to recovery.  We did not get here overnight and we are not going to get out of it overnight.

Someone asked me how I have been able to sell $40 million worth of real estate this year.  I jokingly said, “I am not participating in the recession”.

Everybody knows that the recession has affected all of our business; at this same time last year I had sold more than I have at this point. 

I received a call from a client yesterday and asked how his business was.  He said that he had his best year ever.  I asked how he did that.  He said he canceled all of his subscriptions to newspapers because when he read them all he read was bad news.

As someone once said, “If if wasn’t for bad luck, I would not have any luck at all”.

I picked up The Island Packet several days ago and on the front page the headlines read, “Deficit to top $1.5 trillion”, “Former Clerk Smith pleads not guilty to embezzlement charges” and “SAT scores decline at three area schools”.  This news was really depressing. 

I have always believed in the contrariety opinion – buy when nobody is buying and sell when nobody is selling.  If this is true – now is a great time to buy.  There are some unbelievable real estate deals available because most clients watch the mainstream news, they read the paper and hear all the doom and gloom. 

As I have said over and over again, we still have 12 miles of beautiful sandy beaches on Hilton Head and I do not think that is going to change.