Written By Charles Sells
Of course, I am referring to FORECLOSURES. I often watch the nightly news and see these glowing forecasts of our market recovery, only to see a contradictory report on the same media outlet 3 days later. One of the questions most often asked of me is, “Do you think we have hit rock bottom and is now the time to jump into the market”? Unfortunately, I think politics plays a large role as to how I respond to this.
It is to the advantage of your politicians to show slowed foreclosure forecasts. As we continue to see corruption in the political arena climbing, what better way to shine than show foreclosures are down in your town. Consider the upcoming decision of one tax commissioner in Georgia. It is pretty obvious that if bank foreclosures are breaking records, tax foreclosures probably are too. With school, law enforcement and other local budgets getting massive cut backs due to lost revenues, the financial necessity is clearly to collect from taxpayers by all means necessary-right? WRONG! The pressure was on and the media was having a field day with the commissioner and the rise of tax foreclosures under his “watch”. Not much he could do about it. The economy was crumbling all around him. What was his solution to ease the pressure? Cut the properties offered for sale at auction by 70% each month. Thus, cut the revenues and thereby, the budgets for things like education and law enforcement by equal amounts. We see this practice of providing a false sense of recovery everywhere. This mentality of “ignoring the light bill” to get re-elected, or force fake recovery is destroying local economies everywhere. So, to answer that question often asked of me, the answer is; YES, it is a great time to invest depending on WHERE you are doing it and WHAT your politicians are up to TODAY. A great market today, but be a busted one tomorrow. Knowing the differences will determine your success, or failure.