Opportunities abound if you look for the silver lining in real estate

No, the housing market isn’t likely to bounce back to it’s highs of 2006-2007 anytime soon. Zillow’s chief economist is saying the residential housing market will likely hit bottom around October 1st and Fannie Mae’s economic forecast is the same. Foreclosures are still alarmingly high and won’t start to normalize until 2011. Credit is still wicked tight (as they say on Cape Cod) and a mortgage loan approval will now take months instead of hours, assuming that is, you have the 20-percent down payment required.  I think we can also appreciate that this economic recovery is fragile. So there are plenty of reasons to see the glass as half empty because it is. But I like to look for the silver lining whenever possible and in the case of residential real estate, I see some bright spots. First off, in my lifetime, I have never experienced mortgage interest rates at these low levels – under 5%. . In fact, most of us have never experienced such vast buying opportunities in our lifetimes. I have never seen as many houses on the market looking for buyers. It truly is a “shopportunity” for those who are financially well-positioned to become homeowners for the very first time so millions of people who were edged out of the housing market during the boom can finally afford to own. Investors can grab some smokin’ deals as long as they are willing to be patient and wait a few years for sellers to return. On MoneyTrack this season, we met three really very creative and upbeat people who for completely different reasons, decided that when it comes to real estate, the glass is truly half full!  Each of them came from a different part of the country and each was determined to stop agonizing and complaining about what they could not do in this economy and instead, have taken matters into their own hands and daring to put their cash to work in one of the nation’s worst housing markets. Check out this story and keep this thought in mind:  when life gives you lemons – just add vodka!  Cheers!