Don't allow fear to influence your real estate decisions | THE SALT LAKE CITY UTAH REAL ESTATE BLOG

Don’t let fear dictate your real estate goals

A common theme I am seeing lately among property sellers and especially buyers, in the middle of a struggling housing market, is a fear to act. Many people are reading the daily news, seeing that many experts are predicting a recession, and allowing that to interfere with their life plans. I believe this is a mistake.

I’m not the guy who’s going to pretend that things aren’t rough out there. We may enter a recession - I don’t really know. What I do know is that people need to live their lives, regardless of what the economy is or isn’t doing. That goes for real estate as well. If you need to get into a home, do it. Many people will tell you to put your plans on hold because they think the market hasn’t reached bottom yet. They might tell you to worry that if you get into a home, you will lose money in depreciation. It could happen, but they don’t know any better than you do.

Lots of people I talk to just need to get into a home because their family is growing, they want something new, they want to live in a more desirable area, etc. Chances are that these people will stay in their homes for a while and they’ll be able to weather market fluctuations. If they wanted to buy a home because of promised appreciation, then that’s where they should think twice, because that’s not the reality of our market today. So you just need to think about which boat you are in. Do you need a house because you need a house? Or do you need a house because you have heard that real estate always goes up?

Whatever you do, just don’t change your life’s plans because of fear. We all have to be smart in the decisions we make, but choosing to take a different course because of being smart is a whole different thing than fear causing paralysis.