A very wealthy man asked me if there is anything good about the real estate market right now – he owns and operates over 2000 restaurants, so he has a wise perspective. I told him that the good news is that CASH is helping to stabilize the market for properties priced under $200,000, and particularly under $100,000. The “funny money” that fueled the real estate speculation bubble from 1999-2007 is gone and real cash collateral is the NEW basis for the value of real properties. I wrote about this house that I sold back in 2000 for $39,000 in Lakewood in a post written earlier this year, and included a video of the nasty recent condition of the property – when Lakewood values fall by 75%, the “butterfly effect” that I discussed, is evident. The good news is that cash buyers are stabilizing our lowest priced submarkets with cold, hard cash and that’s a great thing. I wrote about the relentless, gravitational pull of foreclosures in this article in May, and … [Read more...]