We are back. A lot has changed in the last five months.
The real estate boom is over for now. All of the “For Sale” signs are staying up and many have had “price reduced” added. The inflow of people with cash from selling their city house has dropped to a trickle
Admitting that moderation of the market was necessary, the opinion of almost everyone in the business is that the hard landing is due to the self-fulfilling prophecies that the media has been selling for years. The image of an impending housing bubble collapse finally became burned into every potential buyer’s mind.
However, there is still enthusiasm for the future. The experienced agents have seen these cycles many times in the past. Being close to the Washington DC has conditioned everyone to expect never-ending growth.
The lawn care business was hit with a double whammy this summer-high gasoline prices and the August drought. Although the drought is over, the grass is really growing in the cool weather, and gas prices are falling, the summer is now over. A winter with lots of snow removal requirements would be helpful.
The summer cost of gasoline has been bad for everyone. The real cost is being borne by workers who need heavy trucks to carry their tools to their work sites-which are never close to home. This was made worse by the knowledge that the pumped up costs were going to companies who are splitting the profits into channels that end up funding many of our enemies.
As for all that “oil is a free market” talk. Notice where the prices have dropped most drastically? The mid-west.- the only area where there is the wide availability of a competing fuel-ethanol.
Lots more to discuss in the next post
No comments:
Post a Comment