Gina Branch

As we start into 2011, we need to be prepared for the media frenzy that’s going to happen as the sales figures are released. The market will be “crashing” and new worries will spread throughout not only the housing market, but the economy in general.

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How can I make such a bold prediction? 

2010 was not a normal year. We had all the buying activity crammed into the spring driven by the Federal Tax Credits.  For those of us on the inside, we know it was crazy. I sold every property I had listed under $200k.  Come July, the market tanked. I called it, “Cash for Clunkers Comes to the Housing Market.”

So regardless of what this spring’s sales look like, it’s going to be far less than the same period in 2010. The “experts” will come to the wrong conclusions and the unsuspecting media will run with it.

That’s the bad news…there is good news though…

The second half of 2011 should be far better than the second half of 2010, the “experts” will come to the wrong conclusion, and the media will run with it. It’s going to be impossible to normalize the 2010 data so we have to accept 2010 for what it was…an anomaly brought on by the Federal Home Buyers Credits.

Based on a Presentation by Kelly Milligan, Chicago Title