How to Ride Out Market Cycles

Posted on | January 28, 2009 | No Comments

How to Ride Out Market Cycles
by Matt Clark, Cincinnati Realtor
Cincinnati Real Estate

It is apparent that times are tough right now as we enter into 2009. For the Cincinnati Real Estate market, the outlook is no different. Luckily, Cincinnati real estate did not see huge price appreciation at that start of the decade as some cities did. Cincinnati real estate values may have tripped and fallen, but they did not jump off the roof!

“How to Ride Out Market Cycles” is the title of an article I found today in a newsletter from my stock broker, but it draws many parallels to the Cincinnati real estate market. The bullets of the article are:

Don’t panic
Don’t try to time the market
Review your portfolio
Stay diversified

Don’t panic. Real estate values increase from a long term perspective. You probably shouldn’t buy now if you plan to sell in a year, but as a long term investment, it doesn’t get much better than a tangible asset like real estate!

Don’t try to time the market. You can’t; it’s that simple. Waiting for the bottom? You won’t see the bottom of the Cincinnati real estate market until it’s on the way back up. Buy for your own reasons. Buy when you find a home you love, buy when rates are good, buy when you see a good investment, or buy when you want to stop throwing money away on rent. When you sell at the top, you’ll buy at the top. When you sell at the bottom, you’ll buy your next home at the bottom.

Review your portfolio. Only own one home? That is still quite an investment portfolio. If you are planning to sell soon, talk to your Realtor and make sure your home has the qualities that today’s buyer is looking for. Often you can do a few very simple and inexpensive improvements and reap major rewards. Do not over improve your home for the neighborhood you live in. This is much easier to do than you think! To get maximum value for your home, it must “fit in” with other homes in your neighborhood.

Stay diversified. Don’t put all your money in stocks, and don’t sink all your money into the real estate market. Investing in multiple different areas will make sure that when you need to sell an asset you can sell one that is towards the top of it’s potential.

Many of us know spend a lot of time managing our stock portfolio but we don’t put the same amount of thought into our real estate assets. When times are tough we roll up our sleeves and work a little harder. Hard work, like real estate, is a long term investment that pays dividends for a long long time!

Category: cincinnati real estate market

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