Letter from the President - Bob
Weiss
March 1, 2010
The year 2009 is now well behind us, and we can look
back at the results.
We in the industry always remain optimistic,
regardless of current
conditions, and I saw that optimism from many agents
throughout last year,
and we at Yavapai remained encouraging to all of you.
The results didn’t
match our enthusiasm, as we found that, for the entire
county, deeds
recorded by title companies during the year decreased
by 4.5% from the year
2008. We were a little surprised, perhaps because we
all believed so fully in
our optimistic view of the market. The first two
months of 2010 have not
been promising in terms of numbers of new escrow
transactions either, so
we must ask the obvious question: “what is the
prognosis for real estate in
Yavapai County for the year 2010”?
After a lot of reading and research, I have come to a
conclusion that I
humbly submit to you: First, the good news. After some
40+ months of
decline, not only in numbers of transactions, but in
average sales price, we
seem to have reached a point where those decreases
have slowed to a
veritable trickle, if not stopped altogether.
Secondly, the stall that we remain
in is a direct result of uncertainty in the overall
economy. That uncertainty, I
believe, follows attempts by Washington to “help” the economy, with an
obvious lack of positive result, and by “gridlock” in
congress over several
issues, particularly the bill involving 16%+ of our
economy. That
uncertainty causes businessmen and entrepreneurs to
put their future on hold
for fear of the unknown, and individuals to stop
buying.
Real estate is a vital part of our economy, and is one
of the major factors that
will lead us out of this recession, along with
consumer spending and the
automobile industry, among others. I have great faith
in this country, in it’s
remarkably resilient people and way of life, as well
as what is considered to
be, arguably, the most vibrant economy ever known. We
will survive this
recession, and eventually recover. Exactly when we
recover could be
helped greatly by Washington coming to it’s collective senses, stopping the
overspending and dithering and let the free market do
what it does best -
produce products, provide services, put people back to
work and create
wealth. If Washington doesn’t see that and act on it, the recovery may take
longer, but will still happen despite, not because, of
them.
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