The famous investor Warren Buffet (Berkshire Hathaway) once said:
Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.
Warren Buffet
Potential homebuyers today in 2022 (maybe that’s you) are scared! They’re afraid of a market correction, crash, or worse – a depression. They see interest rates rising, homes staying on the market for longer, sellers lowering their asking prices in many markets, and media outlets calling for “Recession! Recession! Recession!”. As a result they are “sitting this one out”; waiting for yesterdays prices to return so they can jump back in, or (even worse) they are out of the market altogether due to all of this turbulence.
But haven’t we seen this kind of talk before in America? Haven’t we been through things like this already? Didn’t anxiety producing times come around for our parents, and their parents, and their parents? And isn’t it also true that there were people, in all of those times, who made good choices and were able to wind up in a solid spot with solid footing (so to speak)? The main question I’m asking now is, “Can you do this?” In other words, can you still buy even when you are afraid?
My Personal Challenge
This may sound counterintuitive but why not, instead, do what The Oracle of Omaha (aka – Warren Buffet) would recommend and “be greedy when others are fearful”? Another way of putting this is, “face the fear and do it anyways.” If you have sound advisors in your corner (one of them being a solid loan officer and another being a great realtor who knows your market) and you’ve done your homework, ran your numbers, and made your plan, in all likelihood why not feel justified in believing you are going to wind up just fine? My father always said, “Study the pros and you can be a pro”. So I ask myself, why not take this advice to home buying or refinancing?
Historically, real estate in the US has gone up, up, up (the overwhelming majority of the time), and since letting my money sit in a bank account shrinks it’s value (due to inflation) why not do the work to get pre-approved, do the work to sift through house listings (a little each day), and then pull the trigger when the right deal comes along? In other words, why not do what the pros do? I mean, don’t we all do this with other stuff in life already (like shopping for used cars)?
So I’m curious now, about myself. I ask, “Can you do this? Can you act a little bit like Warren and tune out the negative noise? Can you get the right information, take the daily steps, do what the pros would do, and eventually reach the top of your own personal Mt. Everest?”. My challenge to myself (and perhaps to you) is that I’m going to make that commitment to try. I don’t know about you but I’m going to do my best to not make that same mistake that so many have made before me, choosing to “just wait” while others go find good deals. I’m going to take Warrens advice, do the work, talk to my lender, have a long term vision, and put one foot in front of the other until I get to the top of that mountain (instead of waiting in the parking lot like I have done in the past). As long as my numbers are sound and I am buying at the right price for today’s market, I’m going to give it a go.
I hope you do too.
