NAR Economist speaks at Keystone

On Wednesday Dr. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors spoke to the Summit County Realtor Association. Not a rosy picture, but on the purple side rather than the blue (that's the art quilter in me).

In general Colorado and Summit County are going to do fine in the long run. The second home market will recover, but slowly because the baby boomers still want resort property, but because of their primary house value loss they will be waiting.

The real estate boom, bubble and burst were primarily in four states, California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, the rest of the country had gentle appreciation and not as drastic downturn. Of course the press only writes about the extremes.

One thing he said which I'm a strong believer in, is about waiting. He said a lot of buyers aren't buying because they are thinking in a year the prices may be down 10%. That maybe true, but when people buy because they are looking for a good place to live they have no regrets. I've always felt time at the home with family and friends can be priceless.

The Summit Daily News had an article about the presentation, here's a link. There is one big mistake - in the third paragraph, Dr. Yun said volume could climb 10 to 20%, not prices.