THE NEW
GOLD RUSH
HUFFINGTON
07.21.13
“I don’t like the competition. I want to be
in a housing market where they appreciate
me and my lowball cash offers.”
ing with the devastating results
of prices going up too rapidly and
reaching levels that were too high,
some now worry that the same
sort of mindset that produced the
last bubble is taking hold anew.
The speculation speaks to renewed interest in housing as an
investment opportunity — a story
that has a history of ending in irrational exuberance.
Bettina Franco is a Phoenix realtor with 28 years of experience.
It is “unbelievable,” she said, that
despite millions of recent foreclosures, realtors can’t find inventory. Recent bidding wars have her
worried that the region is poised
to “repeat the cycle again.”
The Federal Reserve’s efforts to
keep mortgage rates down has resulted in historically low interest
rates. That has increased buyers’
purchasing power, allowing people to offer more than they could
otherwise afford if rates were
more typical.
Indeed, by some measures,
Phoenix buyers are already paying
higher prices than they would in a
normal market.
Historically, the purchase price
of an American home equates
to an a