….I was chatting with an investor down in Florida last week, and he commented to me “There are no more properties in Florida. I’m having a helluva time finding anything that works down here…”

No more properties? Florida?

Yep, you heard that right, the big investor has moved in, hoovering up the detritus of the American Real Estate dream, bundling it, monetizing it, and selling off securitized pieces of it (Got offered one last week)
That has got to be the sign of the coming apocalypse….. Either that, or validation of the phrase “Those who do not learn from the past are bound to repeat it.”

In case you didn’t get the memo, the Real Estate roll up speculator play is now over. In Hood River Real Estate, that is nearly, especially so. It was a narrow window. It’s still going on to some degree, but I can sense that things have changed when the quality of what rents for $1,200 begins to plummet, which is the same thing as saying the prices are firming up at the low end…..

But not exactly.

Still, it’s not a recovery, it’s just a tiny anomaly in rental demand writ large in our market.

This is still, at it’s core right now, a game of confidence. (not a confidence game) It can change, and it wont take much to scare the pants off of everyone and put this whole market in the deep freeze, again. (Losing 2B = Bear Stearns?, or Greece, for example, where I read this week the awesome description of the Greek elections as “stunningly inconclusive” I just LOVE that)

It’s not like we are waiting for the other shoe to drop….it’s like we are waiting for….the economy to get HEALTHIER, and we hope that there are no more shocks while the patient is weak. The patient is alive and conscious, but can’t really get off the table yet.

Copperwest has been doing well in this market. Long lead times, lots of research, committed brokers. I’ve actually decided to hire some extra help, which is saying something for me…..It’s about time I let Judy Dutcher have a life again! :)

Outlook for this Summer? Still positive, and looking forward to an influx of people looking for something a bit higher up the price line, where the good deals still are. Low interest rates, just make that stuff that much more affordable…..

There is no other shoe, there is no other shoe….say it with me… :)