Gohabsgo_IHB
New member
I recently participated in a focus group. The target audience were Renters, half of them in AIC units, half in private rentals, about half in Irvine, and the other half around Irvine.
It was very interesting to hear what people thought and why they are renting vs owning a home. We had the typical guy who predicted the decline a few years back, some divorces, some with no cash to buy, some too young with no downpayment. It stricked me that everyone really wanted to own at some point. There was a lot of value seen from the AIC service with all repairs being done quickly and not having to pay handy-mans, but the benefit or joy of owning was the overcoming any shortfall.
It was funny to see that over half the people say they will buy or try to buy this year. Over 2/3 think value will decline next year, but less than 1/4 think it will be down for at least 2 year and I was the only one with the most pessimistic view. People didn't care about losing some money and felt that whatever you buy was priced low and even if you lose 10%, there will be huge appreciation again.
I really liked to be part of this group and I was surprised to see that these people have strong opinion appear to know what they are talking about but have not evidence or fact-based data to base their decision. I'm grateful that I have found this blog and forum over 2 years ago and have since become well educated and realistic about the economics of the real estate market.
It was very interesting to hear what people thought and why they are renting vs owning a home. We had the typical guy who predicted the decline a few years back, some divorces, some with no cash to buy, some too young with no downpayment. It stricked me that everyone really wanted to own at some point. There was a lot of value seen from the AIC service with all repairs being done quickly and not having to pay handy-mans, but the benefit or joy of owning was the overcoming any shortfall.
It was funny to see that over half the people say they will buy or try to buy this year. Over 2/3 think value will decline next year, but less than 1/4 think it will be down for at least 2 year and I was the only one with the most pessimistic view. People didn't care about losing some money and felt that whatever you buy was priced low and even if you lose 10%, there will be huge appreciation again.
I really liked to be part of this group and I was surprised to see that these people have strong opinion appear to know what they are talking about but have not evidence or fact-based data to base their decision. I'm grateful that I have found this blog and forum over 2 years ago and have since become well educated and realistic about the economics of the real estate market.
