Are we in a Bubble??

[Justin Thiesse]

I have been investing in real estate for over 20 years now. I have seen good times and bad. Lately it seems like everybody wants a piece of the pie. ( things are Great) I keep wondering what will cause this bubble to fail this time. Some thoughts are; 1. Building prices keep going up, maybe tariffs will help this continue and labor is getting higher. 2. Most loans have are stable with money down and good credit 3. HIgher Interest Rates would slow things down I Guess I am look for Opinions on the future of Real Estate

[Hattie Dizmond]

I think it completely depends on what market you're talking about.  There are natural features that drive bubbles in areas like CA and FL.  Think about it.  In CA, you have the ocean on one side and the mountains/desert on the other.  Desirable areas for development are limited to a relatively narrow strip down the coastline.  In FL you're squeezed by oceans and swamps/everglades.  Other areas, like the NE are simply space constrained due to the heavy population.  Now, here in Texas, we don't really suffer from bubbles.  In 2008, when the bottom fell out of RE, DFW didn't crash.  In fact, we didn't even real a real retreat of prices &/or values.  The only impact was a stagnation of appreciation for several years, mostly owing to the fact that lenders locked everything down so much, people couldn't buy properties.  It wouldn't surprise me to see a correction, possibly major, in some of the overheated markets.  CoreLogic is indicating CA could be correcting as we speak.  I've seen a slight weakening in the DFW market, over the last 3 to 6 months, but we are still well below a balanced market, with desirable areas still having an inventory of well under 6 months.  Bottom line, bubbles don't cover the entire country at one time.  Hopefully, a correction in some of the major markets will scare some of the investors out for a while and open things up for the rest of us.