Not everyone down on real estate
Most economists agree: 2008 is going to be another tough year for residential real estate.
However, forecasting the real estate market is far from an exact science. And while I happen to agree with the vast majority of folks who are predicting another rough year, not everyone sees gloom and doom in 2008.
There’s Clark Toole, for instance.
Toole is president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate’s Sarasota, Fla.-based Florida operations. In an interview with the Herald-Tribune newspaper in Southwest Florida, Toole says he expects residential real estate to make a gradual recovery in 2008 in the state.
You can read the interview here.
It is refreshing to hear the opinion from someone who deals in the business of buying and selling real estate across Florida, not just in a local market and not a vulture capitalist. Obviously Mr. Toole has an agenda, but the basic fundamentals that he refers to in the piece cannot be denied. 300 days of sunshine, growing population and an economy that is performing as well as any in the country. Real estate is still a good long-term investment regardless of the overwhelming negative tenor of most news coverage.