In the crazy days of the real estate bubble it became all about the retail value of real estate: quick turn sound bites… “grab it while you can”, “it’s got no place to go but up,” and less about the individuals. No doubt, real estate has a retail value but the real value of real estate is the quality of life.

The Real Value  

Where do you want to live; where do you want your children to grow up; are you happy when you drive up to the house after a long day’s work?

Those values should be the ones we should never forget, and yet it happens every time there is a Seller’s Market. Buyers get in a frenzy and purchase just about anything and they expect prices to go up.

People forget that we had another bubble that burst in the early 1990’s. By the mid 1990’s many believed that owners had lost about 20% of their value.  This was if they had purchased in the late 1980’s and were now selling their home.  By the late 90’s they were either breaking even or actually making money on their home investment. All the while, they were enjoying the quality of life generated by their homes – retail value aside.

The Bubble and Expectations

I doubt that concentrating on Quality of Life issues would have stopped the latest bubble. However, it would have set the right expectations that the year to year change in retail value is less important than living in and enjoying their homes.

So let’s learn this truth for the last time.  Single family housing and a real estate purchase should be about the Quality of Life and not necessarily about the retail value during any given time or any current market.