What's the Best Source of Real Estate News?

This is not a trick question, but it is an important one.

What’s your source of real estate news and information? Is it the newspaper? The television? Do you read internet articles? Is the beauty salon or golf course your best source?

Let’s see why (in my self serving, but I think honest opinion) staying put right here is your best bet….and why.

Good Real Estate information comes from Good Real Estate Professionals

While it’s true that CNN and the local Real Estate editor for your newspaper may be smart and informed, they are like well informed sports fans.  They have statistics, videos, and even experience with the stuff felt to be newsworthy on any particular day.  What they do not have, however, is volumes of real experience, anecdotal evidence from other full-time Realtors, and a staff that works day to day in the industry.

But don’t take my word for it.  What do you think is happening in the mortgage industry that will potentially shake the tree so much that fruit will no longer grow from it? Well, Brian Brady, a good friend and frightfully wonderful and knowledgeable lender wrote recently about the state of the mortgage industry. If you didn’t happen to read him, well that’s because he wrote on a really good, really focused, really intuitive real estate blog that you probably never heard of if you’re a consumer. And if you work for CNN, or the Daily Transcript, or the San Diego Union, or produce the local news, then no matter how much you think you understand local real estate, the really good stuff is out there waiting for you to pick up and give to your readers or listeners.

Just so you know that I’m never going to be wrong about this, each week I’ll select a few articles from really good real estate professionals that I’ll refer to. You’ll see quickly that the best source for local news, comes from a local real estate professional, who knows the market, feels the pulse of the industry, and wants to make home buyers and homeowners the best real estate consumers they can be.

Solving the Real Estate Puzzle

There’s a saying in Real Estate.  No, I don’t mean “location, location, location.”  The saying I’m referring to is that “all real estate is local.”

San Diego Home Valuation by Area

San Diego Home Values by Area

This is good news if you’re living in North County San Diego, the area where I live and practice.  Home values above indicate that North County on the left is appreciating consistently, outdistancing San Diego  County and Downtown San Diego on the right.  The rise in prices for North County San Diego was in fact a 20.31% increase from February of 2009 to February of 2010.

Will North County Prices Continue to Rise?

Let's Check Our Crystal Ball

Okay, just kidding.  Crystal balls aside, whether home values will continue to increase, and at what rate, will honestly depend on a significant number of variables, all of which we’ll talk about in the upcoming month.  Keep reading.  The unfolding of the real estate crystal ball awaits.