It’s getting harder and harder to watch the news, don’t you think? The talking heads have got to have a drum to beat on, and they hit it hard and often. Remember OJ, Lacy Peterson, Iraq? The media killed us with that stuff, until it was time to move on to the crisis du-jour.
Today’s crisis is hitting us all where it hurts though. Our 401K’s are now 201K’s. (I didn’t make that up, so kudos to whoever did). Our home’s are worth a whole lot less than they were. No doubt, it’s dog-gone tough out there. I’m an eternal optimist. I think what goes down, is soon to come up. This is just a cycle, not the first, not the last. But a bad one, and one that’s sure to get worse in the near term. I feel the pain. My house is for sale. I don’t know when I’m gonna get paid again. I sell homes, and as it turns out, homes aren’t easy to sell today. But here’s the good I see from this:
Homes are way more affordable than than they were 3 or even 5 years ago. That doesn’t help much if you bought in the middle, and I’m right there with you. But it does help if you’re a young buyer with hopes and dreams and aspirations. At least in Truckee, if you weren’t staring down the barrel of a nice inheritance, you weren’t gonna get in as a “first-time” buyer 3 years ago. That’s changed. Then, there’s been the little reality check, that maybe our home’s weren’t meant to be an ATM card. My home equity has kept my family afloat thank God, but it was never meant to be a go to source for ski boats, or luxury vacations or whatever. Then there’s just the general purpose re-tooling of family. Financial hardships can be tough on the family, or marriage. But, they can also draw us closer, forcing us to focus on what’s really important. That’s what’s happened in my home. We’re not sure where the Good Lord is gonna take us, but we’re gonna keep on keeping on, knowing that in the end, this is going to work out.
We could lose everything from a material sense, sure. Can’t take my soul, won’t squash my spirit, can’t keep my dog from thinking that I’m the best friend ever…
We’re gonna get through this!
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