130 properties sold in Charlton during the last calendar year. Do you know how that compares to the year prior? Does anyone really care? We should all care of course; because the value of our property in the here and now is tied to it to a great extent. The truth of the matter is; the numbers only differ from the year prior by 5 total properties. Why is there such a prevailing assumption that Real Estate is not doing so well and may not be such a good investment right now? Why is it that it can be said that almost universally everyone we talk to thinks that Real Estate is an investment vehicle to avoid at the moment? The answer lies in the negative spin that so many media sources have focused on. Couple that idea with the overwhelming number of media outlets in todays internet age and you can get some idea of the magnitude of the reporting problem. Never in history has there been so much information available to us with such relative ease. As always has been the case; much of what we read is not factual; or at the very least not complete. The reality is that houses that are priced correctly do eventually sell even if they do sometimes take a little longer to do so. Have prices for houses come down? They have fallen as an average in most markets. There are some markets where the average price has risen however. Do you know what is happening in YOUR neighborhood? Do houses take longer to sell in most of todays market than they did in the period of two to three years ago? They absolutely do. Remember though that when you make a comparison to the period of two to three years ago you are comparing to a period that saw unprecedented gains in value or appreciation take place. As has proven true with every period in history, real estate and home ownership continues to be an investment that will rise over time to bring to the most people the highest rate of return for any investment they will ever make. I would love to talk about you more about this in future articles. Or; better yet; give me a call or drop me an Email. I would love to hear what you think.