Returning

So, it has been nearly one-year to the day since I last posted. And, what a year it has been! Since my last post "Housing Hooplah", many people have experienced first hand how over exuberance can hurt. And, hurt bad it has. Examples range from the woman who can't retire because she can't sell her house to a real estate client of mine who went bankrupt (sometimes, it's too little, too late). I won't delve into the plethora of statistics describing the overall credit crunch or housing market crash. There has been enough out there. For an idea see this HousingPANIC.

The interesting thing is that many people want to blame others for the situation. While lenders, developers, real estate agents, etc. are partly to blame I can't help to ask "haven't you learned your lesson yet?" Of course, there will always be people who blame the president. Politics aside, I am a firm believer that our actions are imbedded in pyschological tendencies we all have. Sure, everyone says that our main motivators are greed and fear (which we see all the time), but it is much deeper than that. There is a deep-seeded money psychology that allows people to follow the herd, make irrational and oftentimes uneducated decisions, and fail to follow time-tested financial techniques. A sign of unhealthy financial standards is then to BLAME others for what ultimately was one's personal choice and decision. It's about time we reevaluate the psychology behind our actions and take personal responsibility for OUR decisions rather than blace blame, wait for a government bailout, and wonder if we learned our lessons. Do you play the victim or are you educating and learning by these challenging times? Markets of all kinds ebb and flow, markets correct to a more natural equalibrium, and fads come and go. How do you choose to react?