Those of you that know me know that I am fond of expounding way beyond the limits of my knowledge and often speak of the "Dead Cat Bounce". I first heard this term some years back; it is used to describe a stock market rebound that has no legs, fools everyone into thinking good times are back, and then it tumbles again. The analogy is that even a dead cat will bounce once if you drop it, but it is still dead and falls back to the ground. You have to admit it is a heck of a good analogy.
So, why do I bring that up? Some of you may have noticed the rebound in our residential housing market and, to a lesser degree, in some areas of the States. Aahh good times are here again. NOW if you don’t know me, you need to know I don’t like to make predictions. I have made enough predictions to learn just how bad I am at making predictions. BUT, I do like to discuss the issues and let you make up your own minds.
I do have a lot of concern that this is a dead cat bounce and the worst is not over yet. So how does one go about doing business in such an uncertain environment? I have a few suggestions.
First, a note about strategy. Because there are so many huge international issues affecting our markets these days, one must be careful. If things do end up okay, and they eventually will, we will lose if we don’t invest. If things go poorly for a time, we will lose if we do. So, I would put forward that a good strategy would be to invest in steps. In otherwords, do a little investing now. If things turn out okay, great-you made some money, buy a little more; if they don’t, great-more bargains, buy a little more. But don’t over-leverage, be very careful how much you leverage. Leverage is nice on the way up, it really sucks on the way down.

What if you are selling now? Of course, try not to sell if you don’t need to, BUT don’t wait until you have to. If things are heading in a bad direction for you, and will get ugly if you get there, sell now. Many of you who sell now will be taking a loss - your worst enemy is trying to avoid that loss. Forget it, that money is gone, trying to get it back by asking an unrealistic price will make things worse. The biggest problem for real estate agents in a market like this is that we get accused of trying to give away our clients’ properties to make a quick buck. If you have a good agent s/he is trying to save you money, take their advice. Too many sellers chase a falling market, always reducing their price a little too little, a little too late and they are always behind the price, eventually selling for much less than they could have.