BiggerPockets

I'm not and most (if not all) of our friends (and relatives) aren't. Perhaps this is because of where I live (Northern Virginia). How about the rest of you?

My JOB has come to a stand still over the last couple of months after a record breaking first 3 quarters. But, my wife were noticing last night the standing room only waiting line to get into the restruant last night @ 7 PM. I am a little confused by my observations. It seems the Christmas shoppers are off a little this year.
Don

If you have significant money in the stock market you are most likely feeling it. And the stock market is almost always a leading economic indicator! With that said I am optimistic real estate in general is going to bounce along a bottom here and ultimately turn up sooner than later.

Ah, the stock market. I gave up on that after the dot com implosion (although I have $$ there, I have no great expectations). I'm more interested in lay-offs, evictions, etc. I haven't had any evictions or occupancy problems. Other than late 2008, when there was alot of concern among people I know, the Great Depression is below the radar.

With the right information and strategy you can make money in the market too. Its just like REI, you just need to know your stuff and have a solid strategy.

Sounds like our President's economic policies are working for most of you guys then! Good to hear.

I'm down here in Florida for vacation and I saw no less than 10 empty stores in the local mall. I couldn't believe it given it's located in a good sized town.

Back home in southern Maine the economy isn't that bad, but I did notice while doing some shopping how some of the clerks were discussing how slow things had been.

Overall, I do think things are better/getting better, but considering where we were, I also think a lot of areas of the country have a loooong ways to go before things can be called good.

I can definitely say that in my area of New England we are far better off than this area of Florida where I'm staying.

"I'm more interested in lay-offs, evictions, etc. I haven't had any evictions or occupancy problems"

Cheryl I would suspect this is for a few reasons.

Washington D.C. is a anomaly with unemployment a little over 1 percent last time I heard.So with all the government bloat and red tape,and programs that aren't working there is money to be made working close to the Capitol.

We are a a spending economy so it stands to reason in Washington with employment so low and people having jobs they will spend.This will lead to stability and less evictions and lay offs and more jobs.

They are feeding the machine up there but with a high cost to everyone else in the future.Anything will work for a time before imploding. The things that make sense will last long term and that is the difference.

Most of the rest of the United States except for a few hot spots is in the crapper still in recovery mode and will be for years.The real rate of unemployment is still in the high teens when you factor in all the data.

Some of my tenants have had to pick up a second job and get charities to help them out to pay the full rent.Some jobs out there but hundreds applying for a few positions.We are recovering but it is a slow,long,grind.

So I think Washington is a bubble and is not relative to the United States as a whole.

I live in Southern California. What the Bush policies injured, the Obama policies are finishing off. I talk to HR managers, they post a $40K a year job and get 400-500 applications. I drive past MILLIONS of square feet of Commercial, Retail, Industrial and Office space that is EMPTY. I also drive past unfinished home tract after unfinished home tract. Many of the roads here are in such dis-repair that you have to watch carefully to avoid all the potholes. The current winds are causing many power outages because the cities/counties cannot afford to trim back the trees that have grown into the power lines.

Personally, I am fine with my rentals. But just looking around, you can see that the recession is heading towards a depression. I am so glad I sold my only commercial property a couple of years ago, because it has gone down another $200,000 to $300,000 in value since I sold it.

Whoever said that the Obama policies are working is wearing rose colored glasses. $15T+ in National Debt! It was only at $10T when W Bush left office!