I was in the living room when I heard my dog Teddy whining. He believes his job is to sit on my lap as soon as I sit down, and for as long as I am seated.  It is a  job he takes seriously and usually comes running when he hears the recliner open no matter where he is in the house. I went to investigate and found him pacing beside the couch in the sunroom. He's 12 and his vision and depth perception aren't what they used to be so this slightly higher couch sometimes gives him trouble.  The thing is, he has never whined to jump onto an empty couch.  I always assumed that his pleas had to do with a desire to get on the couch to be with ME. Seeing him pacing to gain access to an empty couch was like a dagger to my heart.  I tried to reason with him and told him he should sit with me in the living room.  I used that voice we save for our pets, the ridiculous one 3 octaves higher than normal that includes nonsense words like “schmoopy”.  It must have been quite the sight.  My words fell on deaf ears.  He made it clear he didn't want to sit with me.  Admitting defeat, I scooped him up and put him on the couch.  He curled up in the corner and closed his eyes like I didn't exist.   I know he didn't intentionally break my heart, but that’s how I felt as I returned to the living room, dogless. 

There are a lot of people on the sidelines who, like Teddy, are waiting for the right time to jump into the real estate market. Many are waiting because of a perception that now is not a good time. The news is full of stories about rising interest rates, home values dropping and predictions of a market crash. Interest rates did rise quickly and the increases have had a stabilizing effect on home prices. The missing byline in these stories is that both rising interest rates and their effect on home prices was by design to curb inflation. Neither of these facts indicate that the market is headed for a crash. We have become so conditioned to negative headlines that not only do we believe them, we create our own clickbait type drama where there is none in the course of our ordinary lives. I created an internal dialogue that Teddy no longer loves me based on a single interaction.  This is ridiculous and I’m happy to report he hasn't whined to sit on an empty couch since that day.

There are times when the local market mirrors the National trends these headlines are based on, but more often it is vastly different. I have been out every weekend at open houses, and they are VERY busy in contrast to media reports. All indications for the spring market locally are positive.  I urge you not to take the bait when it comes to negative news, and when you are ready to jump into the market, I’m here to help.