My wife Barbara and I have been big Dave Ramsey fans for a long time.  The response to his Town Hall meeting was phenomenal!  Those of you who did not get a chance to view it  should visit his site, www.townhallforhope.com . It is well worth a few minutes of your time. When asked how long this depressed economy would last, Dave stated that the economy will turn back around when the housing market rebounds. And, he empahsized that it was a great time to buy, as long as you can afford to.  Interest rates are extremely attractive right now, hovering around 5% and of course, there is a large inventory of homes to choose from. He quoted numerous statistics during his talk, many focused on foreclosures. It should be noted that one half of all foreclusures are located in twelve states. The stats are available to review on the site mentioned above.  The doom and gloom reported by much of the media is misleading. Not all areas are experiencing the severe  real estate conditions that you keep hearing about on the news. San Antonio and Texas in general has a very strong economy. While we are affected by national economic factors, which has put our real estate market into more of a buyer’s market, it is not a “fire sale” market.  Sellers’ are realizing that homes are taking slightly longer to sale than in the last few years and they have to be more aggressive in their pricing, but seller’s in most cases are not “giving their homes away”.  On the other hand, buyers’ are in a position to take advantage of the aggressive pricing and usually can negotiate a very attractive price; advantage buyers’. As a Realtor, I firmly believe that as Dave stated, real estate is a sound investment and now is agreat time to buy, if you can afford to. I also believe in Dave’s message last night.

At the end of the town hall meeting, Dave said there were 3 things we can do: GET UP AND TAKE ACTION; STOP LISTENING TO LOSER TALK; and  START GIVING.

I think that too often we have the mindset that we cannot change or control what happens; we simply accept the decisions of others, whether it be the government of people around us. Nothing could be further from the truth. We as individuals can control what happens to us.  We can make smarter choices, take smarter actions, and  produce better results in our lives. The question is whether we are willing to make the effort or accept the status quo. It is time for each of us to look “within ourselves” and  ask ourselves some hard questions. Are we willing to get out of our comfort zone, start making smarter choices, and taking action to get the results we want?  We can, we just have to make the commitment, have the conviction in our hearts, and the courage to make it happen. Again, take a little time and visit www.townhallforhope.com . You won’t be disappointed.