[Boomer]

When the last bubble popped, TV seemed to slow down a little but I don’t think it was ever hit like the rest of the country.

When the LSL area took off, people were lining up, frantic to buy. Many of those LSL buyers were already Villagers but just wanted to move to the brand new area or wanted a different size than their first TV house. Another group of those LSL area buyers were from the beginning of the baby boom, newly retired or ready to be.

As LSL went on and reached 466A, it was then 2007–2008 and TV adapted to the slowing of the market up north. But TV never stopped in its tracks — like everywhere else did.

The rest of the country is now in the throes of extremely low inventory, but TV always has houses for sale, not only due to the continued building but also due to the demographic that eventually will move back home or to a care community or to the next world.

Although this market is not being caused by dangerous lending practices (drive-by appraisals and stated assets loans and a frenzy in the secondary mortgage market — reeling those mortgages in the front door and selling them out the back door at high speed) this market has one element in common with the last one — a ridiculously low mortgage rate. Now, that is changing — by the day. . .

And those rate increases will have to slow the market elsewhere. TV buyers are often cash buyers because they have harvested a ton of equity out of houses they had owned forever, so TV buyers often choose not to mortgage. But the TV market is affected by the markets retirees leave behind. Real estate cash might not be flowing as freely as it has been.

Boomer

PS: Not a one of us knows where this weird real estate market is headed, but some of us (including me) think it is fun to talk about.