September 30, 2014 Real Estate Report - Turning the Corner

If 2014 was a one mile race, we would now be heading down the last lap. It has been an interesting year. We started with a long, cold and snowy winter. We then began to thaw out, and just as the sun started shining, the world seemed to erupt in crisis. But like many obstacles we have faced during the recovery, from natural disasters to fiscal calamities, we seem to move ahead slowly but surely. The big question is, will the last lap feature us gaining speed during the straightaway or will we be hampered by another road block? If the year has been like a one mile race, then the recovery from the recession has been a marathon. Actually, 26.2 miles may not describe the trek we have gone through. But like the year, we are coming into the final lap, though this is a much longer lap. If we gain momentum during the last quarter of the year, we will be able to see, but not reach the finish line. This year we have marked a full five years of recovery, one of the longest recoveries from a recession in history, but also one of the weakest. Many predict two years or more before we can be considered fully recovered, but the last lap of 2014 could change that story. The release of the employment report this Friday will hint of how much speed we will have garnered going into the last lap of 2014. The last report was mildly disappointing but we definitely have seen some momentum built up during the majority of 2014. If the numbers released on Friday include an upward revision of last month's numbers or September's numbers move back towards or over 200,000 jobs added, the one slow report will be seen as nothing more than a pebble in the road instead of a road block. Then we can rev things up and hopefully we don't have a huge snowstorm in November. Can we get a little help, weatherman? Keith Stewart 773-529-7000