Baseball Metaphors & the Housing Market

Willie Keeler & The "Asterisk '90's"

Surveying the real estate market from a Realtor's perspective the last year -- and the prospects for next year -- conjures up some parallels with baseball.

Namely, it's the era of the "singles" hitter.

Just as some periods in baseball seem to be dominated by sluggers (think, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa in the late, "asterisk" '90's) -- others seem to favor singles hitters like Pete Rose and Rod Carew.

This would be the latter era for Realtors.

Selling What's Selling

Instead of hitting "home runs" -- upper bracket homes fetching north of $1M -- by far the most active part of the housing market is the lower rungs (call it under $200k) where first-time Buyers predominate, and the government's tax incentives loom largest.

It's also the part of the market that can have the biggest deals: dramatically written-down bank foreclosures (often times in a condition to go with).

Think of it as the opposite of Willie Keeler's explanation for his hitting prowess: 'I hit 'em where they ain't.'

In today's housing market, the trick is to sell what people are buying . . .