Residential real estate prices may have continued to fall in the United States, but real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, who 10 years ago sold her Corcoran Group for $66 million, is optimistic about 2012.
In an interview with Inc.com's Daniel Wolfman, Corcoran suggests now's a great time to buy and highlights particular neighborhoods of opportunity. Watch the video to find out which positive indicators Corcoran has here eye on--and where.
Always buy for "love" rather than "investment," advises Corcoran, off-camera. "If you fall in love with the view, fall in love with the neighborhood, the next guy's going to fall in love with the same thing. You don't use a lot of logic--real estate is not a logical game."
In this week's TrendWatch Facts & Figures, a closer look at the U.S. housing market:
- National home prices dropped at an annual rate of 3.9 percent in the third quarter, according to the S&P/Case-Schiller Home Price Indices. That's an improvement, though, from the second quarter, when national home prices dropped 5.8 percent.
- Home prices are at the same levels as the first quarter of 2003, according to the S&P/Case-Schiller Home Price Indices.
- While Atlanta experienced the worst annual change in home prices in the third quarter (down 9.8 percent), Detroit had the best (up 3.7 percent), says S&P/Case-Schiller.
- Twenty-five percent of home purchases right now are made by investors, says Corcoran. If she were looking for a place right now, she would "buy her neighbor's house if they were in foreclosure," she says, "and then i would put a tenant in there and wait out the market."
