By Inc. staff and Daniel Wolfman | Dec 5, 2011
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."
