Yeah, one too many real-estate agents (REAs) have popped up over the last decade.
Any Tom, Dick or Harry (TD/H) who has nothing to do becomes an REA.
Small little office, empty chairs, one TD/H reading a newspaper or watching TV… familiar?
Meet the bench-warmers.
Real-estate is in the dumps.
Sure.
Real-estate bill is in the offing. Might come out soon, might come out later.
Circle-rates are trying to bring the black-money component down.
Government A-B-C categorization is all warped.
Meanwhile, deals have dried. Volumes are zilch.
Is this the bottom?
Who says yes?
I’m afraid not too many have that conviction.
I don’t either.
You see, at bottoms, there’s blood on the streets.
Do you see any blood?
Nope.
Is black-money receding?
Slightly, maybe. Some say significantly. Some say insignificantly. Wishy-washy answers at best. Let’s put this under the “not-sure” category.
Are the bench-warmers packing up their benches?
Nope.
Are more bench-warmers springing up, in anticipation of volume-spikes?
Yeah.
Is this going to make their situation only worse?
Yeah, probably.
When will things start moving finally?
No one knows for certain.
Under the circumstances, how can one call this a bottom?
We’re still way above 2005 levels.
It’s not a bottom, or so I think. Maybe I’m mistaken. However, that’s my opinion.
All right, if it’s not a bottom, what is it then?
Time to wait and watch?
Yeah.
Time to pick up (a property) already?
Probably not.
Time to nibble at a real-estate stock?
Maybe. Just make sure the fundamentals are good and debt-component is negligible. And nibble. That’s all.
What about the bench-warmers? How should they act?
Use their office to generate income. Any which legal way, through any vocation. If not, rent it out with fool-proof lease deed. That’ll generate income too.
Bench-warming degenerates our faculties. It shouldn’t be practised over a prolonged period of time.
