I was having lunch with Steve, a good friend and colleague, last week. He is a 10 year seasoned Real Estate veteran. We often get together and discuss the current market. In the middle of the main course, he turned to me and asked, “What happened to the white picket fence?” 

It’s hard to believe where we have come in the last decade. When I began my career almost 12 years ago, people would still call our office with an inquiry regarding a home they’d seen for sale in a black and white magazine. 

It’s no secret –  by the 2000’s, things began to change rapidly. Email took over as one of the cardinal communication modes. Websites like Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia and Cyberhomes popped up. Investors snapped up and traded properties like baseball cards. Buyers no longer needed to contact a Realtor until they had perused the internet for the perfect home. Sellers might dial up a website to update themselves on the value of their home. 

In addition, folks bought homes, not to live in, but to “fix and flip.” The white picket fence had become a commodity. Now, with rampant bank foreclosures, lending institutions are selling “tapes” or bundles of foreclosed properties to smaller institutions for cents on the dollar. These homes are then redistributed to end users, mainly investors, for profit. 

Of course there are still buyers opting for a place to call home and trust me, I am all for making a living and improving one’s lifestyle via prudent investments. But the face of Real Estate has changed forever and looking back, I sort of liked the value that Jimmy Stewart displayed in It’s a Wonderful life. Everyone has a right to the American Dream and sometimes it may even include a white picket fence.