The “lovely” people started over again…
2011 is already part of our life for the last 40 days. During the previous days, we studied the potential of Romanian economy and Real Estate market, plus we tried to identify if investments in land can be the new locomotive which will drive Romanian market out of crisis (find out more here). But all these are mainly "external" factors. The market itself has its own mechanisms and these have already started moving since the beginning of the year…
"Lovely" people, a restless species…
If one studies carefully the Real Estate market in Romania, he might notice that there are plenty of categories of people, of… "species". From the most serious to the least respectable ones, from hard working professionals to lazy persons who try to keep on living without working, just by tricking others.
But a special category is definitely all these people, whom I like calling "lovely". All these "lovely" people are a special species, existing in Romania(like in all other countries too), who consider that "work is for clocks", or that "you don't need to understand Real Estate, just sell it, damn it!". They lived glorious moments in the past… Who can forget the "golden" days of 2005 – 2008, when "lovely" people enjoyed an incredible success? When they were treating clients with fite (arrogance), "doing them the favour to talk to them, give them a property, bear their existence until to take their money".
They perceive clients as "victims, with money for us" and they love creating an environment where clients will feel themselves "in need to buy something, before it will be too late". This is the only chance for these "lovely" people to be tolerated by investors, other Real Estate consultants or serious people in general: To create the necessary psychology which will force others to accept their behaviour.
And we talk about a species that is literally restless…
Already "broke their face" 4 times in 2009 and 2011
2008 was not a good year for "lovely" people, as they had their arrogance, but there were not many clients accepting it anymore. The volume of transactions had already decreased a lot, comparing to 2007. And then the crisis hit Romania (officially)…
During 2009 and 2010 they tried to "practice their old tricks" 4 times. Twice per year, they tried to create an environment which was something like "ok, enough with the crisis! Prices start rising again, now!" using any kind of excuse or "sweet" argument. What was the result? As we say in Greek, "they broke their face". There can not be prices increase, without strong demand fuelling it. And the demand was specific, limited, insufficient…
What was the result of these attempts? Many people believed in them, rejected interesting offers and afterwards found themselves in worse position than before.
What is the reality we lived over the last 3 months: Too many words – very few actions
The end of 2010 and the beginning of this year were very beautiful. It becomes almost a tradition for people appearing in media and declaring that "the crisis is over", that "problems are solved" and that "glory days are coming fast". (They do this so many times, that once it will be a reality, no one will believe in them anymore…).
We heard many words:
- "The Romanian economy exited the crisis" (or "is about to exit the crisis"),
- "GDP will increase significantly",
- "Many segments are on the rise",
- "There is strong demand for properties",
- "Ron will remain strong"
This does not mean that all the above are lies. But they are just words, parts of a larger picture. In the same time the actions are really few and people continued living in their problems, exactly as they had them in 2010, if not worse now.
But "lovely" people did not lose the chance! They started over again!
Of course "lovely" people did not need to know the whole picture, they don't care about it. So they started again the same strategy they followed in the beginning of 2009 and 2010 too:
- "The Real Estate market will rise during 2011", we read in some interviews, with (at least) questionable arguments.
- Some brokers, when called by potential clients, announce them with pride and arrogance: "Forget the prices you knew. Already in January the prices are 20 – 25% up and they will grow more throughout the year". (I have 4 examples of exactly this behaviour, 3 of them for properties in the area of Titan, Dristor, Tineretului etc).
- Some owners started behaving like in the past, becoming "difficult to talk to", "busy to talk to many investors" etc.
- Last but not least, I hear that some "experts" advise their clients "to increase their prices, as this will make more clients become interested. They will feel that prices will start rising again and they will run to buy now and not tomorrow, with the fear to buy more expensive".
On which planet do they live in?
When I hear all these, many questions are automatically generated: On which planet do they live in? All these people live here? In Romania? Do they drink any special water, that causes illusions? What happened? Did the police allow drugs and these "pioneers" are the first one who experiment? Do they really mean all these stuff?
Unfortunately they do. But this does not mean that you should believe / follow them.
"And what if they are right and the prices will rise a lot, as they predict?"
If you see around you and you find ONE good reason why this will happen, then believe them. But please, don't be upset afterwards, once you pay too much for an overpriced property.
"So no property will go up this year?"
There can be cases that will go up, especially in the last part of the year. But this does not mean that we have to hurry up from now and to buy without very careful crosschecking.
An investment is a decision that might change the life of most of us. I suggest to you to decide according to facts, proofs and serious arguments, without being in a hurry, stressed or pressed. And let these "lovely" people "break their face" for the 5th time…