We coined the term "Price Nostalgia" to describe a sentimental longing or wistful affection for past home prices. Let's time travel back to June 30th, 2004.
Stacy and I, along with my newly formed real estate firm, were entering the Downtown Charlotte Market. When we bought our house in Dilworth for $230,000, we thought the market was "tapped out."
Now, let's fast forward to the start of 2024 and get angry at ourselves once again for not buying our second house 15 years ago. I get it; those old prices are hard to look at for me too. But listen, don't beat yourself up—there was no way to know, and back then, we all had the same complaints.
Home buyers would say:
"There's no way an old bungalow house two blocks from a busy road was worth more than $300,000. It needs work! I'm not paying more, and I refuse to be in a bidding war."
Investors had their concerns too:
"600,000 for a fourplex, but apartments in Charlotte rent for $650? How does that even make sense?"
Trust me; those are almost exact quotes. I have emails in my archive to prove it.
Nostalgia has a nice feeling, but when it comes to buying real estate, or any asset for that matter, it's paralyzing. People always think they're buying at the top. If you keep waiting for prices to adjust, they will, just in the wrong direction.
Let's all stop beating ourselves up. We didn't miss the bottom. We didn't miss the boom. Maybe I could have bought that second home in 2009 and looked back from 2024 feeling like geniuses. But if we didn't, surely the next best thing is looking back in 20 years, from 2044, and feeling very smart indeed.