Profit, Profit, Profit

"They come here to buy and flip," she said.

This comment is from a story in the SHT yesterday about (what else?) booming real estate prices. This time it was referring to overseas buyers, particularly from Europe. "Many foreign buyers are investors who send representatives to closings, never setting foot in a property" the article says.

That is the reality today. Instead of investing in your community, your community becomes the latest speculative sandbox in which to play. For those investors it matters not what happens in the community, only the expected profit matters.

It used to be that real estate folks preached location, location, location. Now the mantra is likely to be profit, profit, profit.

The real estate folks also complain about the lack of "inventory" (makes it easier to sell "profit" by using business terms instead of life style terms). Of course if you put your house into the "inventory", where will you find a place to live? Maybe the lack of inventory is a good thing. Forces the speculators to chase the same houses around and around.

Makes you wonder about the end game.