Cash Is Trash?

Not very long ago, I wrote about there being bidding wars on homes here in the Arizona marketplace and how you wouldn’t read about it in your local paper yet.

Guess what?

It got worse.

Not only are there bidding wars going on right here in Arizona, but there are people paying cash for houses – and not just one or two people — lots of people are paying cash for homes.

The nerve of these people!

Don’t they know that they should be financing that 2nd home up to the maximum loan-to-value that the bank will allow?

It has gotten so bad that I have become the running joke to my Realtor friends. They tell me how busy they are, how many buyers they have, how wonderful all of their buyers are…

And how they are all paying cash.

Somehow, some way – the market seems to be correcting itself. When houses sell for $50/sq ft, people step in and buy them… in cash.

When it comes to loan officers (and the real estate market in general), Is that a trumpet I hear in the background?

Is it playing taps?

I don’t know for sure.

But I vaguely hear a trumpet.

And I pray that it is the opening few bars to the theme from the movie “Rocky” and not the middle portion of Taps.

America is alive and well.

Cash-and-carry.