"The common people of America display a quality of good common sense which is heartening to anyone who believes in the democratic process"

"The common people of America display a quality of good common sense which is heartening to anyone who believes in the democratic process"

                            -George Gallup, founder Gallup poll

The past four years in the real estate market has been a roller coaster ride.  The Reno real estate market reached it's peak in July 2005.  "Gradually" transitioning to "rapidly" by the start of 2007. 

I had the privilege of seeing it all happen--court side seat.  When I read the above quote I couldn't help but look back at our real estate market and test this controversial quote by the brilliant George Gallup.

A question came into mind:

"Are we really smarter than what we think?"

One thing is for sure, when it comes to investing the vast majority of people are more inclined to doubt themselves than to trust our instincts.  That's why investment advisors  are such a big hit in the last twenty years.

Warren Buffet said:

"Wall Street is the only place that people ride to work in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."

I think we are smarter than what we think.  True, the public is also easily swayed by each other--sheep mentality.  But that does not represent the power of the individual.

From what I observed in the last four years, I think the individual's own decision making--if we are truly honest with ourselves--will ultimately be more profitable than just having blind faith in the media (notoriously late), real estate/financial experts (usually biased) and even people close to us--though good intentioned--could be sincerely wrong.

This is an article by Gallup poll on April 30,2007

Investors also worry about the Residential real estate market

This month, 7 in 10 investors say they believe conditions in the residential real estate market are getting worse nationwide, not better -- about the same as the 72% reported from March, but up from the 63% of investors who felt this way in February. Similarly, 56% of investors say conditions in their local community's residential real estate market are getting worse, not getting better -- about the same as the percentage who held this view in March (58%) and February (56%). Thirty-eight percent of investors rate conditions in their local residential real estate market as "good or excellent" in April, while 44% rate conditions as "fair," and 17% rate them as "poor."