By In these uncertain times, it is very easy to pay far too much attention to mainstream media.
Now of course the term “far too much attention” is subjective however when talking specifically about property and the direction of the property market, mainstream media and general popular opinion has consistently proved itself to be absolutely wrong.
For example, the last financial crisis.
In 2017, just prior to the last financial crisis, if listened to mainstream media as to whether it was a good time to invest in property or in general listen to popular opinion, the answer you would’ve received, was a resounding YES. Property prices were never going to stop rising and we were in a golden economy that was never going to stop.
In hindsight that has been proven to be very wrong and in fact if you were trying to time the market, that was the worst possible time to buy.
Moving on 2 to 3 years as the market troughed and started to recover, if you listed to mainstream media or popular opinion that is usually determined by mainstream media, if it was a good time to buy, the response you got would’ve been a resounding NO. Everybody was depressed and we’ve just seen a fall in the market, why would you buy now? Of course in hindsight, we know that was the best possible time to buy because you would’ve bought at the bottom of the market and done extremely well.
The old cliché of “buy low, sell high”! Doesn’t necessarily apply to property and I certainly don’t think that anybody should be trying to “time the market” because most will be unsuccessful. In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter because if you are buying good properties in good locations for the mid to long-term with all of the right fundamentals in place, you can be quite confident in doing well regardless of the direction of the economy or the property market.
The point here though is do not turn to the media for information on the direction of the market as they are guessing the same as everyone else and quite often sensationalise information to sell papers and create clickbait for adverts.
The late great global investor John Templeton said “The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell”.
One way to have confidence in what you are reading, is to pay attention to who has written it. If the person writing the article is experienced and knowledgeable in that area and in doing your background checks, you agree with their approach, then perhaps you can rely more upon their opinion.
If you would like qualified, frank and honest advice about a mid to long term property investment strategy, contact Nova Financial Group on 0203 8000 600, www.nova.finanical or info@nova.financial
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