It feels like we are already in a recession, but do you think we are headed towards a depression?

We are already seeing a seperation of wealth in my area.

It is quickly becoming the have-everythings and the have-nothings.

This will get interesting.

Seeing separation the wealth in our area too. This will indeed get interesting, although I strongly believe that we have the character as a nation to grow stronger from the these difficulties. It will be a time to come out from our houses and become good neighbors again, to work together, and exercise our humanity.

Can't really tell it's anything but a "normal" day here . . . Will be watching everything closely . . . and keeping the pantry stocked, in case times get a lot tougher.

Edited to add: Noticed yesterday that a longtime Realtor has closed his own business and moved back into an office at ReMax. That was a shocker. He's also a builder and I'd heard he was in trouble with that.

People here are expecting BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) to make this area boom, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen in one fell swoop as originally thought. That's gonna be a problem for the builders who threw up all the spec homes in the past couple of years that are now not selling.

I think recession/depression is looking at the trees when we should be looking at the forest that is simply being naturally thinned.

In the grand sceme of things, these times are just a short term thing we have to just get through. No matter how we do it, it's just a matter of staying afloat.

People will always have to buy and sell, and they'll always need an expert to help them with it. We just need to focus on doing the best we can do, and be ready to adapt to changes along the way.

Definition by Dictionary.com

A period during which business, employment, and stock-market values decline severely or remain at a very low level of activity.

A period of drastic decline in a national or international economy, characterized by decreasing business activity, falling prices, and unemployment.

Seems like we're already here.

the nar just announced that home sales are up;-)

Times are bad, but the sky is not falling... the definition of a recession is 2 quarters of negative growth in the economy.. problem is while we have had some real slow quarters, we have not had any negative quarters in a few years... now we may be in the first quarter now, but by definition we cannot be in an official recession for at least another quarter.

I think things are bad, but they will rebound. I dont think they will hit that level.. and remember the unemployment rate is at 6%. Look at some unemployment rates, they have been low the last few years, 6% is not that high historically

http://www.economagic.com/em-cgi/data.exe/feddal/ru

PS if you have grandparents or great-grandparents that lived through the great depression talk to them... you will hear this is nothing compared to that. Dont let the media focus on the negative get you down its bad in the housing market right now and a very stagnant economy but not the worst economy since the great depression.

The U.S. economy has not been in a recession since November 2001. That's according to the widely accepted definition of 'recession' as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP.

So no... we're not yet in a recession, much less headed for a depression

We are, however, in an election year.

Exactly Texas...

I don't think that definitions or statistics dictate a recession or depression in people's minds.

You could have crappy numbers but if people BELIEVED that times were not so tough and everything was ok you wouldn't have everyone going for mass constriction right now.

I think tough times are relative.Tough times to most middle class people is having to ramen noodles and p,b and j's all week long.

People with higher incomes there idea of ROUGHING IT.Is having one less bottle of wine that week or not eating steak 3 times a week.

Back when I was a kid and lost my father my and my mom had really hard times. Alot of church,food pantries kept food in the belly.

My situation today is GREAT.What got me through it was HOPE and that eventually GREAT CHANGE would happen.

I beleive we are in a recession. I remember 2001 and this seems like it could get much worse than that in time.

Nobody can say for sure at this point.

There are similarities to events of the late 1920's that created the Grest Depression that some may still remember.

The perplexing question in my mind is what is worth hoarding now or actually trying to invest in?????

Gold and related commodities aren't what seems good investments.

Forget the stock market and equities.

The signs were out there several years back, but nobody wanted to wake up to them. I wrote on this forum about the over pricing of homes, and was met with arrogant indignation.

So, I got into treasuries, and will wait it out until a day when homes drop to very cheap prices.

And that, my fiends (should that transpire), would mirror very closely the times when homes were bought for hundreds of dollars during the Great Depression.

I can't put full faith and trust in government intervention because too many homes were built while people were losing good jobs. We had a strong economy going while vacant land was leveled and more condos and homes polluted areas throughout the country, and even parts of the world. Nobody with foresight could see the end coming, and nobody would question who would occupy all those homes. If ever a need for moderation of capitalism, it was then.

Just whom out there can afford a mortgage based on earning an income from their primary job?

Knowing as much, there has to be a day of reckoning.

It may be now, but it may stretch out for a long, long time.

Nobody can say for sure. We all wish we had a crystal ball.

Thank you for allowing me to express my views.

That's very true. Public perception is often out of sync with reality.

But economic numbers are what they are. Unemployment, inflation, interest rates, exports/imports, GDP... those are all measurable quantities. And by any measure we have not been in a recession for seven years in the U.S. That doesn't mean the economy has been robust. But it certainly hasn't been in recession.

But if people want to 'believe' we're in a recession, or worse, a depression... then that's certainly their prerogative. And as I mentioned earlier, this is an election year. And news, especially economic news, has a particular way of getting distorted during election years.

I think what's most important for us as Realtors is to understand how the current market conditions impact our clients and our business. And there's no doubt the credit tightening and home value decline has caused us to SHIFT strategies during the past months and years.

A recession is not a feeling, a recession is a measurable event. So people can say I feel like we are in a recession... that doesn't make it so... its like saying i feel like we will be attacked by terrorists again in the next year... sure it MAY be true, but just saying there is a feeling doesn't make it so.

So while we may be in the beginning of a recession all statistical data (relatively normal unemployment, slowing but still growing economy) says otherwise as of the end of the last quarter.

Perception is a wonderful thing. Are times tough? You bet. However if you look at things from a different perspective, it is different. Here in The OC I hear agents complaining like never before. Yet these are the same agents that had NO problem spending money like no tomorrow when the times where great. Buying cars they couldn’t really afford, buying more clothes than a fashion model needs and so forth. During the high times I had one seasoned agent tell me "This isn't working; this is shooting fish in a barrel." I was taught that you always save for a rainy day, live within your means & treat this like a real job.

Am I still selling real estate? Yes. Am I selling as much as before? No. But it is a great business to be in. We are in the business of helping people & people always need to buy or sell real estate.

Recession, Depression, whatever name you put on it the rules don’t change: Save for a rainy day, live within your means & treat this like a real job.