If you’re like most people in the world right now, you’re likely fatigued by an overwhelming amount of negative news, doomsaying, constant stress, and fear. As we move through the pandemic — for many of us, the third month of stay-at-home orders and social distancing — it’s important to analyze the market as it is versus worrying about what it will become.

Real estate experts far and wide seem yet to have come to a real consensus about what we can expect from the real estate market as we start a new decade in 2020. It’s true, there are several conflicting factors that could see the real estate market go either way. It’s a mixed bag on whether we’ll see a boom or a bust, if 2020 will be more of the same or if we’ll see some radical shifts in the market.

As a real estate investor, you are acutely aware of the ebb and flow of the real estate market whether you realize it or not. While you may not study the market specifically, you do understand sentiments and trajectory.  Most of us have a sense for when a market is moving in the right direction and when it isn’t — though we don’t always know the words to describe it or what the real factors are in determining the health of a market.

There’s no shortage of hype in the real estate investing world. We know that just by looking at headlines! Everyone is always searching for the next big market, the hot new trend, and the strategy that will make money fast.

These days it seems as though we can never get a definite answer on the state of the real estate market. One day we're hearing great news and the next people make it sound as if the sky is falling. When it comes to real estate, it is important to remember that the market will always be shifting and fluctuating. There are so many complex contributing factors to the health and balance of the real estate market on the whole that predicting these changes is incredibly difficult, if not outright impossible.

As real estate investors, keeping abreast of our various investment markets is absolutely essential. Even as passive investors who trust their turnkey providers and management teams to know their markets inside and out, there are great benefits to knowing the markets in which you invest.

“Recession” is a dirty word in real estate investment. When we hear it, we tense up. We can feel our hearts stitch a little bit. Our memories of a recession are still fresh. For many, the wounds are raw and the effects are still felt even a decade later. The Great Recession, as many have come to call it, rocked the housing market beginning in 2008 and hit its full stride in 2009 and in the years following.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma tends to fly under most people's radar. Unless you live there and are already personally invested in some way, it's not likely that you pay all that much attention to OKC. It seems, however, that more heads are turning in their direction these days as MarketWatch has named Oklahoma City among the best cities for millennials for good jobs and good homes.

Looking back at 2018, we experienced a year of high expectations that largely did not disappoint. Markets continued to stabilize, economic promise grew along with property values, and the revitalization of cities nationwide provided opportunities and population growth.

There’s been considerable buzz lately in the real estate world about a nationwide housing slowdown. When we see words like this, people no doubt tend to get nervous. But is there anything, really, to worry about for real estate investors? What’s behind the slowdown, and who will really be affected by it all?