When my family and I owned a restaurant, we spent our 24 years in business carefully studying our customer’s behavior, learning what days would be busy and when it would be slow, and understanding what our customers would want to buy and when.
We never relied on statistics in the newspaper to tell us this information. We knew the direction the economy was headed by listening and watching our customers and by noting other subtle indicators around us.
Even though we sold our business almost 10 years ago, I still find myself being a careful observer of consumer habits. Watching people over these last few years has been nothing short of depressing.
However, at long last, I am seeing changes. My friends in the manufacturing sector are extremely busy and have been for the last six months. The caterers and event facilities I know suddenly are filling up and getting forward bookings. Additionally, clients already booked with these companies for the future are slowly upgrading their packages. Restaurants are busy again, and new businesses are opening up.
When we drive to the mall, we are suddenly seeing more cars again, and when we get there, the parking lot is more full than empty. Stores have more inventory on their shelves again, and every other advertisement in the paper is no longer for a store going out of business. Further, there is more morning traffic going into Phoenix and up the 101 freeway than there was last year.
A contractor with whom I recently spoke said he was suddenly getting very busy, and he was having a harder time scheduling subcontractors. When I asked him if things were picking up, he said because so many companies have gone out of business, there are fewer people to handle the new work.
Last week, when my wife and I traveled to Las Vegas for a few days, we found the hotel and casinos were busy, the restaurants full, and the buzz was back like it has not been for the last few years.
This is not to say we don’t have a long way to go. Finally, however, there are some positive indicators in the marketplace. What about real estate you ask? Well, while we have a way to go, the market at least seems to be stabilizing. Inventory has been holding a steady rate, median sales prices, while not increasing yet, at least are not drastically falling. The buzz around my office is we all expect the winter visitors to start purchasing property again as our inventory now looks like a great value for the dollar.
So, while no one has a crystal ball to show us what will happen in our economic future, it looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
John Karadsheh is a licensed REALTOR