Mr. and Mrs. Janus, and the depression survivor view

In August I spoke with a person who sincerely has not noticed any difference in her family's economic, social, or psychological well being. I thought she was being coy, but learning they live a modest lifestyle, well within their means convinced me my friend was not unstable--she's just old fashioned. (Let's call her Mrs. Janus because she and Mr. Janus look to the future with an eye on the past.) Mrs. Janus is so old fashioned she's relevant. My friend is an authentic 51 year old. She and her family pay as they go, carry no debt, and share a car with a teen driver. Mr. Janus works for the man, and she works for herself. College educated and self-taught and inspired, my friend balances her work for cash with her work for 4 children who occupy grades one through college. I believe this couple are reincarnations of survivors of the last Great Depression.

Why am I writing about Mr. and Mrs. Janus? Because, as a Realtor, I interact, seven days a week, with people who are evaluating their peace of mind. Unlike Mrs. Janus, who is not being forced to change her spending and saving habits, the recession-depression is squeezing society into submission. Once the surrender is complete, a revolution of sorts will grow. How people price homes and how the consumer determines value could be very different very soon.

Already we are seeing consumers of real estate service turning to non-Realtor controlled on-line systems such as Zillow.com for insight into local real estate values, and home selling/buying advice. The consumer walking into an open house is likely to have more data on recent sales stored in their smart phone than the hosting realtor has in their possession. Cautious and conservative buyers know a fair value when they see one and they almost don't even want to see anything unless it's a stunning value. How value is determined by buyer and seller may never be entirely the same. However, if the differences continue to move apart this could be a very interesting few years.

Access to market data has been the prized jewel for home sellers during the price run-up days. Sure buyer agents had that data for their clients in 2005, but rather than come into the process highly educated on values and trends, the home sales data was mostly used to verify that an asking price was not too unreasonable. Today, the buyer who meets a Realtor shows up with high quality data of neighborhood highs, lows, trends, and generally conservative advice for negotiating. There is nothing to be gained in debating an armed buyer. They're armed for a reason--protection. There is no chance of changing determined minds. No one wants to make a mistake and lose. That goes for both sides of the table. Safety is a reasonable goal.

Buyers are already thinking like Mr. and Mrs. Janus, with a view of the future and an eye on the past. They are expecting to buy a home and some cushion from further decline of value. Home owners who are would-be home sellers have hope that the prices are at least stable.  I'm going to continue to evaluate what I am seeing, hearing, and concluding. 
We can make it out of this recession-depression, but probably not with everything we carried in.