Five real estate trends worth watching

Greg Rand, real estate veteran and author of Crash Broom, recently offered five trends to help combat the battered housing market.

Rand believes that a small family and a real estate investor can equally benefit from watching these trends in an effort to predict the future rise and fall of house prices. Rand's list of trends include short-term lows, overdevelopment, jobs, lifestyle and responsible government.

According to Rand, the housing market is currently over-correcting and over-developing, while the eroding job market is another specific distress that directly affects the housing market. Rand recommends following the employment trends to see where companies are moving. This approach may help families or investors predict what regions will continue to have a demand for housing. Lifestyle preferences such as climate, leisure trends and cost of living can also indicate where the market may shift. Finally, he recommended monitoring state governments and their relationships with entrepreneurs. This will help gauge where money will be best used in a home purchase.

"It comes down to the idea that no matter how the markets change, no matter which way the winds shift, people will always need a place to live," Rand said.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent, with California and Nevada well above the national rate at 11.7 percent and 12.1 percent. Over the past year, however, some states such as Indiana and Michigan have improved their unemployment rate. Indiana dropped from 10.4 percent in May 2010 to 8.2 percent in May 2011, and Michigan dropped from 12.8 percent last year to 10.3 percent this year.  

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