1. Homes. Low prices fueled by foreclosures and short sales, coupled with low interest rates and possible income tax credits, make this an opportune time to shop real estate.

2. Cars. Automobile dealers are dealing as never before: 0 percent financing, big cash rebates and other incentives make for some historic deals. Even used car prices are down 10 percent from a year ago.

3. Vacations. Las Vegas hotel room rates are down an average of 34 percent from a year ago, cruises are offering some amazing bargains, like $1000 per person for summer week-long Alaska cruises (including airfare).  Airlines are also offering some bargain fares.

4. Toys. Prices for playthings are headed down this summer and are expected to stay down for holiday shopping.

5. High Dividend Stocks. With the S&P down 40 percent (more or less)  from a year ago and the prospect of inflationary times ahead, now may be a great time for the courageous investor to pick up some stock bargains that have a history of divident payments.

6. Laptop Computers. Prices for laptops are falling, thanks in part to recent buying activity in those handy little netbooks. Computer deals abound almost everywhere.

7. Diamonds. The recession has dulled even the diamond market, with prices for polished diamonds down an average of 14 percent from their highs last summer.

8. Clothing. Men’s and women’s clothing are filling the clearance racks. Remember how Saks Fifth Avenue started their 80 percent off sales before Christmas last year?  There are lots of bargains, especially with more expensive lines.

9. Televisions. We recently had to replace a large flat panel television, and were blown away with the replacement price at Costco.  As more manufacturers enter the flat panel TV business, prices are drooping precipitously.

10. Furniture. With fewer people buying homes, furniture sales have drastically fallen off. Many furniture retailers are going out of business and clearance sales are driving much of the home furnishings market.

As a San Diego Realtor, I find it interesting that Forbes put real estate in the number one position–and cannot help but recall Baron Rothschild’s famous saying, Buy when there’s blood in the streets.

How much blood is the question….

The post Top 10 Things to Buy Before Economy Recovers appeared first on Luxury Home Digest.

Dear friends returned with big smiles and fat packages after a trip to Las Vegas prior to Christmas. Ulf and Andrea walked into the Saks Fifth Avenue store on Las Vegas Boulevard–and encountered rack after rack of clothing discounted up to 80 percent off.

These were sales never seen in the weeks before Christmas, and they happily bagged up their luxury bargains and returned to Southern California.

They are also Realtors, and it’s some comfort that the luxury home market is suffering a far less precipitous decline compared to luxury retailers, but that’s probably because people stay in their homes far longer than they do a $500 pair of jeans or Jimmy Choo heels.

And as today’s San Diego Union Tribune reports, Neiman Marcus saw its December same-store sales fall 27.5 percent, while sales at Nordstrom, Saks and Abercrombie & Fitch also dropped into the double digits. Even Chanel at rue Cambon is shedding 200 jobs, or almost 10 percent of its work force in a move that should send shudders down the backs of luxury retailers and other haute couture houses.

The Luxury Consumption Index shows a chilly decline of 41.7 percent year-over-year in a December survey of 1200 consumers earning an average of $200,000 per year. Some of the drop is attributable to investment and income declines, but much also comes from a drastic attitude shift from conspicuous consumption to one of fear and conservative saving.

Buying attitudes may be shifting toward hiding money under the proverbial mattress, but I am inclined to sharpen the pencil and consider once again Baron Rothschild’s advice to “buy when blood is running in the streets.

Blue chip luxury real estate and securities are soooo attractive covered in red–at least for buyers.

The post Luxury Buyers Digging in Their Heels? appeared first on Luxury Home Digest.