|
Let me start off by saying that I am not so arrogant to predict a bottom of a housing market in my area much less speculate what the market holds countrywide. Also a small bit of advice, you probably want to not listen to anyone who says that they can. To me, this would be an automatic red flag. Also when considering purchasing a house that is going to be your home especially your first home, hitting the absolute bottom really shouldn't be of your main consideration. That is if you can be honest with yourself and commit to staying there for at least a few years. In many areas of the country owning a home is now less expensive than renting a comparable home and likely less of a headache. Let's just say your paying $1000 a month in rent and you can commit to living in one place for 5 years. That means your paying $12,000 a year, $60,000 over the course of the next five years, and getting nothing in return other the ability to move at the end of each year. Not holding my crystal ball at the moment, I cannot say with any accuracy what the next six month holds, but do you think in five years your home would be worth less? Now lets consider what is going on out there.
1. Interest rates are at historic lows being less than an average of 5% countrywide for a fixed loan.
2. The government is offering a $8,000 tax credit for those who haven't owned in 36 months which for most buyer's will cover your down payment.
3. Many Sellers and Builders will kick in closing cost to make the deal sweet for your combined with #2 making your initial cash layout 0. Can you do that with lease?
4. Values have dropped 15-40% depending on where you live over the last 3 years.
5. The stock market has been more stable over the last few months, and in fact has made several impressive gains.OK you probably knew most of that, right? Here are a few that you might not be as widely known.
6. There has been an influx on buyers becoming interested in purchasing homes.
7. Getting a mortgage isn't as hard as you think right now. You just need a decent job and a credit score in the 600's.
8. Community help organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, in several of the hard hit areas of the country such as some counties Florida, California, and Nevada have stopped building homes.
Yes! I said these organizations have stopped building homes. In these areas, they now just purchase homes and clean them up a bit because you can purchase a home for less than you can build one. Hmm? Could you infer that it might be a good time to buy? Let's just look at this from a practical angle, say you've been meaning to build a doghouse to save some $$$ instead of buying a new one. But now, you can buy a new one cheaper than you could build one, do you want to wait until you have to build it yourself to get a deal?
|
tweet this!