Why Wait to Buy A Home?
The one thing that I probably hear the most often from my home buying clients is: "Why should I buy a home now? I want to wait until the market hits bottom before I buy!" Well let's face it, if you wait until the market hits the bottom, you've waited too long. Because the simple fact is, you don't actually know when the market has hit bottom, until it's headed back up, and then you've missed the boat. If the price is right, and you love the home, you need to buy, and buy now, before your perfect home gets snapped up by someone else.
Why am I so bullish in such a slow market, you ask? Because in all actuality, NOW is the perfect time to buy a home. The market is flooded with an abundance of home inventory to choose from, home prices have come down from the astronomical highs of a few years ago, interest rates are at nearly a 40 year low, and the market seems to be stabilizing itself at last. With all of this going for you, why on earth would you want to wait to buy a home? Even one/half of one percentage point difference means a buyer could save more than $1,000 per year on a median-priced home, and that means that a buyer can get more home for his money. Who can't relate to that? And even with the subprime debacle, there are still tons of great loan programs out there for buyers with decent credit. There are even 100% loans still available, like those for rural housing!
As agents and as consumers, we all tend to get bogged down thinking about the housing market slump of the last couple of years. But we get so sidetracked with gloom and doom, we forget that 2007 was the fifth highest year on record for existing-home sales. And that was in spite of the subprime meltdown and the market slump. With all of that behind us, and a stable market ahead of us, how can anyone not believe that now IS the best time to buy a home?
Stephanie Frost, agent
www.StephanieSellsOcala.com
Re/Max Premier Realty Services