Everyone around me knows that I'm a real estate agent. It is what I am, it is what I do. As such, I get a lot, I mean a lot, of people asking me, "So how are you doing? How is the Real Estate market going?" My answer always seems to surprise them but I almost always say something like, "I'm doing excellently, how about you? And how is your family? If you are waiting to buy a home, don't. Now is the time to buy."
Real Estate Is Driven By My Client's Families
My business is driven by the choices people make about where to live and what to buy - which ultimately impacts their family. My family has been impacted not only by my choices about where to live, but by the choices that my clients make. If my clients lose focus on their families and taking care of them, my business stops. So, I'm always asking about my clients questions about them and their families. In today's market, here is the order of things I ask them. "What does your family need? Are you getting it? If not, what is stopping you? I hope you aren't letting the market stop you."
I Need To Move In A Year - I Am Already Planning
Earlier, I mentioned that my family is impacted by the choices that I make. Furthermore, my family has a lot to say about where to live and what to buy. Here is a sample of what I'm talking about. My kids are getting ready to go to high school. Based on where we live and the corresponding school district boundary lines, I don't particularly like the school they are supposed to go to. This has my wife and I thinking of buying a new home. I have some ideas of where we want to live and what school my kids want to go to so it is time to start searching around for a new place to live. In order to move, we will have to sell our home. One thing that we will have to consider is what is happening in the market. Or do I?
Do Market Conditions Really Matter?
I say all things are relative. Luckily my wife and I bought our home that we currently live in before the big run up in prices a few years ago. If and when we sell our home, we should be able to make a few bucks on our home, or at the very least break even. I feel for the families who are going through with foreclosures.
The good news for me is that even though we won't be making much money on our current home when we sell it, the new place that we purchase will be less than what we would have paid a couple of years ago. So, we can buy a home that meets our needs for a little less than what could have with a more active market. Buying a lesser priced house lowers our payments. That means I can save more money which means I can save more retirement money, kids education funds, or even take an extra vacation a year. Not a bad consequence of a "bad real estate market"!
What about all the hype about waiting a little longer for the housing prices to bottom out? Well, I guess for me that could be a good strategy if that was the only variable in buying a home that could impact the housing payment that I would face if I moved. There is no good news floating around that interest rates are going to keep going down. I haven't even heard news of them going up. All I know is that they have been pretty low for quite a while so maybe they may have bottomed out. What happens if I wait and rates start going up?
It Is A Good Time To Buy A Home
- Waiting to move because of market speculation while my family suffers is a bad thing to do.
- Waiting for property values to stop going down before I buy could cost me and my family a bundle in cash if interest rates go up in the mean time. Again a bad move.
- Interest rates have been low for quite some time and there is no positive or negative news about what they are going to do. My gut says that they won't stay down forever. Dah is all I can think of here. But right now, they are pretty low.
- Nationally, the rate at which property values are going down is slowing down. This suggests that supply and demand for homes is coming more in line which means a return to more normal market conditions. This could spell a bottoming out of the market and even a reversal of the market where we see home prices begin to rise. I don't know when this will happen so I'm more worried about interest rates going up some.
Article written by Ben Daniels. Ben has been a real estate agent for 15 years and has seen several real estate cycles come and go.
PS: If you are thinking of buying a home do your research. There are many good resources online. Keep reading the Home Buying Articles on GetPreQualified.com and look for properties on PropertyNut.com. Happy House Hunting.
