Buying Now vs. Buying Later

Real Estate
As buyers try to determine the absolute bottom of home prices in their area, they may be missing out. With the low interest rates and affordable prices, now is the time to buy! Interest rates are sure to rise in the near future, so even if your dream home drops in price, with the rise in interest rates, you could be paying more per month. For example, look at the following scenario:

Alison Paoli of the Zillow blog offers three scenarios for a typical home she calls 100 Main St.:
  • Buy the home for $300,000 in November 2010 with an interest rate of 4.1%: Monthly payment is $1,159.
  • Buy the home for $294,600 in January 2011 with an interest rate of 4.7%: Monthly payment is $1,222.
  • Buy the home for $276,924 in January 2012 with an interest rate of 5.1%: Monthly payment is $1,285.

Your Commute

Real Estate
Drive times to work continue to grow as consumers seek less expensive housing and are willing to commute further for a job. The number of people with commutes over 60 minutes rose from 6.7 million in 1990 to 10.4 million in 2009 according to Census data. Also, commutes greater than 90 minutes rose from 1.76 million to 3.2 million. Courtesy of Realtor.org by G.M. Filisko
How long is your commute?

On the Up Swing!

Real Estate

Consumer confidence is rebounding with recent upswings in durable good purchases such as automobiles and furniture, showing consumers are less afraid of losing jobs and income. According to Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft, by and large the housing price slump will bottom out mid 2011, noting that some areas have already seen price increases in homes. Spring 2011 will be the perfect time to jump into the market, with low prices and still low interest rates.

Who Is Buying?

Real Estate
All cash purchases of real estate are at the highest level since the National Association of Realtors (NAR) started keeping track of whether homes were bought with cash or financed. For the third consecutive month existing homes sales have continued to rise. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun says, “The uptrend in home sales in consistent with improvements in the economy and jobs, which are helping boost consumer confidence.The extremely favorable housing affordability conditions are a big factor, but buyers have been constrained by unnecessarily tight credit. As a result, there are abnormally high levels of all-cash purchases, along with rising investor activity.”

To Sell or Not to Sell…

Real Estate
Some sellers are hesitant to put their homes on the market and compete with short sale property prices, but buyers are looking at all inventory on the market and in many cases choosing to purchase homes that are not short sales. Due to the time constraints and complications of purchasing short sales, many buyers are opting to purchase homes that are in good condition, priced correctly and not short sales.
Contact Jerry for a Free Comparative Market Analysis on your home.