Where is real estate market going? Are home values going to continue their downward trend, or have we hit bottom? Home buyers are wondering if now is the time to buy or if they should wait a little longer to enter the market.
Buying a home should first and foremost be a decision that is made based on what your family needs are at the time. Timing the market, or looking for the best possible bargain is a good strategy, but it doesn't make sense to put off a major move in order to try to time the real estate market. If the timing is right for the move, don't worry about the timing of the real estate market because long-term, home values will go up.
That being said, whether or not we have hit the bottom of the recent housing crisis is impossible to know. The economy continues to struggle, and there are signs that we have not yet seen the end of the decline in prices. Many experts are predicting that 2008 will be the worst of it, and we will then start to slowly recover, and housing will return to a more normal upward appreciation trend.
Even given this prediction, now is an incredible time to find bargains and to buy a home. Buyers are few and far between, and home listings are sitting on the market for longer. Downward or upward trends are so market-specific, even differing between neighborhoods in the same city, that I highly recommend you talk to an experienced Realtor.
COMMENTS
[ Posted by Chris Watts, November 20, 2007 13:38 ]
This is right on the money.