Paul Silver wrote in his article on Active Rain that now is a great time to buy and I agree. This last year has had home buyers holding their breath trying to decide whether to buy now or wait out what was starting to appear to be a possible bubble burst for Rhode Island. Being in the business has helped me watch the home prices very carefully everyday in our local MLS program. As the year went on, the prices started falling, slowly at first, then a little more drastically. Homes began to wilt on the market for longer periods of time.

Photo from Birdsandbeacons by Ann Searle

It took some getting used to after the amazing growth that was prevalent throughout Rhode Island in the past few years! Sellers were horrified that homes they had purchased in the last two years were now worth less than what they originally paid for them! Foreclosures were starting to creep up. Where two years ago, the foreclosure page in the Providence Journal  was not completely full, now they were up to four complete pages! The boom was over!

What does this mean to you.

Selling right now is probably not your best move. If you can possibly hold off for awhile you would benefit. If you have to you can always rent out your property to cover your payments, watch the market and decide when it will be a better time to sell.

If you are considering buying, now that is another matter altogether. Now is the time! If you have been debating with yourself and feeling like the surplus of homes on the market means that escalating home prices have stopped, then you are right!   They have. Not only do you have a much wider choice in homes, locations and anemities, but you can buy that fixer upper you have been hankering for. Get out of that rental apartment.