LENDER’S VIEWPOINT
By Forest Tardibuono, Guy In The White Hat
See why it IS the time to buy a home!
I feel like it is my calling to promote home ownership in America. You might think I have an inherent conflict of interest as I currently own a mortgage and real estate company and have been in the business for more than 23 years doing just that. And that is absolutely true. Unless someone in my vicinity is buying, selling or financing a home, I don’t make a living.
So when faced with the above conflict, don’t buy into my enthusiasm for the American Dream but look at the facts and decide for yourself. I mean really look at the facts and what they mean. That really is what I do as a professional in this field is give people facts, the good the bad and the ugly and let them make an informed decision.
By the way, a gloomy headline in your local newspaper or on the radio or internet is not a fact. Someone, usually not an expert in the field they are reporting in, gathers information about a topic of interest and writes an article. They then look it over, and create a headline for it that is anywhere from alarming to horribly bad. They do that in the hopes that you will read it.
If you are stopped at all from buying a home even though you know you should, stop reading the darn press! Stop listening to the news. Bad news sells newspapers – a fact. I read a recent article that the worse the world events, the more people read the newspaper. They are trying to keep abreast of what is going on and the most widespread mediums they are looking to for information deal in bad news! It stifles you!
Onto the really good news: The above headline is an absolutely key indicator of why you should buy a home right now. In any area you may live, the rough gauge of investor buying is all cash deals. Not all cash deals are by investors but like I say, it is a rough gauge.
In March 2011 in Sonoma County California where I live, all cash transactions accounted for 28% of the homes sold. All cash purchases have accounted for about 10% of the sales over the last decade, but became more common as home prices declined. What do investors know that keep them buying in spite of the bad news? They are probably cheering all the bad news because it keeps competition for these rock bottom home prices to a minimum. They know to buy because the homes bought today can cash-flow. They are buying today because the homes, in my County for instance, are at 50 cents on the dollar from 5 years ago and there will likely not be an opportunity like this again!
So follow their lead. Investors are investors for a reason. Very key indicator.
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