..."Is this a Good Time to BUY?"

I received an email this Christmas evening, through my website,  with a question which every potential buyer must be asking themselves right now..."Is this a Good Time to BUY?"

Well, here is the actual email I received and the return answer I provided...

Comments:
i'm moving into the area and am indecisive whether to jump into a full fledged mortgage. can you tell me whether it's a good time to buy? thanks, aaron

My Answer:
Aaron,

You sure have asked a loaded question...one that has so many variables...most of which depend on you and your own personal situation.

I can say over time, you will always be better off building your own equity in your own home as opposed to helping a landlord feed his investments.

There is speculation that interest rates are back on their way up - no one can say for certain, but it is my gut feeling supported by many so called 'experts'.

It is certainly a 'buyers market' which translates into a lot of inventory to choose from and the ability to control the transaction better than in the past.

The question that looms is the price of homes going to go down. If I only had a crystal ball...

My thought is that it will not go down as bad as it did in the early 90's. 2 Important economic indicators will prevent that. 1) we still have historically low interest rates; as in the 90's they were close to historically high; and 2) today, we have very low unemployment.  So I cannot see a class of homeowners being wiped out.

Real Estate is like any other commodity, governed by the principle of 'Supply & Demand'. In California, we will always have people moving here - both from outside our borders as well as across the nation.

I personally believe that now is a good time to buy. The worse case scenario is you may take a 3-6% hit in value over the next year, maybe 2 before we see a rebound, for the reasons stated. When you consider the tax advantages and other benefits you receive by being a home owner the reward far outweighs the risk.

I hope you can accept this as an unbiased opinion. Yes, I have a vested interest in the industry, but this does not change my opinion.

If you would like to discuss over the phone, please send me your number and the best time to contact you. Of course, if I can assist you in any way, I am at your service.

Sincerely,

JOHN OCCHI, HEMET REALTOR