Are you scared by everything you have been hearing by the media about the terrible and depressed housing market? Have you decided this is not the time to buy a house and you will "sit tight" until the market gets better? Let me give you a few reasons why this could be a serious mistake on your part.
1. Selection - There is a good and varied selection of homes on the market right now in all price ranges in Payette County. This means that you might be able to finally get the home you really want, instead of just settling, because there are few homes for sale at the time you decide to buy.
2. Interest rates - they are GREAT right now! It doesn't get any better than this. A seemingly minor difference of one percent in the interest rate could mean the difference between getting a home that you really want instead of settling for one that is smaller, or less well-maintained, or has fewer amenities. You should be taking advantage of it. And there are lots of great loan programs available with very low down payments for both first time home buyers AND those who are not first time buyers. Even though the mortgage business has changed a bit over the last year, there are still many excellent loans available for most buyers.
3. Equity - you aren't getting any if you are renting. But, your landlord is getting plenty! Even though appreciation rates have slowed way down, you need to remember that real estate is a cyclical and long-term investment - it has slow periods when there is little, if any, appreciation, and fast periods when the appreciation doubles the value of the home over a relatively short amount of time. It happen everywhere, in every market. Then when people start buying again, the excess inventory gets purchased and after a while there aren't very many houses on the market, and then prices start to go up again. A cycle. Plain and simple. Supply and demand. It happened here in the 80's (and, believe me, that was a LOT worse than what is happening now), the market corrected again in the late 90's, and it is happening again now. But, you need to know, the real estate market can turn on a dime, and if you are waiting until prices get to what you perceive as "rock-bottom" (and you don't REALLY know exactly when that will be - it might have been a week ago, as far as any of us know), and the market starts to go back up again, you could miss the boat big-time.
4. Inflation - When you buy a home with a fixed rate loan, your principal and interest payments remain the same over the life of the loan. But your rent won't stay the same - it goes up every time your landlord's expenses rise. So if you buy a home today with payments of $800 a month, that payment will still be $800 a month in ten years. But today's $800 a month rent will most likely be over $1,000 a month (or MORE) in 10 years. So purchasing a home is a very nice hedge against inflation. And you will be building equity at the same time, so it is a double hedge!
5. Prices - There are some sweet deals out there right now. One of them could be YOUR sweet deal.
I would love the chance to ask the media doomsayers if they own their own homes. My guess is that most of them do - they KNOW owning their own homes is the best thing to do. But telling you that doesn't raise TV ratings or sell newspapers now, does it? They won't tell you that EVERY market, no matter what it is doing, will be profitable for some people. Why not you? Uh oh! Was that YOUR landlord who just called me about the home they saw advertised in the paper? The one they hope to get a good deal on so they can turn around and rent it out to someone who has decided to "sit tight" and wait until the housing market "gets better"?
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