Time to Buy!

A survey says real estate is still the best investment.  That combined with low mortgage rates and speedy closing times makes it the perfect time to buy a house!

A recent Gallop Poll of about 1,000 U.S. adults shows Americans rank real estate as the best long-term investment for two years in a row.  It’s lead is increasing over other investment choices such as stocks and mutual funds, gold, savings accounts/CDs, and even bonds.  Gold was the top long-term investment choice in 2011.   

"As the average sale price of new homes in the U.S. increased from $259,300 in August 2011 to $348,900 in February of this year, the percentage of Americans picking real estate as the best long-term investment almost doubled," according to Gallup. "During approximately the same time span—from August 2011 to April of this year—gold prices plunged from $1,910 to $1,254 per ounce, and the percentage thinking gold would be the best investment was cut in half."

According to realtormag.com, the poll also revealed that men, overall, think gold is the best long-term investment.  Women tend to favor savings accounts along with those younger than 30.  Renters and home owners, though, both choose real estate as their top long-term investment choice.

A SECOND REASON why it’s a good time to buy a home is that mortgage rates are still low!    Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey that rates mostly remained unchanged this week.  "Volatility in financial markets subsided over the past week, allowing Treasury yields to stabilize," says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac's chief economist. "As a result, the 30-year mortgage rate was mostly flat, up only 1 basis point to 3.59 percent. The release of March's existing-home sales report, which shows monthly growth at 5.1 percent, suggests home buyers are taking advantage of low mortgage rates as the spring home-buying season gets underway."

A THIRD REASON to buy a home is that closing times are speeding up.  Ellie Mae’s latest Origination Insight Report says the average time to close on all mortgage loans dropped to 44 days in March.  That’s the shortest amount of time in a year and really has to do with lenders and real estate professionals having time to adjust to the new mortgage rules that went into effect last October.  Closing timelines were taking a little longer for awhile, but now they’re speeding up again.

Ellie Mae also shows closing rates for all loans rose to 70.6 percent in March.  Closing rates on purchase loans was about 75 percent. 

Also interesting, 67 percent of all closed loans had a FICO score over 700.  Only 12 percent of loan applicants had scores below 650. 

If you or anyone you know is interested Scottsdale Real Estate, please check out my website, www.Realestateforsaleinaz.com, and I’ll be happy to help.