Is This a Good Time to Buy?
If you’ve been paying attention, you already know my answer: it depends.
Prices are certainly lower than they were two years ago. In some cases, a lot lower. But that old adage still applies: Just because something has fallen in price doesn’t mean it’s cheap. In fact, I believe we have a long way to go before hitting bottom. It may take years for prices to recover. Whether you should buy depends on the answers to quite a few questions, including:
- Are you upgrading from a less expensive home? If so, the longer you wait as prices fall, the more you’ll save on the house you buy than you’ll lose on the house you sell.
- Are you downsizing? Then the reverse is true. You’ll lose more on the house you sell than you’ll save on the house you buy. Take action as quickly as possible.
- Will you kick yourself if you miss the next real estate boom?
- Can you imagine yourself renting for a few years? (Hint: it’s what I decided to do when the market peaked.)
- Are you honestly willing to pay a fair market price for your home, or do you demand a bargain?
- Do you have a choice? Or is your employer/spouse/school the real decider-in-chief?
The truth is, buying a home isn’t the right choice for everyone. A good Realtor® will tell you when it isn’t. That’s a sure sign he cares more about helping you in the long term than about making sales in the near term, don’t you think?
Michael A. Kupritz, GRI, MBA has more than twenty years' experience buying, selling, and renovating homes and is Principal Broker of The Kupritz Group, a full-service, discount real estate brokerage in Baltimore, Maryland. Although you may not be able to tell from this blog, Mike has a degree in writing from The Johns Hopkins University. He also earned an MBA in business strategy and information technology from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. Reach him directly by writing to makupritz at this domain.