Moving to Phoenix, Right or wrong time to buy? (Gilbert: cul-de-sac, for sale)

[zenlife7]

We decide not to go all the way to the East Coast and decide to move to Phoenix. One thing is that the real estate is scaring me in Phoenix. Is it the right time to buy now or later in the year. Lots of builders are giving so incentives, discounts, and it scares me. Does anyone here think it better to buy next year or what? Will the price continues to go down. By the way we were looking in Surprise, possibly trend homes, or Richmonds. Thanks.

[sablebaby]

It just might be a good time to buy, but no one really knows this. However, right now there are tons of homes for sale and that means you can have your pick and negotiate a good deal. That's always a good thing. Right now ask for the seller to pay all closing costs and close it in your time frame.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by zenlife7

We decide not to go all the way to the East Coast and decide to move to Phoenix. One thing is that the real estate is scaring me in Phoenix. Is it the right time to buy now or later in the year. Lots of builders are giving so incentives, discounts, and it scares me. Does anyone here think it better to buy next year or what? Will the price continues to go down. By the way we were looking in Surprise, possibly trend homes, or Richmonds. Thanks.

Oh you decided to pass on Lake Norman and Ballantyne? I say rent in Phoenix for a while and hurry and buy investment property in Lake Norman If you do that you should be in really good shape.

[AksarbeN]

I heard the news today and they said the housing market was the worst it has ever been in 18 years.

That being said, you have to live someplace and the market is bad all over the country. The only good thing about this area is that there are always retirees moving here getting out of the cold winters.

I would not buy and house unless I knew the area well. It’s easy to buy one, but harder to sell it if you find out all of a sudden that it’s too far from work, or not as nice of a neighborhood that you first thought it was, etc. So I’d rent something for 6 months and look all over the place doing my fact gathering first. I hate renting but 6 months of rent payments could save me thousands in buying the in the wrong location.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by AksarbeN

I heard the news today and they said the housing market was the worst it has ever been in 18 years.

That being said, you have to live someplace and the market is bad all over the country. The only good thing about this area is that there are always retirees moving here getting out of the cold winters.

I would not buy and house unless I knew the area well. It’s easy to buy one, but harder to sell it if you find out all of a sudden that it’s too far from work, or not as nice of a neighborhood that you first thought it was, etc. So I’d rent something for 6 months and look all over the place doing my fact gathering first. I hate renting but 6 months of rent payments could save me thousands in buying the in the wrong location.

The housing market may be bad in most areas but not Charlotte. Big boom happening there.

[Nice Nice Baby!]

Nationwide the market showed it's weakest report. Some of this is data, not all, is compared to previous boom years. It's back to levels seen in 2003 which was a better than normal year. The thing that has some people scared is the high inventory which is good news for the buyer. Prices have been dropping. Look at the fundamentals in the market and you'll see that buyers still flock to Phoenix metro and March showed signs of life here with an upward trend in resales. It's a matter of time before things become balanced. Like another post suggested, rent out first to become familiar, then buy before the market balances which won't take as long as some media want to scare you into thinking!

[Ponderosa]

If you are thinking new build you might consider that historically, even in normal pre-2005 times, it was hard to get a nice lot in a desireable sub-division. By nice lot, I mean a cul-de-sac, a lot on a desert preserve, or even a quiet corner. People camped out in front of models or got in a lottery to have a nice lot. And I mean BEFORE the boom madness.

Right now, builders have those nice lots available and they have even discounted them. If you wait too long, they might be gone.

[zenlife7]

Where would you spend your $400K on a home, of course looking for the good school system, good commute to tempe, a nice safe neighborhood to raise a family. I will rent for 6 months as I don't want to mess this up. Any suggestions.

[MovinFromUT]

I completely agree with Ponderosa. And even though this isn't the right place to post, I also agree with you Ponderosa about the "trolls". We moved here from Utah three months ago, and I depended on this forum for about 95% of my information. We wound up buying a home in which I'm very pleased with. We found what and where we wanted, and bought instead of rented. We have a son and we felt that buying would help him feel more at 'home' than renting. Do your research. Find out first off where your work is. Then, read up on all of the information that you can about the surrounding areas that aren't far from your work. I can promise you that if you can afford it, you want to stay as close to your work as possible. Do your research on your builders too. Look at their current builds going on right now. You can see a lot of the skeleton of the home, and the quality, or lack of, by doing that. That helped us tremendously. We bought a quality built home, in a nice subdivision. Yes, it's a cookie cutter home, but we love it. We also love the area. I don't know where you're from, but with us coming from Utah, we were used to low crime. There is crime here. Mostly property crime. But, most of it can be prevented. It's just common sense.
Good luck to you, and ask on the forum about certain areas. I've found this forum to be VERY useful for information.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by zenlife7

Where would you spend your $400K on a home, of course looking for the good school system, good commute to tempe, a nice safe neighborhood to raise a family. I will rent for 6 months as I don't want to mess this up. Any suggestions.

Gilbert...................................