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It is completely stupid and crazy to buy right now? Our market has faired better than most, prices are down a bit but not dramatically. They say we are a year behind the nation...
YOY sales are down 25-30%. Even if we get a place at a good "today's price" are we nuts not to wait until Jan or maybe even later?
Location: Halfway between Number 4 Privet Drive and Forks, WA
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I don't think it is stupid to buy if you can get tomorrow's price today.
Prices for the most part are still declining. Unless you can afford to overpay, but we can't.
I think it also depends on how picky or specific you are - if you find a place that you just LOVE and get get it at the right deal (right deal meaning you can afford it and feel comfortable with the price) then there is nothing stupid about buying now.
If all you want is a "deal", and you have a lot of choices of homes that you could be happy with, then wait a bit. Keep a watch on your market and see what it's doing, and what and how many go pending.
Good luck to you. The market I have been watching has pretty much bottomed and I think we found something we like. And I personally do NOT feel stupid if we should buy right now.
It is completely stupid and crazy to buy right now? Our market has faired better than most, prices are down a bit but not dramatically. They say we are a year behind the nation...
YOY sales are down 25-30%. Even if we get a place at a good "today's price" are we nuts not to wait until Jan or maybe even later?
-Evie
We're in a similar situation. Market still doing better than surrounding areas, prices down a bit but not that much. But we're buying now because we want to stop renting, we don't know what will happen w/ interest rates esp the jumbo conforming loan that might expire at year end, we don't know how far down or when the market would bottom, and we really love the house we found.
When we started looking we planned to just wait until the right house came along at the right price. We found it and are now in escrow. If something goes wrong and we can't close, we'll wait again for the next right house. Good luck!
I would look at a lot of other factors. Do you really need to buy? Must you sell an existing home, or cash out some other investment for the downpayment? What is the average "days on market (DOM)" in your target area? Sales are down, but what about the spread between asking and selling price? How many months of inventory are out there? Stuff like that. If you can google the Case-Schiller data for your area, I'd advise you to take a look at that. I'd take the NAR data with a grain of salt (no offense to the pros here).
But even with all the research available, I don't think anyone has a crystal ball. I'm rather (cough) mature, and I've seen a lot of markets, lived all over the country, bought and sold many times, but this market is a whole new ball game. We may very well be in for a fundamental shift of some sort, that's my intuition, anyway. But where it will all lead I can't say, and I don't think anyone else can, either. It's a case of "living in interesting times." Aren't we lucky?
And if the tribe of financial pundits, including Jim Cramer, had crystal balls, they'd be sipping Margaritas on a private island somewhere, don't you think?
Last edited by scone; 06-17-2008 at 04:47 PM..
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