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What is the housing market going to do? What is the best time to buy a home?

We are looking to buy a new home (primary residence), but are anxious given the state of the housing market these days. There is a house we are particularly interested in, but it is a new listing and we aren't sure the sellers have felt the full effect of the soft market yet. How long should we wait before we put in an offer? (They have already had a small drop in price after their first week of having listed the place). Thanks

Public Comments

1. If ou live in an area that had a bug run-up like California, houses will keep falling until 2010-11.
2. The housing market is tied to the banking (mortgage) market. They were giving mortgages away to anyone that had mortgage payment money. Now that it is harder to get a mortgage it is harder to sell a house so the price will fall. The builder has very little cushion so if the house fits your budget, you plan on staying there longer than five years, and you can get a loan. I would buy soon.
3. Real estate markets are local in nature so it is difficult to estimate what will happen when you make your offer. It is a good time to buy because rates have came down and in most areas it is a Buyer's market. But in some areas we are seeing a more normal appreciation than the appreciation we have seen in the past 3-5 yrs. (which was over inflated anyway) Make your offer and you will quickly see where the motivation is. Go For It!
4. If they are listed with a Realtor, hopefully that Realtor has prepared them for the type of market they are in. As a buyer, I am certain you have researched your market so you can formulate your offer. Some people have priced appropriately out of the box and won't accept lower offers. And considering it is a new listing, they may want to see what the market will bear. Have your Realtor run comps to see if they are priced right, or if they have some work to do.
5. WHEN YOUVE GOT THE MONEY.
6. at the moment property is on a down hill slope, in most places. and it isn't going to be going up to soon. wait as long as you can to put up an offer. also you can have an realstate agent come apraise the property to get a set value on the home, and what it could be worth in the next ten years.
7. If you the funds it is always a good idea to buy a house. Right now it is a buyer's market so you can negotiate prices much lower than their listings. With interest rates dropping & if you have a good credit than you would get a favorable mortage rate. As far as when the market will hit floor... nobody know for sure. It depends on location. where jobs are abundunt the price will be stable and pick-up once the credit crunch is over. Location Location Location - if you decide to buy in suburbia the price will keep dropping (i think) until the end of this year. Research how many foreclosure has this area has, how many subprime houses sold, the rate of decline mean price... new houses being built, how many houses were sold. - the information is available to local realtors or easily calcutated using public information.
8. Now the answer is now. If u invest 20000 in a 100000 home and in one year your princeable goes down 1000 and your home goes up in value 2% thats 103000 15% on your 20000 invesment, the arvrege rate is more like 6% though but you cant go rong. "BUY LAND THEY ARENT MAKEING ANY MORE OF IT"
9. At the moment house prices are going down so i'd hang on atleast until summer to see what happens as i am trying to sell my house at the moment and the estate agent said no-one is biting because the droppping of house prices worry.