Real Estate: This Is The Best Time To Buy

[sparker1]

People here complain that they can only sell their home by lowering the price by a significant percentage. So what, if you are planning to buy another, its sale price will be reduced by a comparable percentage. If you are buying "up", the savings amount will exceed the loss on selling the old place. Only if you are downsizing is it a real loss. all the taxes and fees based on sale price will also be less. What am I missing?

[R]

People here complain that they can only sell their home by lowering the price by a significant percentage. So what, if you are planning to buy another, its sale price will be reduced by a comparable percentage. If you are buying "up", the savings amount will exceed the loss on selling the old place. Only if you are downsizing is it a real loss. all the taxes and fees based on sale price will also be less. What am I missing?

...that most people have lost much of their equity, and still owe as much or more than their homes are worth.

[DaveOU812]

IMO the market is bottoming out and start to rebound. I say if your gonna jump in, do it now.

[Sombeech]

That's true, you sell cheap, but you buy cheap.

And most people can choose to just stay in their homes. Moving every couple of years into bigger houses is really just a luxury.

This equity you put in your home right now, it will go right back up within a year.

[Joe Gardner]

Real estate is local. If your planing on holding for more then just a few years, now may be good, 18 months from now may be better... hedge your bets, take a lease option.

[Gutpiler_Utahn]

Market reports show the real estate market is seriously over-saturated. In '06, it was rare for a house to be on the market more than three and a half months. Now, the turn around time is more like ten and a half months.

If I could I would be buying a house right now. A buddy of mine in Ogden bought a house recently appraised at $460K for $310K. Still, that's WAY out of my price range. Back in KS, that much money would buy you a house the Jones' would be jealous of. I hate the housing market in UT. Especially since one good earthquake and property values would crash to levels not seen in a decade.

My plan is to rent until my career is solidly entrenched and then get the he77 outa dodge. Go someplace that will pay me more money and yet real estate values are more reasonable. I guess it's all in where ytou're raised. If you're FROM here, then it's all normal and places like KS are crazy for selling so cheap. Me, I think whoever decides on values here needs to be incarcerated for price gouging.

Ok... I'll get off my soap box...

[MY T PIMP]

From what I here houses under 200k are staying strong and selling strong and appreciating. I here it's the ones over 200k that are depreciating and are the good deals out there. At least for this area anyways.

[DaveOU812]

I am looking right now. Planning on Eagle Mountain. I can ride a motorcycle out of the garage. Prices are pretty good and I think the market is gonna go up for the next couple of years.

[Scott Card]

Prices are pretty good and I think the market is gonna go up for the next couple of years.

I don't know man. I just heard that oil hit $108 a barrel moments ago, the GDP has flat lined based on reports out today....etc. It may take more than a "couple" of years for moderate to high priced homes anyway. I think it will take some time for the mortgage fiasco to work its way out. Lower priced homes will continue to do well but anything over 300 is sitting for a long time and prices are dropping. Last I heard, everything in Utah over 450k did not sell in December or January (or something similar to that). Wages in Utah cannot support the current prices. The only way many folks were getting the ginorams homes was on the interest only plan with an ARM or by financing and immediately refinancing to more than the home was worth. That seems like purchasing a prison to me. Bad financial strategy. Better to rent, get a savings account, pay a high down payment and have a low mortgage/payment than just jump into something that has you swimming for your financial life. This may also sound anti american but we need to, sooner or later, lower our american dream expectations and go after that which makes us truly happy. That American dream has become too many people's ultimate nightmare. My two cents.....

[sparker1]

Go someplace that will pay me more money and yet real estate values are more reasonable.

Unfortunately, salaries and housing prices often go hand in hand.

[Scott Card]

Go someplace that will pay me more money and yet real estate values are more reasonable.

Unfortunately, salaries and housing prices often go hand in hand.

For some reason, Utah didn't get the message.

[Gutpiler_Utahn]

Often yes, but not always. In any case, I don't blame folks for falling for the interest only mortgages. That was a disaster just looking to happen. Truth be told, the interest only mortgage is not a bad thing, if used properly. The reason being that it was created for the investor and not so folks could get into financial devestation. You buy a house you can afford if you had a regular 30-yr fixed mortgage. Instead, you go with the interest only loan and take the difference in the house payments and invest it elsewhere. When the arm comes due, you can still afford the house if you refi-ed at the 30yr rate but have the option to refi on another arm.

It's just like this rebate the govt is sending folks. It's meant to invest and help people out. Instead, most folks, myself included, will spend it on things they don't need.

Considering my current rent is $550, I just can't see myself tripling that for a 3/2 house. Argh, it burns my hide...