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2008 is the Best Year
to Buy a Home
FACT #1: SOME SIX MILLION AMERICANS ARE
EXPECTED TO BUY A HOME THIS YEAR. Six million people
in the game make up a pretty big game. That's a level of sales
equal to the one we experienced in 1998-by all accounts, a
pretty good year.
FACT #2: THERE IS STILL OVER $23 TRILLION OF
VALUE IN U.S. HOUSING STOCK. Home ownership continues
to be the basis of our wealth in this country.
FACT #3: THE HOUSING MARKET CANNOT HELP BUT
GROW. Our country's tremendous wealth, liquidity, and
entrepreneurship will continue to drive our economy. 70-100
million people will be added to our market in the next 40
years.
FACT #4: REAL ESTATE IS CYCLICAL. The
biggest fear in good times is that the fair weather won't last
forever-because it doesn't. But the reality of a cyclical real
estate market also provides its brightest hope in bad
times-foul weather won't last forever either. What's happening
today is a market correction, severe in some places, but it's
not the end of the world. As shown by Fact #1, people are
still buying and selling homes. The markets will
stabilize.
FACT #5: 2008 IS THE BEST YEAR TO BUY A HOME IN
35 YEARS. 1973 was the last time mortgage rates were
this low in a buyer's market. We had rates this low in 2001
and 2002, but those were strong seller's markets with little
inventory. The last two big buyer's markets, in the early '80s
and early '90s had much higher rates. Low rates and good
inventory make 2008 the best year to buy in
decades!
FACT #6: FIRST-TIME HOME BUYERS HAVE A REAL
ADVANTAGE IN TODAY'S MARKET. First-time home buyers
can buy at a reduced price without having to sell a home too.
Today's 'starter' homes can be pretty impressive. Higher
limits on lower cost conforming loans help first-time home
buyers purchase more home for their money.
FACT #7: FIRST-TIME BUYERS LOSE MONEY WHILE
THEY WAIT ON THE SIDELINES. First, renters typically
pay more state and federal income taxes than homeowners with a
mortgage deduction. Renters are also losing the wealth they
could be accumulating as they pay down their mortgage and as
their home increases in value over time (as it surely will).
Lastly, renters who wait to buy will lose money if interest
rates increase by the time they finally act. Higher payments
from higher interest rates represent money buyers could have
kept if they had bought earlier. Conversely, if they were
willing to spend that amount of money earlier, they could have
bought more home.
FACT #8: HOMES SELL WHEN THEY'RE PRICED RIGHT
AND SHOW WELL. Buyers are looking for value in
today's market. When sellers make their home's value obvious,
they make a sale-it's as simple as that.
...Happy
4th of July! | 
