It's conventional wisdom that you buy low, right? There are some buyers still sitting on the fence waiting for prices to potentially drop more. There are many things waiting buyer have not considered. One will be the rising finance costs when the housing market bounces back.
I saw an article in Time Magazine that prompted this thought:
Let's consider interest rates 1 year ago at 5.5% on a $200,000 home, the average in our area. With a fixed mortgage and a 20% down payment, the monthly payment is $908.46. Let's fast forward to today. Hypothetically if that home were to have a 5% price drop to $190,000 and the rate rises to 6% when the non existent recession ends. With the same down payment, your monthly payment is $911.31. By waiting one year, you increased your payment by $2.85!!! Not to mention you spent one year living in a place you didn't want to be. Generally, over any given five-ten year period, the average appreciation rate of property has been between 6-8%. So what are you waiting for?
Michele Reneau, ABR, GRI, CRS
www.CharlestonRelocationExperts.com
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