Marjory Stromme: deffinately Buy, if u can afford the responsiblities of ownership......no one will come to take care of the maintanance anymore!...You will be on your own when things break, need repairs or updates, and with OWNING , you will have your share of these things down the way!.....something to think about..
Lia Argall: it's a great time to buy if you are prepared for homeownership. Interest rates are still low and now home prices are low too. Buyers will not have this opportunity again for many years to come, at least not like it is now. For those buyers that were lucky enough to have waited the market out; they are going to be the winners in a few years when our equity begins to increase again- and it will. You only have to look at history and you will see that real estate is an excellent investment. If you don't have the 20 percent to put down and you are buying a primary residence you can still get in a home. Shop around for a good loan. Get a go! od faith estimate from your lenders and let them compete for your business. Make sure you purchase a home you can afford. Keep your debt to income ratio managable. You have lots of homes to compare and shop from. The lowest price is not always the best deal. Get an inspection on the home you choose to offer on. Use a good real estate agent. Have fun and congratuations to you for being in the right place at the right time!...Show more
Lawanna Livsey: Right now is a smart time to buy if your financial picture (job security, saving potential) looks good and you aren't looking to greatly increase your monthly cost for housing expense from your current rent(no more than 30-35% of your gross income). You don't need 15-20% as a down payment to buy a home.You can buy a home with as little as 3.5% down payment on an FHA LOAN.The rates are great and if you're a first time home buyer, you will be eligible for the first time homebuyer tax credit if you close before 12/1/200! 9.(of course you should consult your tax professional on this ! item)Find a Realtor that you can trust and then get a pre-approval for your home loan in advance.The Realtor will let you know if you're in a soft market or if you'll be competing for a good property. If you're looking at Bank owned properties, you will need a pre-approval before you can submit your offer. My advice would be to stay away from a short-sale situation (your Realtor can explain this term), but they are complicated and are subject to not only your qualification, but the financial qualification of the seller too. A big unnecessary headache.I've been a lender for over 35 years and if you get the right Finance and Realtor partners to help you in your search, you will definitely be in a good position to make a good deal and a sound investment for your future.Good Luck,Dorene LuBawyBank of America Home LoansReno, Nevada...Show more
Logan Bero: If you can buy and still be comfortable with the payments and can get a good deal, then I think now is the time. The! re are a lot of good deals that you can get on houses, especially where I live (I don't know about there), so go for it. I suggest going to a new home builder and getting a spec/inventory home. Haggle with them, as they usually will take up to 10-20 grand off, maybe more.
Jose Bouliouris: It is almost always best to own real estate, not only for peace of mind, knowing it's yours to do with as you wish within certain governmental guidelines, but you may derive additional tax benefits. First time buyers - that's great! Select 3 loan companies and get information on their programs and ASK if they have "first time buyers money"?. If not go to the next one. You may have to take a couple of classes, but it's well worth the investment in time. Once you've selected the loan company, make an application with them. Then select 3 Realtors, ones that have a GRI or CRS designation. They have more experience and knowledge, they work the business full time. Select one you're comfort! able with and that understands what you may want in your new home. Pick! a good listener. And Wala! You will be a homeowner in no time. Oh, and you can buy before you get married and have a home waiting for you after the wedding. Good Luck! Best Wishes!...Show more
Jeff Frizzell: YOu should buy now, because your Landowner will see that the house market is increasing again after the recession. He will increase you rent, so you might as well buy the house, but MAKE SURE you get a FIXED RATE MORTGAGE. these adjustable rates got us in this recession. Also, buying now is cheep with low interest rates
Darrel Stele: Ok, let me be the voice of reason here and no one iwll like it, but I am concerned about your long term happiness.. Everyone of those people out there getting foreclosed on are in their situation because they wanted to own a home, they didn't have a significant down payment, they didn't have significant savings for emergencies, they listened to those saying this is a great time to buy a home.House prices will keep falling in m! ost places because those prices are still dangerously high compared to incomes and rents. Banks say a safe mortgage is a maximum of 3 times the buyer's yearly income with 20% downpayment. Landlords say a safe price is a maximum of 15 times the tenant's yearly rent. Yet in coastal areas, like CT, both those safety rules are still being violated. Buyers are still borrowing 6 times their income and putting only 3% down, and sellers are still asking 30 times annual rent, even after recent price declines. Renting is a cash business that reflects what people can really pay based on their salary, not how much they can borrow. Salaries and rents prove that prices will keep falling for a long time. Anyone who bought a "bargain" this time last year is already sitting on a very painful loss.This is ok if you are going to stay somewhere forever, but the fact is that very few people live in their homes very long these days and unplanned for events like divorce or disability can lead to ! a forced sale and an imppossible task when you only put 3% down as you ! have no equity - even to cover the rel estate commisions on the sale - assuming that the house has not lost value in the meantime. It's still much cheaper to rent than to own the same size and quality house, in the same school district. On the coasts, yearly rents are less than 3% of purchase price and mortgage rates are 6%, so it costs twice as much to borrow money to buy a house than it does to borrow (rent) the house itself. Worse, total owner costs including taxes, maintenance, and insurance come to about 9% of purchase price, which is three times the cost of renting. Buying a house is still a very bad deal for the buyer on the coasts, but it does make sense to buy in Michigan and some other places where prices have fallen into line with salaries and rents. Check whether you should rent or buy in your own area with this NY Times calculator. (see link below)The bottom will be here when buying a house to rent out clearly makes money. Then you'll know it's safe to buy for ! yourself. At that point it will rent can cover the mortgage and all expenses if necessary, eliminating most of the risk. For a rough indication of the wisdom of buying a house, look at the yearly-rent/purchase-price ratio for the model of house in question: 3% = do not buy6% = borderline9% = ok to buySo for example, it's OK to pay $133,000 for a house that would cost you $1,000 per month to rent. That's $12,000 per year in rent, divided by $133,000, so about 9%. But it is foolish to pay $400,000 for that same house, because renting it would cost you only 3% of that per year. Renting in that case means getting the use of the house for free, paying only the property tax and maintenance (which are about 3%). So work the New york times rent or buy calculator for any deal and be brutlly honest with yourself - this is no time to oplug in rose ideas of 10% equity gains each year. remember if youa re seeing bargins in your market it is becuase prices are falling in your market and! may continue to so you must factor in the possibility of loss ar at le! ast of no gain in equity.Use extreme care in this market. For what it is worth I am in a nearby market and got out of real estte in 2006 and have been renting waiting for the bottom which is no where near yet....Show more
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