Is now a good time to buy a house, given the change in the economy?

Hello my name is Ron Blue, and one of the questions that I get right now especially is, "Is this a good time to buy a home?"

Well, the answer to that is probably, "Yes, it is a good time to buy.” That doesn't mean that you SHOULD buy, but probably now is a good time TO buy.

I was visiting with a man just a week or so ago, and they had sold their home in Orlando and they were moving to Seattle; and he had quite a bit in cash, because they had a debt-free home in Orlando. And he was bemoaning the fact that a home's a lot more expensive in Seattle than what he was able to get in Orlando. Well, my counsel to him was, if you've got $200,000 in cash (he had almost $200,000 in cash from the sale of his home) you are in the driver's seat. So, even though somebody is asking $500,000 for a home, with cash, this is a good time to go in and to make an offer. You don't have to offer the asking price.

I think if you've got the ability to buy today without straining your own finances, then this is a really, really good time to buy.
But, people are not necessarily rational in what they are asking for their house, because what it was worth two years ago is not what it's worth today. A home is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. And, the market has absolutely changed. This is a great time to buy, a really bad time to sell. However, if you have to sell in order to buy, you should at the very least approach relativity. In other words, you're selling at a lower price, but you should be buying at a lower price also. So, if you need to buy, this is a really good time to buy.

Click here for the April 23, 2009 Blog Entry