My wife and I have saved 30,000 dollars to buy a house. Houses seemed overpriced now though. Should we wait?

Answer 1

yes. housing is off now. winter is a good time to buy as they are cheaper.

Answer 2

It really depends on your own personal situation and the market where you are.

Where I live, house prices are slowly dropping but waterfront condo prices are soaring.

What is your rent situation? Is it high, low or just average? If your rent is low or average, waiting won't hurt you one bit. If your rent is really high, trading that for a decent mortgage could be a smart idea.

How is your credit? The better your credit, the better loan deal you can get. If you fall into the A credit range, your payments will be signifiantly less than if you have to go to a C or D lender. If you are a B, this won't affect you very much at all, unless you can find a way to jack yourself up to an A in less than a year.

Do you live in an area where there are heavy winters like Minnesota or New Hampshire or something? If you do, home sales slow quite a bit then and you may be able to get a good deal from a distressed owner (transferred and they have to sell fast, job loss, etc).

Most people whose income depends on you buying a house (lenders & realtors mostly) will always want you to buy a house right now, but that isn't always in your best interest.

You need to sit down with some loan calculators (real good ones are available for free online) using real rates and terms that you qualify for, some home prices, actual monthly real estate tax amounts for those homes, insurance costs, etc and do the math to find out what would be best for you right now.

In the end, real estate always goes up. Houses always cost more 10 years from now than they do today ... BUT in the space of a year or two or even three, they can take some real dives.

You can track this by looking at what homes sold for a year ago versus two years ago in your area and match that against how long houses are on the market now and the current prices.

Watch what is going on with prices without becoming emotionally involved, and you will see trends that will help you make you decision after you have an idea of the realistic financial implications.

Answer 3

I'm in a similar situation. Your wife and I have some money saved and...just kidding. There are a lot of variables here. Are you looking for a new place to live or an investment? With that down payment and a conventional loan are the payments acceptable to you? How long do you intend to keep the house?
If you can live with the payments and are looking to stay there forever, no time like the present. But if you're looking to flip a property, you're too late to the party. Contrary to what a previous
poster wrote, housing prices DO drop. They are falling and probably will continue to fall. For how long and how much, nobody can say for sure. Often the bottom of a market is 40% less than the high. You can use that as a rough guide. You may want to sit tight for another year or so. If you're thinking more long term; if your grandpa paid too much for a house 40 years ago and then willed it to you, how much would it have appreciated?

Answer 4

The longer you put off buying a home, the longer you will be renting without any equity at all in the purchase. If you are looking to buy for a primary home, start looking now. The nice down payment will mean that you won't have PMI insurance to pay and you'll start getting tax deductions right away. You don't have to start with a million dollar home. Get a starter home that you can eventually sell and then when you buy your next home, pay cash for it. Even having equity in a condo where you can live for the next 5-10 years is better than renting. Don't put all of your savings on a home. It makes no sense to pay 6% on a mortgage and 12-18% on credit cards. Have some backup savings for repairs or to carry you though in a period of unemployment.

Answer 5

Hello Kieth B,

I think you should make a few offers under market value. All they can do is say no. You maybe able to find a property under stress (loss of job, divorce, relocating, etc.) Check out www.forsalebyowner.com to learn what the market is doing in your preferred area. Check on the mls websites as well. Then you can use www.zillow.com , http://realestate.yahoo.com/Homevalues,
http://www.housevalues.com , www.homeadvisor.msn.com, www.real-comp.com to get a feel for values as well. The key is buying a property under stress if you want to get the most for your money.

I think it is very important to also decide if you need to use all the 30k for down payment. If you don't have more than 30k put away I would recommend not using all of it for down payment and instead using a portion of it for an emergency fund. Also, look into several financing options when it comes time to finding a mortgage professional to work with. You can leverage your mortgage to create a huge savings account and or retirement fund. Or to pay off existing debt. Or creat a college fund for the kids. Feel free to email me with any questions.

Kindest Regards,

Anthony

Answer 6

Everyones different. To be honest though It think the same as you! Im not into the whole being the center of attention thing, and me and my husband both saw a "wedding" as a waste of money. We wanted to be married, we just were not that excited about the marrying part. Everyone tried to talk me into the big fancy wedding thing and how romantic it is. All I could think was "if we want to be romantic we can be romantic any day our our lives we dont have to blow our life savings to do that" and also the whole people looking at me thing completly drains the situation of its romance anyway. So yup we made the same decision, we got married at the courthouse. Then we celebrated with our very first trip over seas together. A whole week of alone time on a tropical island was my idea of romance and we still came home with most of our savings intact for our house deposit. We spent less on our courthouse wedding and honeymoon then most people spend on just the one day lol. But in saying that, I know other people dream of the big fancy wedding their whole lifes. Me and you may not get why they are so happy to sign over tens of thousands of dollars for one party but it makes them happy so thats all that counts. Im sure all those brides and....well maybe a couple of the grooms are happy with their choice of investment and so each to their own. I know most of my friends think it was sad that I had such a low key wedding. I dont mind, Im happy with my decision and would do it all again in a heartbeat. The world would be a boring place if we were all the same

Answer 7

It is a buyers market in most areas. Any time in the next 6 months will be okay ~ but without knowing where you are, it's hard to really give good advice. If this is a house you plan on staying in for any length of time, it doesn't matter. Just find the perfect house, and negoitate yourself the best deal possible.

Answer 8

We may be in a false appreciation market but on the other hand rates are low I have seen fixed rates as high as 17%. Values may go down but then rates would go up. Buy build equity and the income tax deduction is beneficial plus you have pride of ownership.

Answer 9

It depends on where you live. In Michigan it is a buyers market because of our depressed economy. So if your state is not in an economic downturn keep saving and buy when the market favors the buyer.

Answer 10

No one will be able to give you advice with the information you have provided. You need to talk to a financial advisor and maybe local real estate experts. This is a life changing decision, do not do anything based on the answers you read here!!!!

Answer 11

Yes, wait until it is a Buyer's-Market, It can save you a lot of money in the long run.