Do you think this is a good or bad time to be buying real estate?

[Galaxie Girl]

I'm just curious to hear what other people's thought processes are on this topic. Here's mine:

The Fannie and Freddie bailout, although I'm not a fan of it, should ease up on those giving out loans, making it a little easier to get a loan than it was, say, a month or two ago. However, the housing market still looks dim, and the long-term prospect of getting a loan isn't that great, but will only get worse in the next year or so. All that said, the market will eventually turn around. I personally think buying would be smarter in the next several months, rather than waiting until a year or 18 months from now, at least for people who need most of the purchase price (over 80%) as a loan, because loans will become harder to get. Once we get through this downturn and things pick up, values will rise and owners will have quite a bit of equity to use for more investments.

Anywho, that's my thoughts on it. Yours?

[She It I do]

Empty land fine go to it
.
A piece of land with any building on it
Kind of stand back and play Sherlock Holmes looking at it
.
Thinking is it or will it be worth it in 10 years
.
If you have to say to yourself
I'll think about it walk away a do not return
.

[LeAnne]

I think it's a good, solid and tangible investment - and a hell of a lot better than a portfolio full of Enron, World Com, Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac, etc...etc....stocks.

[goldenbrowngod]

I'd wait a bit

yes price are low but they are expect to get even lower in the future.

assuming the value of houses will go up to the value that they used to be may not be a smart move because a lot of homes where over valued in the first place.

now price may go back up a bit or they may just end up leveling out.

I think it will be a good thing if loans are a little harder to get. One of the reason for the real estate market crash is because banks where to lose with giving people loans they couldn't pay.

[HeadLiner]

good time.

Prices on expensive houses are dropping.

My friend got a $800,000 for about $600,000

[Dick Tater]

It is a buyers market right now. It is a very good time. Like a guy above me said - I actually bought a repo for 82k. It was appraised at 85k (real dump). 8 years and 25000 later, it appraises at 200k.

[labowu]

It depends on your time horizon. The days of short term gains and 'flipping' are certainly over, but as you said the market will recover. If you plan on holding the property for 5 years + I'd say now is an excellent time to buy. There's no reason to try to pick a bottom...a lot of folks go broke trying to pick tops and bottoms.

[Mark M]

If you can get a loan and are in the market, you should definitely buy now in most markets. There isn't much left correcting left to do, especially in the biggest cities that took the hit first. However, don't expect that the Fannie/Freddie to relax underwriting standards--banks are still worrying about getting burned--all it is likely to do is make the $ cheaper to borrow, since Fannie/Freddie are going to get better terms from investors for the $ they use to back the bank mortgages, and the banks hopefully will pass that savings on to you. (It's happening already--a lot of major banks have already dropped rates since Sunday.)

[Bushwacked]

A good time, Buy low, sell high. It's a common rule.

[Jewelh]

I am a realtor, and it's a good time, but it will be a better time soon as the interest rate is projected by some smart people to hit 5.5% - 5.75% on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage.

Whether it is a good time to buy in your area? No one can give a general statement that will cover the whole country. Things are generally pretty good to buy right now. A lot of homes and often desperate sellers , I have 3 of those, and one is my contractor father with a new house, and one is myself lol.

We got stuck because of financing and availability of sub contractors, and I sat and watched it coming for a year and couldn't do a thing about it. Another is a long term client who I told to sell his house 2 years ago and wait for the coming dive in the market, but did he listen? Nooooo

Get with a good banker, ask them when the drop is coming, and watch the market. Get your home tied up when you can lock in a really low rate. That's the best thing I can tell you.