On the Central Coast of California, we are seeing less on the market and more sales since April of 2009.

Two very big considerations that would lead me to say it is time to buy right now.

1. First Time Home Buyer Credit - Lesser of $8,000 or 10% of purchase price - this amount reduces after Modified AGI of $75,000 for a single borrower and $150,000 for Joint Returns, and is completely eliminated at $95,000 for Single return or $170,000 for a joint return. Modified AGI - just add some foreign income back to the AGI. This credit is set to Expire Dec. 01, 2009. This points to the fact that you have free money by purchasing now.

2. The Federal Reserve is set to stop buying Mortgage Backed Securities on Dec. 31, 2009. This is in a large part what has kept interest rates artificially low to this point. After the Federal Reserve stops buying the rates could head back up to the mid 6's very quickly. As an example rates are presently at 5.375% so Let's say that you can presently qualify a house that costs $180,000, if interest rates are to jump just 1% (which is very likely) at that point with a 6.375% rate you would only be able to qualify to purchase a house that costs $161,565. This shows that by waiting you are potentially missing out on the golden opportunity to own a home.

Good luck in your home buying decision.

Sincerely,

Jeremiah M. Wean
Lakewood Lending Group, LLC
http://www.lakewoodlenders.com

Now is the time to buy! Just like Warren Buffet, buy low, sell high. Now is the time to buy, three to five years from now may be the time to sell. Zionsville is growing, just look at the new Anson development at http://blog.ansonindiana.biz

Peng Yu, I feel that if any person wants to buy a house to make it their home for years to come that any time is a good time to buy. The difference between now ans March of 2005 is that the choice you have is MUCH greater and the price is much less. Both good thinks! The answer that stated that by the time "stats" reflect the bottom of this market..it WILL be way past the bottom. If you have good credit, saved money for a down payment and want a home start the search. When you walk through the door of your new home you'll know it immediately. Make your best and strongest offer first and use an agent that knows how to present that offer and how to negotiate the best price for you. Pre-qualify with a strong well known lender so that you know how much you can spend comfortably. Have reserve money set aside for home owning emergencies. If you do these things you will find that now is a great time for you to buy your dream. Hope this helps. Marty S.

Peng Yu,

There are an abundance of rent-vs-buy calculators on the Internet. If you haven't used one of these try this one: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/Calsystem2/Calculators/RentVsBuy…

Once you are more comfortable with buying then it's time to find a local mortgage provider and schedule an appointment. Sit down and talk honestly with this person. They will be able to provide you with specifric information that will help you make the best decision.

Good Luck!

Trey Bowden
(405) 340-3277

By the time you see a change in Market Stats ( which is retrospective data) the curve may be going back up. If the supply of homes is higher and the demand ( less buyers) is lower - your possibliites for negotiating a better deal may exist. If you keep watching the statistics, this window of opportunity may pass you by. Property History is important ,so you don't get caught up in an offer where a short sale is necessary and extends the decision time to several months...and then the bank says no... and a different market place exists when you go back out to start looking all over again. A Seasoned and Qualified REALTOR will present area market data and research the listings you select on paper first, to help you make an offer that will close successfully. THE REAL WORK nowadays, starts AFTER a deal is successfully negotiated --- it is getting through the process of multiple inspections, appraisal, titlework and survey issues and the ever increasing tightening lender/underwriting stipulations.... Best Wishes whatever your decision is..... to buy now or wait.
Sincerely,
Grace M. Safrin CRS, Broker Associate
F.C.Tucker Advantage Realty http://www.safrin.net

Every market breathes. Whether it's the stock market or the real estate market. Right now the market has exhaled so prices are deflating and buyers are making great deals. So, how long until the market breathes in?...if you figure that one out we can collaborate on a book together. Perhaps the market will continue on a downward spiral for a while, or maybe it will hold steady shortly, perhaps it will start to increase sometime. Overtime the value of homes go up so if you think you will live in an area for a number of years buy, rates are good and sellers are negotiating. If you think you'll be moving in less than three years rent. Hope this helps out some.

Our market in San Luis Obispo, County.
We are still down in a few area's, however we are more protected, as we are a beach community, with a wonderful college, that always keeps us moving. I personally feel that we are at the stabilizing time, and property is moving, but you are still not to late to purchase at a great price.

It's always a balancing act if you’re trying to time the market. If you buy in the future, how are rates going to be? If you buy now, are you going to get a good deal? I would suggest that rates are at historic lows and there are plenty of buying opportunities now. To top it off, there are plenty of repo and corporate owned homes on the market that are being discounted. Statistics will give you the general state of the market but you really need to define what property you want before making a decision on general statistics. There are certain price ranges selling quite well in Zionsville and Carmel. Certain communities are selling as well. Looking at year-to-year averages, our market continues to grow. Looking at just a snapshot of 2-3 months market statistics gives an unrealistic picture. We are still in one of the top 5 years, historically, in the home market here. There are simply more buyers coming here every year. The reasons are many for this, but generally speaking housing and lifestyles are good in the communities you mentioned and population is growing.
The metric you expressed can be defined as: Months of Inventory based on Pended Sales. It will give a month to month accounting as to how things are doing. For Carmel, things have been getting better each month, contrary to what you have said. 1/08 was 9 months, 2/08 was 7.3 months, 3/08 was 6.8 months.
Contrasted to last years Months of Inventory based on Pended Sales: 1/07 was 6.6 months, 2/07 was 6 months, 3/07 was 5.3 months. 4 months of inventory or less was typical of our best years ever, so 5-6 months in today’s market shouldn't be viewed as that bad. I guess where I'm going with this is that things are not as bad as what you might believe if you just listened to the media.
Now given your analysis of more inventory and fewer sales, this translates to a buyers market. If homes are not selling and inventory increases, pricing will come down as the market dictates. I'm not really worried about the market totally dropping around here. The Indy area has always been pretty stable, no huge run ups and no huge losses. So do the math. A stable market, historically low rates, increasing inventory, sales dropping. All these add up to buying opportunities.