When should homebuyers jump in?
By Elaine Quigley CRS, GRI Elaine Quigley Real Estate
Investors who time any market hope to buy at the nadir and sell at the zenith, but homebuyers have a trickier time knowing when to

rights, tax benefits and other on the sidelines and when

government subsidies including to jump in. The reason? There

support for a mortgage are several.

lending market, quality of life,

Buying a home is one of the

appreciation and equity. largest financial investments a

Since two factors move markets homebuyer will make. Transaction

- fear and greed - it's easy costs are expensive

for buyers to be overanxious enough that homeowners

to buy in seller's market and remain in their homes approximately

reluctant in a buyer's market. six years before

In a seller's market, prices trading up or down. As the

rise, sellers hold firm, inventories recent buyers market shows,

are short and days on homes aren't liquid, and may

market are short. In a buyer's not find buyers at the price

market, buyers are fearful that and in the time frame that

home prices will either flatten sellers prefer.

or drop below what they paid,

On the other hand, homeownership

causing inventories to rise, provides significant

days on market to increase, prices to drop, and sellers to sweeten deals.

If buyers pay attention to housing news, they can be discouraged: interest rates are near year-ago highs, builder confidence is down, and Realtors predict that housing will drop in value for the first time since 1968.

So is it the time to buy?

Here are a few factors to consider:

According to a recent article "When the housing rebound comes" by George Mannes for Money Magazine, the time

for buyers to jump in is when

conditions improve. Mannes benefits including property suggests that buyers look for four signposts: declining inventory (preferably under 6.5 months of inventory on hand); houses selling faster; Realtors' opinions of local market conditions growing more favorable; and signs that sellers are less desperate, such as fewer incentives and homes selling closer to asking price.

For some buyers, the lesson that it's time to buy is a hard one. They may wait so long that the home they hoped would go down in price sells to someone else. They have to start their search over findsit ing that the remaining homes don't compare to the "one that got away." They may wait for interest rates to drop, and find that they stubbornly stay at higher rates. They're knocked out of the neighborhood and price range they wanted to buy into and find themselves looking at homes with fewer features, less square footage, or more distance from work, family and friends.

When those scenarios happen, buyers learn that there's an opportunity cost for waiting.

If you're a buyer, you sadly realize that to get the home you want - at both the price and interest rate you want - will be nearly impossible. If you're lucky, you'll get two out of three. So, if you're waiting to see what other buyers are going to do, you'll soon find that once buyers move collectively, they will either drive prices down or drive them up. If prices are down, but likely to recover, do you really want to compete with other buyers on the way back up?

In other words, the price of feeling more comfortable about buying is inevitably paying higher prices and having less to choose from.

So here are some surefire ways to tell that it's really time to buy:

You found the home you really want.

It's aff ordable.

You can get a reasonable loan.

It will serve you and your family for years to come.

You're not looking for perfection. No home is perfect.

You've given up trying to beat the market.

You're comfortable with your compromises, whether it's location, size, price, features or condition.

You're confident the home you chose is desirable enough that you will be able to sell it in any market.

Now is a great time to buy! Call Elaine Quigley at 508-366-3766 to help you find your next home. Let me put my 23 years of local experience to work for you. Visit our website at www. EQRE.com.