Was It Worth Waiting?
At the end of the week 8/18/11 the mortgage rate was 4.15% which is a 30 year low. Who knows how long these rates will remain.
Have you noticed the prices are going up? Well even if you haven't they have gone up. Take a look aat the chart above
Of course, buyers still need significant down payments, stellar credit and job security, but if “you’re financially prepared to do so, it’s a great time to buy a house,” says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. “Affordability is tremendous, and if you’re in a position where you have the financial security that others are lacking, you’re in a great position to grab a good deal.” Rebecca Hall, a financial planner in Reston, Va., said several of her clients have decided to buy second homes instead of putting more money in the market. “People don’t view real estate as volatile as the market,” says Hall. “Housing prices go down, but people aren’t on-line looking at it every day,” she says. “You view housing as a much longer term investment so it’s a little easier to handle [the volatility].”
Most Americans see more to homeownership than financial value.
Last week, Fannie Mae released the National Housing Survey. The survey reported:
96% of all homeowners said homeownership has been a positive experience.
84% of Americans still believe that owning a home makes more sense than renting. Even 68% of renters believe owning makes more sense.
2 in 3 Americans believe that lifestyle benefits of homeownership (65%) are superior to the financial benefits (32%).
There are more and more studies being done on the value of homeownership. We think we will trust in what our parents and grandparents said. Your mortgage payment is money you put into your savings. Your rent payment goes into the garbage.~ KCM
