Bah Humbbug and Other Real Estate Truths!
December 17th, 2008 categories: Fairfield, Ohio, West Chester Ohio
What would Scrooge say about today’s current real estate market West Chester, Fairfield and Cincinnati?
Rhetorical question- but some of the values we should have learned over time seemed to have disappeared.
Yesterday I read an interesting article by Rick Newman (US News and World Report) titled “The 10 Worst Assumptions of 2008″.
I would like to add to his assumptions:
- Mortgage rates will drop below 4.75%. They might- but then again they might not. Rates are around 5.47% on a 30 year fixed-well below the 6.11% a year ago. If you are waiting for a magic mortgage rate before purchasing a home- what are you going to do if rates actually go up a bit? There are no guarantees about the future.
- Sellers are giving their properties away-in order to sell them. Not really. True, people who purchased homes for more than they could afford may be in a bind (about 10-15% or our current market). The average seller may not net 2005 prices- but if they are buying another piece of real estate – they aren’t paying 2005 prices. Long term owners (more than 6 years) are usually walking away from home sales with money in their pockets.
- Homes are investments. Yes they are, but I still see ads for equity loans using your property as collateral. If you borrow against your “investment” you are depleting its overall value and when it you sell- the money you loaned yourself needs to be repaid.
“A Christmas Carol” is a classic story about a man who gets a second chance at life- maybe we should look at today’s market as a second chance to do it right and responsibly.
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