Seven Simple Reasons to Buy Now

Here are seven simple reasons why this is the best time to buy a home in years.....

Fact #1: Some six million Americans are expected to buy a home this year. Six million people in the game make up a pretty big game. That's a level of sales equal to the one we experienced in 1998 by all accounts, a pretty good year.

Fact #2: There is still over $23 trillion of value in U.S. housing stock. Home ownership continues to be the basis of our wealth in this country.

Fact #3: The housing market cannot help but grow. Our country's tremendous wealth, liquidity, and entrepreneurship will continue to drive our economy. 70-100 million people will be added to our market in the next 40 years.

Fact #4: Real estate is cyclical. The biggest fear in good times is that the fair weather won't last forever because it doesn't. But the reality of a cyclical real estate market also provides its brightest hope in bad times..foul weather won't last forever either. What's happening today is a market correction, severe in some places, but it's not the end of the world. As shown by Fact #1, people are still buying and selling homes. The markets will stabilize.

Fact #5: 2008 is the best year to buy a home in 35 years. 1973 was the last time mortgage rates were this low in a buyer's market. We had rates this low in 2001 and 2002, but those were strong seller's markets with little inventory. The last two big buyer's markets, in the early '80s and early '90s had much higher rates. Low rates and good inventory make 2008 the best year to buy in decades!

Fact #6: First-time buyers have a real advantage in today's market. First-time buyers can buy at a reduced price without having to sell at one too. Higher limits on lower cost conforming loans also help first-time buyers purchase more home for their money. Today's starter‚ homes can be pretty impressive.

Fact #7: First-time buyers lose money while they wait on the sidelines. First, renters typically pay more state and federal income taxes than homeowners with a mortgage deduction. Renters are also losing the wealth they could be accumulating as they pay down their mortgage and as their home increases in value over time (as it surely will). Lastly, renters who wait to buy will lose money if interest rates increase by the time they finally act. Higher payments from higher interest rates represent money buyers could have kept if they had bought earlier. Conversely, if they were willing to spend that amount of money earlier, they could have bought more homes.

The above information was brought to you by Centex Homes.

Scenic Coast Home Sales

Here's another update on the real estate market for Cambria, Cayucos, Morro Bay and Los Osos. I hope it's helpful to see a timeline of sales and what's happening so far this year compared to the last four. If you'd like to know how sales have been going in a specific area of the county or would like to be updated on new listings, please feel free to call me at 805-471-5568.

Zillow Appreciation Values

I found an interesting article from www.realtrends.com with some home value statistics that were compiled by Zillow. As you will see, our market here on the Central Coast would be mostly the upper middle to top categories of price. In looking at the 5 year index, appreciation isn't as bad as it seems. That's the benefit of looking at the "Big Picture" and not just what's happened recently.

According to Zillow, a home's value may affect net gain or loss

While declining values and compressed equity have plagued many U.S. homeowners in recent years, the value of a home relative to others locally may very well
influence how much equity a home lost or gained last year, according to new
analysis by real estate Web site Zillow.com of its Q4 Home Value Report. Zillow
has broken down the U.S. housing market and 125 Metropolitan Statistical Areas
(MSAs) into five value bands - Bottom, Lower Middle, Middle, Upper Middle and
Top - each representing 20 percent of the market, to illustrate how homes of
varying value performed in 2007 and over the last five years.

Value Band Definitions and Change in Value

National / Zindex=$224,890 /1 year change = -3.0%/5-year annualized = 6.9%
Bottom /< $140,999 / 1 year change = -0.7% / 5 year annualized = 10.1% Lower Middle /$141,000 - $211,999 / 1 year change = -5.4% / 5 year annualized = 8.4% Middle / $212,000 - $300,499 / 1 year change = -6.2% / 5 year annualized = 7.3% Upper Middle /$300,500 - $460,499/ 1 year change = -6.5% / 5 year annualized = 6.6% Top / > $460,500 / 1 year change = -7.5% / 5 year annualized = 5.4%