NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY A HOME

NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY A HOME

Home ownership provides a wealth of opportunity. We all need to live somewhere! Investing in a home rather than throwing your money away on rent makes good sense. Although there’s no guarantee a particular home will appreciate year after year, history has shown home ownership to be a long term investment that builds wealth for most people. Not only can you live in the home while it helps your wealth grow, your own home offers pride of ownership and a secure sense of place in your community.

When it comes to buying a home, timing it right is up there with location as a key consideration. Catching a housing market in transition toward the buyer’s advantage—as it is in many areas today—can save you a lot of money or allow you to buy more home for your budget. Your buying power may never be greater than it is today.

Of course if you have been watching the Baltimore housing market you’ve been seeing sales prices leveling off or dropping and the inventory of homes for sale growing, that signals the presence of a buyer’s market. The real estate market today has come full circle. People thinking about purchasing a home don’t always take advantage of the transition markets. Some decide to wait and see whether prices and/or interest rates drop further—which may not happen. In fact, when a market moves toward the buyer’s advantage, in certain instances prices don’t drop at all—they simply stay at current levels. That’s still a great time to purchase a home—getting in before prices or rates start to rise again.
Buying a home now may make perfect sense for you. Consider the advantages of today’s market:

1. Better Prices - With more homes on the market waiting for buyers, sellers don’t expect to see the appreciation rates to which they have grown accustomed. Some even drop their listing price below market value to attract attention and speed the sale in order to meet a moving deadline. Bidding wars and escalation clauses no longer threaten to take a home’s sales price beyond its true market value.
2. Negotiating Advantage - In a buyer’s market, sellers must show more flexibility not only on price, but on the terms of the contract.
3. More Choice - With more homes on the market, buyers don’t need to “take what they can get.” These days you can pick and choose from a variety of homes in the area. Search ALL homes listed in the Multiple List Service (MLS) on my website www.LivingMD.com.
4. More Time To Choose - Since there are fewer people out there looking for homes compared with the number of homes for sale, buyers can take more time searching for appropriate candidates and comparing them. It often isn’t necessary to rush into a decision for fear the home might immediately slip away to another buyer within hours. However, we are all aware of Murphy’s Law, don’t wait too long. The home you are going home to think over tonight may be the same home someone thought about last night.
5. Homes in Great Shape - When buyers are harder to come by, most competing sellers spend extra time and money preparing their home for the market. They make sure their homes are in tip-top shape before they hit the market. That means buyers often can move right in without the hassle or expense of repairs or improvements to update the home.
6. Attractive Financing - As fewer buyers apply for new mortgages, mortgage lenders compete for business by offering more generous loan terms. Not only are interest rates still low by historical standards, buyers today can take advantage of offers including lower closing costs, waived fees, free rate locks, faster loan approval and speedier processing. As in recent years, of course, today’s mortgage industry offers a wide array of loan programs you can choose from to meet you particular financial needs and goals.
7. Tax Savings - (Please be sure to verify this information with your accountant. Each individual circumstance varies.)
   The sooner you purchase a home, the earlier you can take advantage of Uncle Sam’s generous mortgage interest tax deduction, which in effect subsidizes your payments—or shelters your income, depending on how you look at it. Tax law favors homeowners in a number of other ways too. You can take deduction for points paid on your mortgage loan, qualified home-office expenses, expenses associated with investment properties, and more. Finally, when you eventually sell your primary residence, you can qualify to keep up to $500,000 in profits tax free if you are married filing jointly, $250,000 if you are single. The recent addition of the $7,500 tax credit presents another opportunity to take advantage of the "American Dream".

Keep posted for more information on the tax credit and grants available to home buyers. Feel free to contact me personally with questions about buying a home, selling a home, home grants, or any other real estate question.

All my best,

Jennifer Bayne, Jbayne@cbmove.com