The decision to buy or sell a home is perplexing. A lot of buyers and sellers are still wondering if now is the right time to be in the market.
Ideally, buyers would like to know that the market has hit bottom and that the value of what they buy won't decline. Sellers who will sell at a loss today wonder if they should get out now or wait for a better market to sell.
When will that better market appear? It's impossible to time the market. We'll know that we hit bottom after the market turns around, not before. Some economists think this will take another 2 years; others expect a turn around in five to six years. Other economists think we're at or close to the bottom. However, it's expected that the market will be rocky for some time with seasonal changes. For example. it's typical that home sales decline in the winter months.
Good news and bad news can affect whether buyers fell optimistic about home buying. The fact that the conforming jumbo loan limit is likely to drop to $625,000 from $729,750 could spur home sales in higher priced markets between now and September, when the higher loan limit expires.
Interest rates have been fluctuating but remain below 5% for conforming fixed rate mortgages. Interest rates and affordability in general have a great impact on the strength of the housing market.
March brought good news as home sales volume nationally picked up 3.7% from February, according to the National Association of Realtors. However, the sales were primarily driven by investors buying cheap foreclosures. Although the investor purchases were up, the percentage of first time buyer purchases was down, possible due to tough mortgage qualifying criteria, which is not expected to improve going forward.
Trends do fluctuate throughout the country according to differences in individual neighborhoods.
The bottom line: Keep an eye on trends, but focus on your local neighborhood when making marketing decisions about buying and selling.
Boivin appraisals, Inc will gladly help in this process by determining the current market value of your property. Feel free to contact us at www.boivinappraisals.com