The Media Says Now is a Good Time to Buy

 

That wacky media, and it’s incredible contradiction… From the Deseret Morning News come this article talking about how Salt Lake’s stellar economy and job growth are shielding it from the same harm some other markets are facing (sound familiar?) From MSN Money comes this article  about buying real estate now, and this one  saying now is a good time to invest in builder stocks because the market is collecting a strong pent-up demand from homebuyers.

From the Article,

“Employment is still strong and plenty of folks who have the desire and the means to buy aren’t doing it. Why? For most of us, buying a home is the biggest investment we’ll ever make. Would you buy a house when everyone is telling you that home prices are headed down? Me neither. But the demand isn’t going away. The ready and willing buyers are waiting for a signal that home prices have stabilized. Everybody wants a bargain, and many will rush to buy if they think that prices are headed back up. That signal could come early next year.”

Even Donald Trump is saying that now is the time to buy. On Larry King October 21st, Trump says,

“It’s an amazing situation. There are tremendous opportunities. You know what’s interesting, I was begging people not to buy real estate two years ago. And everybody was interested in buying. And now they are less interested, and this is the time they should be going out — not buying, negotiating to buy. This is the time. “

Trumps also addresses the foreclosure issue,

“TRUMP- But this is the time. You were talking about books. This is the time that people should be going out and making unbelievable deals on real estate. And one other thing, Larry, you read all the about subprime and all about the people (ph). I don’t understand where these people come from. The bank sends them a letter, and they leave. They send them a letter, you have to be out. They leave. Why don’t they call up the bank and negotiate?

KING: Yes, everything is negotiable.

TRUMP: The bank doesn’t want to take over their house. I mean, the bank, whether they are nice or not. What are they going to do, put security people in there? I mean, the bank, you can sit down. You can make a better deal than you would have made five years ago with the bank.

Cut the price, make it interest, make it long-term. The bank needs these people. But what happens is the bank sends them a notice, the people leave. I don’t get it.”

Makes sense to me- when it’s a buyers market- that would be the time to buy. There is pent-up demand because people get scared, but here’s the thing about real estate- you don’t wait to buy real estate- you buy real estate and wait.

Buying a home is a long term investment. You buy a home and enjoy the tax benefits and the pride of ownership and as the years pass you enjoy making a lot of money from your home rising in value. Most of the wealth in this country has come from real estate. Most people who have wealth have made that wealth through real estate- either all or in part, through owning real estate.

Of course the market goes through cycles, but if you stay for a while, all real estate (especially in metropolitan areas) goes up in value.

The media as a whole is one of the biggest factors in different real estate markets suffering this year, but it’s not everyone. People who know investing know the best time to buy is when everyone else isn’t buying. And in real estate, the best time for buyers to buy is in a “buyers market”. Hence, the name…