The buy or wait question is pretty simple with housing since it leverages you so much with current prices.
If housing is going up, you buy.
If it isn’t going up, you wait.
With 20% down, you’re leveraged 5X-to-1. Your gains and losses are magnified 5 times. With a stocks and margin, you’re leveraged 2X to 1. Without margin, it’s a straight 1 to 1.
So all we really have to do is decide if housing is still going to be going up faster than inflation. That’s at least 4% a year.
A flat market means you’re lossing the inflation rate x5.
Down… say 10% whoops, that’s $60K, 50% of your down payment.
So keep it simple, just decide, in ten years, will someone buy that condo for $1,000,000? Literally.
