A short follow-up to my last post. Something to keep in mind…
It’s almost impossible to bottom-tick a market. I’m sure I didn’t do it, even the way my contract was structured. I may still lose a little money “on paper” for a while after all is said and done. But I don’t really care. I really like the place I bought and I’d like to buy a second place as well, so if the price declines are greater than I anticipated, no big deal.
I think many people here get a bit obsessed with “buying at the bottom.” I think (perhaps) a better way to look at a home purchase is to wait until you find a property that you really like that makes sense financially… and then buy it. That may sound ridiculously simplistic – and it is – but a lot of people get caught up in trying to buy at the absolute lowest price and end up ultimately unhappy. (This applies to a lot more than houses.) Again, when rents and ownership payments on a condo are comparable, at worst you’re probably buying within 10%-15% of the bottom. Maybe I’m crazy but that doesn’t seem so bad to me. It’s a place to live, after all, not an investment.
