Scarlett, I think your Cedarlake Ave listing is well-appointed for the $450K range is it asking (reduced from $475K), esp since it feeds into renowned “communications magnet” Benchley-Wienberger Elem (API 910).
If you don’t mind my asking, are you locked into a lease right now? In other words, is there something preventing you from making an offer on a suitable residence at present? And, if so, is the amount it would take to exit a lease worth waiting for the end of the lease in order to make a deal on a principal residence for you?
If so, my second question is, do you think the RE market will be lower and “less competitive” than it is at present, when you are finally ready to buy??[/quote]
Not that it matters, but yes we have a lease until late spring, after which we’ll go month to month. Right now we are going when we have time – a couple days a month – to advertised open houses or to explore different neighborhoods. We’ll start looking more actively very soon though and if we find something that we like and it’s a good deal, we may break the lease a couple months early, no more. As a matter of fact I am still wondering if we should continue to rent for another year or two- and save more (if we put now 20% down we won’t have any cash reserves) and have a sweet commute in the mean time – and let the house market dust settle. I believe that the housing market will be lower in a couple years, even if rates will be higher. I am not trying to argue this or connvince anybody, just my gut feeling. I am wondering if I should be waiting for a true bottom, not necessarily for the lowest rates, which I believe we’ve seen already. Not that I want to time the bottom, I’d rather have the housing bottom behind us rather than possibly ahead, that’s all. On the other hand, we got to get on with our lives, settle in a nice house with yard and good schools, risks and stretching be damned. And who know with all this government intervention if the true bottom will even be reached in a couple years, if it’s not there already. It could be a slow decline over 10 yers.
But, to your point, in a few months we will be ready to pounce on a good deal that we LIKE as well. So far we haven’t seen something that we both loved as a deal as well as a home. Quite a few ok, but they weren’t calling our names.
