I agree with all of this. The summer of 2010 (after the tax credits expired) until the spring of 2012 (and maybe later, if using all cash) was a great time to buy both investment RE and a residence in SD County.
I’m looking forward to Rich’s upcoming graphs, as well.[/quote]
Actually I think the best time to buy was in the Spring of 2009 with the $8000 tax cedit, as I was fortunate enough to do.[/quote]
Hmm.. I’m not so sure about that. I don’t know how things were like here in San Diego back then. But prices sure fell quite a bit after the tax credit expired in other areas. For example, I remember making an offer on a house in Plano, Texas back then before it expired. On a big 5 bedroom house in a nice area in a good school district they were asking $339,000.
I offered $300,000 cash. They felt offended and said no way. I remember at the time explaining to them that once the home housing tax credit program expired, prices were going to plummet. And they did at least there.
A few months had gone by and I forgot about the house. I remember getting an email from my realtor and he emailed me asking me if I was still interested as now the seller’s realtor was interested in my $300,000 offer. I had already purchased another property so I said no.
Well the house ended up going for something like $289,000 several months later. Waiting for the credit to expire in that neck of the woods was a much smarter move vs. paying $8,000 “less” before it expired.
