Sadly I don’t have a crystal ball and all I can do is try to make a rational decision and stick with it. It may be a wrong decision.
My rational side tells me that the best time to buy is when everyone is scared of buying and everyone is sure that buying is a bad idea. We’re already starting to see that.
Also as the thread about Chula Vista shows, in some parts of the city foreclosures are going through the roof and prices are going through the floor. 2410 Wishing Star Way: 3817 sqft 6/5 for 499k. That’s just over 3k/month after property tax and mello-roos. In a brand new neighborhood 20 min from downtown. If Eastlake is not at fundamentals yet, it’s getting there fast. Foreclosures make sure that prices will keep declining until the bottom is reached. Unless the economy suddenly turns for the worse, I don’t see how things could continue deteriorating till 2010-12.
If you’re in a “must-buy” camp like me (I’m a father of 7 month old twins and I’m getting tired of renting and moving every year), it might be a good idea to start looking for a place to live, under the assumption that we hit a bottom in the winter of ’08/’09 in some parts of the city. If you don’t have to buy, by all means continue renting, maybe in 2012 you’ll buy a house next to mine and save a lot of money.
