This part of the equation is easily overlooked. Begin looking today, and keep looking until you find it. The right house has more going for it besides great price – it has all the features you require.
If you waited until prices dropped 50%, whether it’s 2, 5, or 10 years from now, you still need to find the right house too. I don’t think you’d buy just any house because the price was cheap.
Here’s a few reasons why waiting could backfire:
1.The high-quality properties are going to do better at retaining value – the supply and demand are more balanced, and finding a cheap one isn’t easy.
2. As prices drop lower, the competition between buyers will increase.
3. The uninformed will jump back in a little sooner than the informed.
4. If you wait until it bottoms, and then start looking, you may not find the right house and end up following prices up the other side.
Yes, be careful and cautious, and buy only if you find the perfect house at the perfect price. But you have to keep looking – you can’t win if you don’t play.
Want insurance? Buy a one-story house. Low supply coupled with high demand ensures investment value, plus we’re all getting older. Demand will increase, and you don’t see many being built.
This market has been incredibly resilient, and logically it should have crashed years ago, but it hasn’t. I still think we’ll hear about plenty of foreclosures, but will any of those properties be worth buying, even at 50% off? They will be the stinking newer tract houses with no appeal that I wouuldn’t buy at any price.
I’m convinced we’ll see homes selling for 20-40% off in the next six months, but only those buyers that are looking will get them. And if Helicopter Ben is forced to lower rates, it could be enough to inspire the uniformed buyers – they are your worst enemy, and they’ll cushion the crash.
