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Health & Fitness

Buying A Home In Today's Market

Thinking about purchasing a home? We have 4.7% interest rates right now, and there are good deals to be had right now.

I have been thinking about buyers who are fearful about purchasing a home. I see this happen often, especially with first time buyers.  Though I am happy to report I do have buyers who are ready and pulling the trigger, there are those who can’t seem to get to the next step. For those particular buyers I wonder exactly how to respond to your fears and how to express to you what I am seeing locally.  I feel we are at the bottom here in Westchester County. I am not seeing the foreclosures we were told we would see by the media, though I am seeing many short sales.

And let me start off with I do feel your pain. The current economy and national financial situation is quite unnerving and precarious. However, there are positive things you might want to consider when it comes to buying real estate at this moment.

Home prices in Westchester appear to have bottomed out. Though prices might seem low to sellers, we could also call them realistic, and you mix in 4.7% interest rates, well the truth of the matter is that there are good deals to be had now.

As the old adage says, buy when prices are low. If you look at the Housing Affordability Index that is published monthly, and measures the median household income relative to the income needed to purchase a median priced house, now is the best time to be purchasing a home since 1979!

The single largest expense in purchasing a home these days is the cost of a mortgage. Right now interest rates are at very close to all time lows, and that is for conventional loans, ARM’s, FHA and VA.  Please do your research, compare loan options, and if you are refinancing tread carefully and do your homework; paying down a high interest rates will get your credit score increased as well as get you a better rate. Credit scores ARE everything.

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This is the down-low on buying real estate, and if you think about it, like I do, real estate is still a good investment. Did you know on average, historically, values increase 4 to 6 percent per year, though rises in values from 1999 to 2006 in this market were significantly and unusually higher, and out of control?

You get to live, sleep and eat in a home, and add value to it with doing upgrades over the course of time. Think before you leap, do your research and really know what you can afford.

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