Hi,

Last month I told my wife I was sick of wasting money on the monthly
rent, so we planned to buy a house this year. But my friend told me
it's not a good time since the interest rate is still high. He showed
me the market and some indicators http://StockQ.org/

We can wait for 1 or 2 years if we can save more money. How do you
guys think?
Much thanks.

(MQ) wrote in news:1169567496.852452.216150
@s48g2000cws.googlegroups.com:

How do you guys think?


I think that if you want to shill your own Web site, you should just be
up-front about it.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

"MQ" writes:

Hi,

Last month I told my wife I was sick of wasting money on the monthly
rent, so we planned to buy a house this year. But my friend told me
it's not a good time since the interest rate is still high.

Stop listening to this imagined friend or honoring his request to
shill websites. He's apparently an idiot who lacks perspective of
mortgage interest rate history (i.e. it's still quite low in
historical terms).

The wind has been knocked out of housing prices in many areas of the
country as well.

All indications are that it's actually a pretty darned good time to
buy.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/

In article .com,
"MQ" wrote:

Last month I told my wife I was sick of wasting money on the monthly
rent, so we planned to buy a house this year. But my friend told me
it's not a good time since the interest rate is still high. He showed
me the market and some indicators

Instead of looking at scam websites, how about sitting down
and doing the math. Any way you look at it, renting is a far
better deal than buying right now. In 1997, that might have
been a different story. But in 2007, renting is one of the
biggest bargains there is.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

If you rent for two years, you have nothing but rent receipts.
If you own for two years, you can have equity and tax write-offs, if
you buy it right.

See my program about paying off your mortgage in 8 - 11 years.
www.whatdebts.com. This program can get your house paid
in 1/3 the time. Serious mortgage interest savings.
Lori



On Jan 23, 10:51 am, "MQ" wrote:
Hi,

Last month I told my wife I was sick of wasting money on the monthly
rent, so we planned to buy a house this year. But my friend told me
it's not a good time since the interest rate is still high. He showed
me the market and some indicators http://StockQ.org/

We can wait for 1 or 2 years if we can save more money. How do you
guys think?
Much thanks.

In article .com,
"MQ" wrote:
Last month I told my wife I was sick of wasting money on the monthly
rent, so we planned to buy a house this year. But my friend told me
it's not a good time since the interest rate is still high. He showed
me the market and some indicators http://StockQ.org/

I would think that it would be mortgage interest rates that would be
most relevant, not assorted stock market indexes. Here are some charts
of recent and historical mortgage interest rates:

http://mortgage-x.com/trends.htm

Based on that, rates are looking pretty good now. (It's housing prices
that are annoying. In my area, everything is about 2.5x what it was 3
years ago).

--
--Tim Smith

MQ wrote:

Hi,

Last month I told my wife I was sick of wasting money on the monthly
rent, so we planned to buy a house this year. But my friend told me
it's not a good time since the interest rate is still high. He showed
me the market and some indicators http://StockQ.org/

We can wait for 1 or 2 years if we can save more money. How do you
guys think?
Much thanks.

Housing values are dropping steadily across the US. We are only at the
beginning of a long downward trend. We have just come out of a several
years-long housing boom, so it'll take several years to wind back
down. Most of us older than thirty have lived through this type of
real estate cycle before.

The latest reports are that half of the homes for sale in the US are
unoccupied. That's a strong indicator that our housing stock is
seriously overbuilt. As demand continues to drop, so will prices. As
adjustable mortgages reset, more homes will go into foreclosure,
putting even more houses on the market and pushing prices down
further.

If you buy now, the odds are pretty damned good that the value of the
home will continue to fall for at least a few more years. So you'll
have paid more than the home is worth. It hurts to be making monthly
payments on a big loan for an asset that's worth less than you owe on
it. And if you end up having to sell it, you might find yourself
forced to bring cash to the closing to pay the difference between what
you sold the house for and what you had left owing on it.

It would be prudent to wait at least another year or two. It's typical
now to be able to rent a nice home for a good bit less than you'd be
paying to own it. So - save the difference between what you're paying
in rent and what you would be paying on a mortgage and earmark it
toward a bigger down payment on a future home that will also cost you
less.

You may find the Housing Bubble blog helpful:
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/

HellT

"Hell Toupee" wrote...

Last month I told my wife I was sick of wasting money on the monthly
rent, so we planned to buy a house this year. But my friend told me
it's not a good time since the interest rate is still high. He showed
me the market and some indicators

We can wait for 1 or 2 years if we can save more money.

If you can put down 20% so you avoid PMI, and can afford the resulting
mortgage at standard terms (fixed or variable rate, no "interest only"
stuff), go for it.


Housing values are dropping steadily across the US. We are only at the
beginning of a long downward trend. We have just come out of a several
years-long housing boom, so it'll take several years to wind back
down.

Not the case everywhere, so it really depends on where you live. If you're
in the Seattle area, housing prices continue to rise at double-digit rates,
so it may be too late for you to break in. In other areas, though, you may
find affordable houses in good neighborhoods.


The latest reports are that half of the homes for sale in the US are
unoccupied. That's a strong indicator that our housing stock is
seriously overbuilt. As demand continues to drop, so will prices. As
adjustable mortgages reset, more homes will go into foreclosure,
putting even more houses on the market and pushing prices down
further.

That's fine if you happen to live in one of those areas where there are so
many houses available. However, again, your LOCAL market is the only one
you need be concerned with. If you live in Montana, Seattle prices or
Oklahoma defaults have NOTHING to do with your decision.


If you buy now, the odds are pretty damned good that the value of the
home will continue to fall for at least a few more years. So you'll
have paid more than the home is worth. It hurts to be making monthly
payments on a big loan for an asset that's worth less than you owe on
it. And if you end up having to sell it, you might find yourself
forced to bring cash to the closing to pay the difference between what
you sold the house for and what you had left owing on it.

In general, the local market IS a consideration if you intend to move in a
few years. However, if you are buying to stay, a short-term decline won't
hurt so much. If the prices in your area are indeed in a decline AND there
are a lot of houses on the market, just make offers for significantly less
than asking prices. Eventually one of the owners will be desparate enough
to accept!

If you buy now, the odds are pretty damned good that the value of the
home will continue to fall for at least a few more years. So you'll
have paid more than the home is worth. It hurts to be making monthly
payments on a big loan for an asset that's worth less than you owe on
it. And if you end up having to sell it, you might find yourself
forced to bring cash to the closing to pay the difference between what
you sold the house for and what you had left owing on it.

In general, the local market IS a consideration if you intend to move in a
few years. However, if you are buying to stay, a short-term decline won't
hurt so much. If the prices in your area are indeed in a decline AND
there are a lot of houses on the market, just make offers for
significantly less than asking prices. Eventually one of the owners will
be desparate enough to accept!



Anytime is a good time to buy so I agree with this assessment and could
speak only about my local area where the upside outweighs the downside by
far for long term investors. Besides if you buy right you will be that much
further ahead - there are super deals every month. Damn, I just missed one
where the house across the street was $100K below market!!

"# Fred #" writes:

Anytime is a good time to buy

So the Realtor article in the local paper would have us all believe. :-)

--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/