According to the most recent RMLS (Regional Multiple Listing Service) report, one in six homes bought in Portland were bank-owned homes. Buying at or near the bottom of the real estate cycle can be the best time to buy a home. It also may be the best time to sell if you are moving into a replacement home that suits your needs better than your existing home. Why buy now? Let me count the reasons. It is now a “buyers market” meaning the asking prices on property is at or near the bottom of their cycle and homes are not receiving multiple offers as they were during the “bubble” days. As you can see from the statistics on bank-owned homes above, there is a high percentage of bank owned real estate and short sale deals out there if you have the right agent to walk you through the maze.
“When you start seeing more distressed sales, that’s actually a good thing,” says Todd Williams, a divisional vice president for Skyline Financial Corp. in Portland. That means buyers are convinced the housing market has bottomed out and is starting to turn, Williams says, and it’s time to buy properties discounted by the banks.
This situation gives you and your agent the luxury of possibly finding the “perfect home”. The interest rates on new home purchases are at or near historical lows. This means your payments on a thirty year mortgage will be the most reasonable in decades for the life of the loan. Appraised values that determine tax basis are down so many home buyers are seeing less money going for taxes. So even if home values take some years to kick back
into climbing appreciation you will be building equity just by the virtue of lower starting costs than traditional real estate cycles.
Though there are no guarantees, the market has ALWAYS bounced back. Down markets have always been followed by up markets. Historically more money has been made by average homeowners through appreciation
than the stock market or salaries combined. So my advice – Find a place to make your stand, and take it easy.
Why is it a good time to sell? Why not wait until ” the market comes back”? Well, if you are going to replace your existing house with “the perfect home” find the right agent to price your home right and take advantage of the reasons to buy listed above. Waiting for the market to “come back” only means you will be saddled with higher
prices, higher payments and higher taxes pus having to wait out the market in your existing home that may not fit your needs. The smart time to make that move is in a market like today’s where real estate activity is showing signs of a turnaround.
For more information, or to start the search for the home that fits your needs, contact the Portland Realtor with the most efficient, helpful, and compassionate Real Estate agents, the McDonald Group. Call us today!
