If purchasing at the absolute ...

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:08:00 GMT

If purchasing at the absolute lowest price is your main concern, you should focus on foreclosures and/or short sales.

One has to be very lucky to purchase a good suitable home at the bottom or sell at the top. These pricing peaks and valleys come to light after they have moved from their respective lows or highs.

A good strategy would be to determine if you are in the "ballpark" of reaching a pricing bottom within your time frame of owning.

For instance, if you feel that you will be in your next home for 5 years and the market price drops a bit from where you entered, do you feel it will recover back to your entry point. If that seems reasonable, then it should really not matter if you purchased at the bottom or not.

Not only that, you will have most likely selected a home that will fill most or your requirements as the selection was at it's peak.

Also, don't forget that you may have a tax benefit from owning as well as building of equity in your home through principal payments.

correct me if I'm wrong, ...

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:49:00 GMT

correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't #3 above be a reason to wait?

More homes on the market = more supply, and increasing supply leads to dropping prices. Home prices ARE actually dropping, almost everywhere as reinforced by the recent case-shiller price index, all 20 major metros are dropping. SO, a factor that would lead to dropping prices, when they are already dropping hardly counts as a reason to buy today.

Zillow Advice: Buying Process - Reasons to Buy in Hudson County, NJ

If purchasing at the absolute ...

correct me if I'm wrong, ...