I was just looking back through some old posts of mine here on my blog and I came across this gem from Spring of 2007. I wrote that '2008 would be a great entry point for first time home buyers' as I hopefully crossed my fingers that the real estate market would continue softening for another year.
Housing Market 2008
Well, a funny thing happened and housing did continue slumping into 2008, as we all know well, and we did take advantage of what I had forecast and hoped for. Flor and I ended up buying a condo in 2008 after all. We made an offer in late April and were in the underwriting process this time last year, finally closing in July. We felt great about ourselves buying for a 60% discount over 2006-2007 prices.
Housing Market 2009
It's amazing what happens in life. Now we're sitting a year later. It's the Spring of 2009 and the market is still dropping. It's down now in our condo complex about 75% from it's peak two years ago and now I'm just wishing we could buy a second place... maybe I should hope for the market to continue softening for another year or two... That might be devastating for the economy but maybe then it'll be the optimal time to buy a second property. Let's just put it this way though. The rest of the year things might continue softening but eventually it's got to to stop. I can't imagine this bottom lasting long enough for us to buy a second place despite their incredibly low asking prices but I do know that now and the near future seems to be one of the best times ever to buy a first or second home.
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