For many buyers, this has been the big question of the past 5 years – when is the right time to buy? We can honestly say the market has not yet hit bottom and it’s not expected to before the end of the year. So the obvious answer is “no”, right? Wrong! There are several factors involved that really should get you thinking about getting ready to purchase soon.

#1 – Real Estate is Unique – I’ve heard a lot of buyers make the statement that they’re going to wait until the absolute bottom before making a purchase. The issue is, buying a home isn’t like buying 100 shares of AT&T or pork bellies or oil futures. You can’t go to your broker and say, “I’d like to place a limit order to purchase a 4BR/2.1BA home with a big deck, corner lot and stainless steel appliances in the subdivision down the street for $120,000”. It doesn’t work that way. It looks pretty funny on paper and seems obvious, yet, this is the way some buyers are looking at the real estate market. If you’re really trying to find not just a good deal but a home to be happy with, you’re going to want to start looking when the market is CLOSE to the bottom, not AT OR AFTER the bottom. Besides, the bottom in one niche may not be the bottom in another because when it all comes down to it, we’re dealing with unique items and unique locations.

#2 – Qualified Residential Mortgages – despite pressure from the NAR and other groups, there will likely be some type of legislation passed regarding Qualified Residential Mortgages. In a nutshell, lenders are required to keep 5% of the loans they sell – they’re no longer able to package 100% of the loans they sell into securities, take a profit then make someone else responsible for the outstanding debt. The exclusion to this rule are “Qualified Residential Mortgages” (QRMs).