Bridgeport Real Estate Blog

I was online and noticed this great video from the NAHB National Association of Home Builders. It explains the tax credit completely and explains the guidelines with regard to income limits and recapture.

http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/resources.html

Cool T-shirts with awesome designs 

My wife, Cynthia Lucero, is a talented graphic artist and she loves to doodle and make different types of logos and designs that can now be placed into t-shirts, mugs, journals and more. Check out the site:Come visit Lucero Designs store on CafePress!

In the past month we have been listening to reports in the news that certin real estate markets are starting to show signs of life and are possibly stabalizing. Can it be true? Is it the effect of all the great deals? Foreclosures/Bank Owned Homes?The first time home buyer tax credit

Here is what I have been noticing. Most of our bank inventory is currently pending and we have many buyers that we are working with and have been finding a lot more pending deals and some cases we are seeing a lot of multiple bids on properties.

Here is our analysis. It could be seasonal but this has been picking up since well the first time home buyer credit was annouced with the signing of the stimulus package and has steadily increasing which can be somewhat seasonal.

Also "regular sellers" (those with some equity), have become more realistic and that causing the activity. Now if these things only close. That is another story for another post.

I'm often asked if this is a good time to buy a home. Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already. They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy. The problem with this approach is that you don't know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you've missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates go up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.