I am looking to buy a condo in Agoura Hills, CA (north LA County) within two years, but have noticed that prices have gone WAY down this past year. A friend who is into real estate says they will continue to go down next year, but I won't be able to buy for another two. Should I bite the bullet and buy in a year if prices are outragously low?
Can anyone predict how the real estate market will be in two years...? God I wish! I have been in strategic planning and real estate finance for many years. You are asking a question millions of Americans are faced with today. If it's bighting the bullet then obviously you don't have confidence that it is a NEED. Listen, millionaires will be made form this market for buying while prices are down and holding for a few years. It's a market over-correction. Here is YOUR litmus test: Do I NEED a new home? Is this home WHERE I need it to be? Can I afford the payments and upkeep? Does this home serve my purpose? If you answered yes to at least two of those you shouldn't have any fear. If you answered yes to three you're wasting time. If you answered yes to all four write the check. Condos had their heyday from 2003 to 2006. Don't look to accumulate wealth in condos - although it CAN still happen. Will condos in North LA continue to decline in value? Your friend doesn't know - he's guessing. But it's probably a good guess. If the wrong person gets elected and they don't have the experience or connections to guide us through this really not good time you can bet the market will tumble farther. It's all but guaranteed. If the economy continues to slide you're just in the same boat with everyone else. If the market recovers prices should climb slowly for a couple of years then begin to improve on scale. Weigh your need against the purchase. Best to you in your decision! (If you find someone who can truly predict the real estate market - marry them!)
Condos aren't a good bet in this market but anyone can predict but no one knows - last time this happened people were paying to unload their condos. Save up get your credit stellar and buy where you want to be. Good luck!
Depends upon in which you're. Here it already has. However, for the ones hoping to peer $two hundred,000 residence fees in Southern California once more, it is *NOT GOING TO HAPPEN*. The marketplace helps are round $350,000 or bigger for an access stage unmarried household condo. San Diego has misplaced approximately twenty percentage and we would lose ten extra at such a lot. I was once predicting the decline a 12 months and a part earlier than it occurred, so I'm now not your ordinary realtor pollyanna. But simply as I wasn't telling potential purchasers the ordinary line approximately how truly property regularly is going up, I'm now not going to inform the doomsayers what they desire to listen to, both, in view that it isn't going to occur. Orange County would lose rather less, San Bernardino and Riverside moderately extra.
The sub-prime mortgage crisis began in Feb-March 07. Most of those loans were 2 or 3 year adjustable rates- which means that by March of 2009 the 2 years will have adjusted by March of 2010 the last of the 3 years will. After that- the housing market will make it's comeback (depending on who wins the election). If you plan on staying in the home I would try to buy in 2009 when a lot of foreclosures will happen to reduce the prices even more. If you wait too long you will pay more. Good luck!
Anyone can predict what will happen to the real estate market. The question is, who's going to be right? From what I've seen and heard, the real estate market will continue to be flooded with foreclosures and short sales for another year or so before this inventory begins to subside. But, what's happening to prices? The doom-and-gloom sensationalist articles in the local paper would have you believe that prices are spiraling downward on a monthly basis. But, that can be misleading. A lot of homes that were subject to mortgage fraud (for example, artificially inflated appraisals so a fraudulent mortgage broker could make a huge commission) are going into foreclosure now. These may be homes that were valued at $1.5 million in 2005, but that are realistically appraised at $750K today. These drive down the median and average sales prices (the real estate price indicators), which makes it seem like all real estate has lost 50% of its 2005 value and is still falling. In reality, the concensus is that the market will hit rock bottom as late as mid 2009. It will peak up a bit as investors clamor to get in the market, and then flatten out or even dip a bit over the next year (mid 2010). Then, with the foreclosures out of the way, we'll start to see a steady increase - albeit a slow one - in market prices. But, what about affordability (how much you have to pay each month on a given property)? Concensus is that mortgage rates will start to climb - also slowly - in the next couple of years. So, even if prices are dead flat, the monthly cost of owning a given property will keep going up. I wouldn't be so concerned about timing your purchase to hit the exact bottom of the market. Anything you buy from now over the next couple of years will turn out to be a huge win over the next 7 - 10 years, when the real estate cycle comes back up to beyond the 2005 level (which it has for the last 60+ years).
