Are You Afraid to Buy a House?

 

Are you afraid to buy a house?

I was watching Fox news the other day at a family members house (we don’t watch the news) and the news reported that housing was down 37% because people are afraid.  I just had to laugh. Afraid of what? People aren’t buying houses because they are afraid?

Then, after we took our house off the market, I had a realtor call us. He asked, “Why do you think your house didn’t sell?” I said, “Because people are afraid, which is really dumb because right now is a great time to buy, with interest rates in the 4% range.”  He said, “Wow, I wish I had you on the street corner shouting that out to everyone.” 

After that, I called mom and told her it is just so dumb that people are afraid to buy houses right now. After all, you still need a place to live!  

As we got to talking, we realized that the problem, once again, is that people are just listening to the news and going along with what “they” say instead of actually thinking about what is best for them.

 

If you are afraid to buy a house right now, here are a few tips to help you:

1. Don’t buy more than you can afford. This goes without saying, but if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it! Period! This is what caused the housing mess we have right now. People bought more than they could afford.

• You still have to have a place to live. Renting may be costing more than buying right now. Figure out how much it will cost to buy and see if it might not be cheaper to buy than rent. You can go to any bank and they can run the numbers for you.
• Are you are afraid of house repairs? If so, have $1,000- $2,000 in savings before you buy so that if something does go wrong you will have the money to pay for it.
• Are you afraid of losing your job? Is there a serious threat, like your company has actually said they are going to lay people off or is it just because the news is saying jobs aren’t out there? If it’s the latter then see points 1 and 2.

Really, right now is a wonderful time to buy so if you are thinking about it sit down, crunch the numbers and find out if those low interest rates could actually help you!

      -Tawra

 

Photo by: robertlz

(BTW, I LOVE old things especially old houses and this is one of the coolest pictures I’ve seen of one!!)