When is it the RIGHT TIME TO BUY ?

For all the hype of Buyer’s market vs Seller’s market how is one to tell when is the best time to Buy ? This question is asked of me all the time. And although I myself have heard a multitude of answers and explanations from many people purported to be People in the Know. Answers like ” the time to buy is when interest rates are low ” or ” the time buy is in the spring when all the new homes come on the market and – more homes more of a glut -more of a glut more of an opportunity to bring the price down ” or statments like ” Real estate is great for investing  but now is not the time “. Yes and I am sure you have heard many more as well.

But I submit to you that there is no Buyer’s market and no Seller’s market. There is just a Market.

Here is an example. In 1976 I was negotiating with a seller to purchase his home that had been on the market for almost 5 months withno offers. Of course the reason was that the original price was way to high and his agent had told my agent that the seller was a little stubborn. The market at that time for the previous few years had been sailing along at about a 4-6 % yearly appreciation rate. I had been looking for a couple of months and had noticed that prices of homes were beginning to climb. Every one I talked to seemed to feel that the market was going to continue to escalate and that I had waited to long to make a good deal.In fact everyone said that I should wait until the rush was over and the market had an opportunity to correct itself. Of course the Seller that I was negotiating with obviously was not feeling the love as his home had just been sitting there until I came along. Taking all of this into consideration I didn’t see any history that would indicate that the market would correct and eventually sell for less than it was right now. So I began to look at all the properties in the area. In effect I began doing my own market analysis for in those days all the Realtors worked for the seller. I determined that a fair price for the home was some $6,000 less than what the seller was asking. The agent I was working with of course tried to do his job and get me to raise my price. But I held my guns and told him to present the offer in such a manner that would let the seller know that I was a qualified individual and wanted to buy the house but only at a fair price. I also prepared a letter that I submitted with my offer to the seller explaining to them that my offer was not an attempt by me to take advantage of them given their length of time on the market. I just wanted to pay a fair price as documented by the comps.

The seller agreed and we went to close. After the closing I shook the sellers hand and congratulated us both on our sale. The seller was jubilant, and exclaimed to me that he had purchased the home some years back at less than half of the sales price and could not believe in his good fortune that of me coming along to buy a house in such a horrible market.

Eleven months later I decided to resell the house and move on. I once again researched the market and called my Realtor over. We put the house on the market and procured a sale in the first few days at over twice what I had paid for the home.

Regardless of what people say about the market Good or Bad. If you are an informed buyer and do your home work there are good buys to be had at any time.