Tom Priester made an excellent point in his comment to my previous post - here is his comment in its entirety:

In my opinion the number one item of importance in the minds of buyers in todays marketplace is the assurance they are making a good financial decision in buying now in lieu of waiting. As real estate is so geographically oriented, not just by state, city but in my area of Southern Florida, it is important to show them the facts about the market conditions in their neighborhood and sometimes even their street and/or building. The buyers goals are extremely important and as REALTORS we need to help them explore the ramifications of the time span they plan to stay in the home they are thinking about buying, the trend in interest rates and how they will effect them in the long term. With some simple documentation is is easy to show buyers who are planning on staying put for a period of a few years (italics mine) that there is no better time than today to buy. The opportunities are incredible in this market.

His comments are true, in any location and in any market. None of us wants to think we've made a bad decision.

I tell this story all the time, but I'm not sure I've ever done it here --

I bought my house in 1991 -- at the top of the market, just as it was cresting. I paid $117k for my house. I was sure I had way overpaid (by maybe $5,000 bucks!), but I also knew that I was planning to stay in this house for many years. The flip side of the price I paid is that the sellers gave me a terrific amount of closing help, plus made some major repairs (replacing the defective electrical system and rotten bathroom floor).

Within three years, the market had dropped quite a bit and two years later, when the market really hit rock bottom, I would have been lucky to have gotten $89k for my house. For those of you who remember these things, the federal government had massive layoffs and RIFs (Reduction in Force) in the mid 90s. My little town of approximately 1600 homes went from 30-odd houses on the market to over 80 in fairly short order. (It was in the midst of this horrible market that I got my real estate license).

So things stayed pretty bleak until the market made a turn-around in 2003. By 2005, houses similar to mine were selling in the $325k range. The value has since dropped a bit, but I'm still sitting on at least a 250% appreciation rate.

The point is, real estate is a great long-term investment. Did I overpay because I bought at the top of the market? Not from where I stand in 2008. Not by a long shot.

The recent leaps upward in value made real estate seem like a good short term proposition. For a lucky few, it was. But history shows us that these windows of extreme short-term appreciation are very rare occurances. And a lot of people bought what they could get in that hot market, not what made sense for them in the long run.

Today's market is a prime time for buyers to get what works for them in the long term. There's a terrific selection out there, at great prices and decent financial terms. The selection and prices will probably be there for a while, but not necessarily the terms -- while interest rates are still terrific, the rest of the financing guidelines change daily and they are only getting more restrictive. A house today that can be financed with a 5% downpayment may require a 10% downpayment tomorrow - simply because the rules are an ever-moving target.

So is this a good time to buy? You betcha. Read my post on the buyers who found five homes that they liked! One of my friends was remarking on that blog post, saying that when he bought, he had next to no choices - he felt lucky that the one that was available in his price range was one that he actually liked!

If you are ready to buy a house, you will find great values and a lot to choose from out there. It's a great time to buy!

Thanks, Tom, for the great comment!

(C) 2008 Susan Pruden.

I was driving around town yesterday, listing to the radio, and the story was about people wanting to trade in their SUVs for hybrid cars.

The person being interviewed said that there was a very important question to ask before making the leap -- how much do you owe on the SUV?

If you owe too much, you're probably upside down, since most automotive dealerships are not giving much for trade-in SUVs these days. There are some dealerships that won't accept SUVs in trade. Period.

So if you owe too much, maybe you'd better just be happy driving your SUV and finding other ways to save money. I liked what the guy being interviewed said.

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Maybe there are a few lessons in there for real estate. Sounds awfully similar to me. Maybe this just isn't the time to test the market. If you don't HAVE to sell, maybe you should find happiness where you are and wait until the market turns itself around. This is not the time to dabble in selling. You have to be prepared to make your house the best in its market, and best includes price. You simply have to be able to demonstrate good value. And only you can decide how strong your "have to" is.

Car dealerships are saying there's no value in used SUVs. So SUV owners might just have to make the best out of what they've got.

Just for the record, I am an SUV owner and don't regret it for a minute (except when I'm actually at the pump!)

(C) 2008 Susan Pruden.