Many people ask me if this is a good time to be buying or selling real estate. Some people try to "play the market" like buying stocks and bonds. One thing to remember when buying real estate is to figure out what your goal is first. Then you have to keep in mind that buying a home for any reason is a long-term investment.

If your real estate purchase is to be your primary residence, it is more than a financial investment, it is emotional, and it's practical, and it's where you are going to be spending the majority of your time when you are not at work. For those of you fortunate enough to work from home, that's a LOT of time. You'll be building memories for you and your family--whether your family consists of humans or animals--or both!

As a buyer, consider this, you have to live somewhere, so if you're paying a mortgage, why not it be yours? If you're paying rent, you're paying someone else's mortgage. You do have more responsibilities as a homeowner than a renter does, however, you don't have to get permission to paint, or make changes to your house. You get to live by your own rules, and not your landlords rules.

When you own a home, you have the advantages of writing off the interest you pay on your mortgage on your tax return. In the first few years, this is a considerable amount. You can also write off the property taxes you pay. This amounts to most of what your monthly payments are. You can't write off rent. At least not in the State of Florida.

As for selling property in the current market, some are concerned that "this isn't the time to sell," and "we haven't seen the bottom yet," or "it's going to take a long time to recover." We all need to keep in mind, though, that anyone you talk to or listen to, or the articles you read, including mine, are just opinions. Not one of us has a crystal ball that can tell you for sure what will happen next week, month or year with any definitive guarantee. The two things that sell a property are marketing and price. The realtor you choose has control over their marketing efforts and how they get exposure out there for selling your home. You, as the seller, have the control over changing the price of your home if you are not satisfied with the showing activity.

Whether you are a buyer or seller, you, like everyone else, want to get the best deal they possibly can. For some buyers that might be the features in the home, others it may be the price of the home, many times it's the payment and terms of the payments, and for everyone it is varying combinations of these things. For those same homes, and the sellers, it may not only be the price, but other unique circumstances, like needing to wait 60-90+ days to close, or closing as quickly as possible.

To be honest, the best time to buy or sell real estate is "yesterday." As long as you don't treat buying and selling real estate like stocks and bonds to be bought and sold quickly and on a whim, you'll be fine. Make sure you do your homework on what the current local market conditions are when you are ready to buy or sell, and don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions!