Understanding Today's Housing Market

Hi Folks,

On behalf of everyone at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate The Masiello Group I want to take this opportunity to provide some direct perspective on today's housing market.

The most widely held misunderstanding in today's housing market is the availability of financing. Contrary to some reports there is plenty of home mortgage financing available to qualified buyers, including some with low down payments. Rates remain at historic lows, increasing buying power. For sure the underwriting criteria have reverted back to more traditional standards, although nothing unreasonable.

The big question remains are these good times to buy and sell? Let's take selling first. If you are looking to take advantage of low interest rates and moderate home prices to better your housing investment by moving up or moving down then this would be a wise time to sell.

How about buying? It goes without saying that the best time to maximize your investment in anything, is when the cost to do so is low. The combination of moderate prices and low interest rates make this one of the best times in history to increase your investment in real estate. As the market improves, and it will, both real estate prices and interest rates will move up commensurately.

Real estate has out performed many other investment vehicles over the last 20-30 years, therefore, real estate can serve your personal portfolio very well. No one wants to be the one a couple of years from now saying "I wish we had bought when home prices and interest rates were better." Although no one can perfectly time the bottom of any market, it is hard to argue that today's real estate market is not full of tremendous value.

We appreciate the opportunity to serve our customers and clients and thank you for allowing us to provide you with these comments.

Sincerely Yours,

Christopher J. Masiello, CEO/President