The Small Window of Opportunity

Question: Why is it a small window?     Answer: Supply

The number of available homes to purchase has decreased. There is not much supply out there. In fact the supply of homes is lower than I have seen it in a long time. Lately the demand has also been low. We have had the least amount of buyers looking for homes that we have ever seen. What happens when you have small demand? Prices fall flat on their face. That is where we are right now, low prices! That is the opportunity.

Question: How long will this window last? Answer: Not Long

The opportunity will end when the cost of homes starts to increase again. This will happen when demand increases to normal levels. A few factors suggest that demand may be normalizing soon.
     1st: it has been more than 6 months since the expiration of the tax credit.
     2nd: housing in Utah follows a very consistent pattern. Typically December January and February are slower months for real estate in Utah. Right now our January is poised to be better than our worst January 2 years ago. (Indicating that the market hit bottom and we are now on our way up.)
     3rd: interest rates* have slowly started to creep up. Interest rates are getting closer to 4.75%. They used to be around 4%!

With low supply, and demand beginning to increase, we will see prices start to rise again. An important adage to remember when purchasing is: "prices come down like a parachute and go up like a rocket!" When this happens we will look back at our little window of opportunity and realize how nice it was. Don't be a victim of backward longing. Recognize this small window of opportunity for what it is.

Here is another article about the near future of the market.

*Check out my article here to see a MBA mortgage forecast report and to see how much 3/4 of a percent can influence your purchasing power.