Whether or not to buy real estate is a question on the minds of many people today. If you are thinking about this question you obviously have interest in getting into the real estate game whether as on investor or homeowner. To answer the question “Is now the time to buy real estate” it is best to start by examining your own motivation.

We’re going to start by making a few assumptions:

1) You feel you have appropriate income to support the payments you’ll be making
2) That you have access to a down payment of can qualify for 100% financing.
3) You have sufficient funds to do the fixing up you’ll need if the home requires it.

Moving along:

1) How long do you plan to be in the home? The longer you plan to be there, the better the likelihood for you to generate some equity growth.
2) Does it make as much sense for you to own as it does to rent? In some parts of the country you can buy a home and have a house payment that is near what you would pay for rent. Check with you accountant, but you’ll likely get some tax benefits for the interest payments you’ll make during the year.
3) Does the home have what you want, or close to it? How about the schools, are they what you want?
4) If you’re an investor and planning to get in and get out, the waters may be rougher and you should be sure to have some holding power to deal with longer running marketing periods most sellers are experiencing.
5) You also have to account for the brokerage fee when figuring you costs.

Do your research.

1) Know the values in the area,
2) Know what the foreclosure activity is like as it can have a huge affect on the current and future market.
3) Know what the replacement cost is so you home is properly insured.
4) What about environmental conditions?
5) Today, you need to work a little harder to get at the right information to help in your decision to buy or at what price to list your home.

The fact that you are thinking about getting in to real estate means you’re interested. Just don’t assume that because a homeowner is in a distressed situation the home is a good deal. We’re seeing a lot of that situation today but you still need to do your homework. Check out www.homesmartreports.com, www.electronicappraiser.com or www.ussearch.com as options for objective third party research data.