Housing bears rejoice, Time is on your side
Has it become as fashionable to trash homeownership as it once was to dream that your house would become the road to riches and easy living?
A case in point is Time magazine's cover story, Rethinking Homeownership. That is as sure a sign as anything that public opinion and market sentiment has finally caught up with the housing bears, not long ago a strident minority pointing out uncomfortable facts many homeowners probably just wished would go away.
But five years ago, during the height of the bubble, Time's cover was emblazoned with a much different message, Home $weet Home, with an illustration of an overjoyed homeowner hugging his cash machine of a house.
A former Herald colleague of mine, Brett Arends, now over at The Wall Street Journal, points all this out with this out with some amusement. He also offers a contrarian - and well thought out - ten point case for buying a home now.
Basically, you can get a good deal right now, mortgages are cheap and you will save on taxes. Plus, it's forced savings and a bit of risk capital as well, especially if the economy ends up surprising us all and turns around, bringing housing prices along with it, Arends contends.
I say good luck to anyone looking to buy a home or condo as a speculative venture - judging from all emails I get for websites pitching their services to wannabe housing vultures interested in scooping up foreclosures, there are lots of fools out there ready to be parted with their money.
And sure, if you are happy renting and not in any particular need to buy, no need to rush. Home prices are likely to continue to slide, even here in Greater Boston, though by how much is a question we all love to argue over.
But if you want to buy a house as a place to live long-term, why not buy now? By long-term, I am talking five to ten years at least.
Figure out what you can afford, pick a price you won't go above, and go for it.
