First-time buyers, what's your take on this market?
If you are looking at buying a home right now, whether you realize it or not, you are a dying breed.
Panicked over rising prices, first timers helped drives sales during the housing bubble, eager to grab a home, any home, while they still could.
First-time buyers made a short-lived comeback in late 2009 and early 2010 when Uncle Sam started doling out $8,000 a pop to anyone buying a house for the first time.
But we all know what happened after that. The tax credit money stopped flowing in April 2010 and first-time buyers went into hiding again, triggering the double dip in home prices we are now mired in.
Here's a pretty interesting take on some of the barriers that are keeping first-time buyers out of the market. These range from a high unemployment rate for younger workers, to skittish banks seeking downpayments that now average 22 percent.
In fact,, here's a sobering stat from the AP piece - the unemployment rate for workers 25-34 is a now miserable 9.8 percent.
No job, no house hunting.
All told, first-time buyers now make up just a third of the market, down from the typical 50 percent, according to the story.
Are you a first-timer sitting on the fence, renting but looking? What would it take to get you to jump into this market?
