Incentives

How may we serve you, you most blessed buyers you....for those of you who are in the market to purchase, you couldn't have chosen a better time. Perhaps it was not planned, it is simply time for you to stop paying your landlord/lady's mortgage or it is time to increase the nest size or even a job relocation has instigated your move. Whatever it is, lucky you. And if you have been waiting and watching for all the dots to line up, then what a smart buyer you are indeed. For now, interest rates are below 5% for those with great credit and downpayment. Inventory is high so there is a plethora of homes to choose from. Sellers are offering to pay closing costs and builders are offering free upgrades. Both are willing to pay for home warranties, pay for points to buy down your interest rate even further, pay for homeowner's association fees, flood insurance - anything that could possibly sway you to choose their product can be negotiated. They may even pay for spa treatments or house warming parties at this point. And to put the icing on the cake, from now until December 1st, 2009, if you have not purchased a home in the last three years, you can qualify for an $8000 tax credit. Unless you turn around and sell this home within three years, this credit, unlike the previous one, does not have to be repaid. That's right kids, the incentives are boiling over in this real estate market cauldron. What does it take? Before I'm told limo service to showings and red carpet rolled out to the front door, I say forget it. Don't push it, be smart, take advantage of this time and buy now.

Jump the Hurdle

What is the deal? Why have I had blogging on my list of things to do for over a year? If you notice the industry I am in and you have listened to the radio, read the paper or watched the television even for a mere total of five minutes during 2008 then you know my industry took a stumble. That is to say, it's not like I have been slammed busy. Yes, I still show up for work everyday. There are always ways to improve my business, always things to do, people to meet, calls to make. But why haven't I made the time to blog?
These are the same questions I am now asking financially responsible people who should be investing in real estate. What is the deal? The rates are great, the inventory is high. It is a buyer's market, what on earth are you waiting for?
Their answer may be the same as the one I recently discovered for myself....fear. For some unfounded reason, I thought perhaps I wouldn't be tech savvy enough to figure out this blogging deal. I made the action out to be so much bigger than it was. A tad bit of fear created a mushroom of uncertainty and procrastination around blogging. Totally unfounded. I was wrong. Now...I jumped the hurdle. I am a blogger.
Of course I realize investing in property is a much bigger risk than starting to blog. But, the thing that prevents someone could be the same. In fact, I am betting on it. I am betting fear is the biggest hurdle at this point that is keeping able bodied buyers procrastinating on investing in their future and building their wealth. I am not suggesting by any means that people throw caution to the wind and dive in to the market. But I am making a call to fiscally responsible souls to get the facts, get with your Realtor and get busy. By the time the rest of the population overcomes the fear factor, the rates may not be so great anymore, those oh so yummy buyer incentives may be a thing of the past and the market may have switched to favor sellers. The time is now, JUMP THE HURDLE.