A Popular Question "how's the market...really?"

Well, that's a loaded question...

If you're a buyer...things look great, interest rates are low and stats indicate we should be riding the bottom. Why not buy if you can? Remember real estate is a long term investment. Some houses are flying off the market, some are sitting.

If you're a seller...the market prices today are the same as they were in 2005. If you bought between 2005 and now, its a good chance your home has depreciated (aka: appreciated then depreciated), unless you've done some serious remodeling. If you're thinking of "moving up" to a bigger more expensive house, then things are better than they seem. Although the home you own has depreciated, the more expensive home you are going to buy has depreciated as well. Keep in mind, the more expensive home will also appreciate more (in dollar amount) than the house you just sold because you are gaining appreciation on the banks money (and more of it). For example if you owned a home today worth $400,000 and it appreciated 10%, you would gain $40,000. If you owned a home today worth $600,000 and it appreciated 10%, you would gain $60,000. Something to think about.

Real estate is cyclical and people will always have life changing events where they need to buy and sell real estate.... So, how's the market? That is a very individual, specific question that needs to be answered on a per situation basis.

This graph is showing what the market has done the past 10 years per stats from Case-Shiller, peaking in mid-2007 and riding back down to 2005 prices.