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Showing posts from August, 2008

Don't Buy a House Now

You aren't smarter than the market. It really is that simple. There have been several articles lately that I suspect are part of a determined effort by the real estate industry to get people back into the housing market. The basic pitch is that higher interest rates will eat up any savings you get from waiting for lower prices. Even the New York Times has gotten in on this action. The calculation always goes something like this. Say you have a house for 500,000 and you make a $100,000 down payment today with a $400,000 mortage at 6.5%. Now compare that to a year from now if housing prices fall by 10%, you would make a down payment of $90,000 and borrow only $360,000, but at a higher interest rate. If the interest rate is high enough, you will end up with higher payments and paying more total for the house than if you purchased it now. There are two problems with that calculation. The first is that isn't really how people buy houses. People decide how much they can afford and th