rent vs. buy – Cooper Realty Associates

Why Buying A Home Is Better Than Renting

With the housing market in its current state, many people are opting to rent rather than buy. They feel that renting gives them more flexibility and won’t leave them possibly unable to keep their house should they lose their job or have another hardship befall them. However, there couldn’t be a better time to buy! In fact, in 98% of today’s top housing markets, buying a home is actually more affordable than renting!

There are several reasons that buying is almost universally more affordable than renting. First, home prices are at record lows throughout the country. Second, mortgage rates are at historic lows. And third, landlords acknowledge that they have control in a market flooded which results in high rent prices.

So, if you’re in a position to save for a down-payment now is the time to buy! Give us a call at Cooper Realty Associates and let us help you get out of your rental and into your own home – 302-629-6693.

On The Fence About Home Ownership? Warren Buffett Advises You To Take The Risk!

Even though it’s a buyer’s market right now, many people are still on the fence about whether or not to purchase real estate. Check out legendary investor, Warren Buffett’s, advice in this video.

We all know that when it comes to real estate we are currently in a buyer’s market, but many people are still on the fence about whether or not to buy. Are you one of them? Legendary investor and one of the richest men in America, Warren Buffett, certainly isn’t. Check out this video:

Buy Homes Now — Advice From One of America’s Richest Men

So, when you’re ready to get off your fence and follow Mr. Buffett’s advice, give Cooper Realty a call. We have offices in Lewes – 302 644-2266, Seaford – 302 629-6693, and Georgetown – 302 856-6434, and we’re ready to help you find a property that is perfect for you!

(Part 3) 4 SIGNALS IT MAY BE TIME TO STOP RENTING AND BUY YOUR HOME!

The smartest homebuyers look to their lives, not just the market, for signals about when the time is right to buy

Time to Buy

Your income and career are stable for the foreseeable future. The smartest homebuyers look to their lives, not just the market, for signals about when the time is right to buy. Homebuying is a long, long-term endeavor these days. The goal is to be able to commit to staying in the same place, geographically-speaking, for 7 to 10 years before you buy (more in a foreclosure-riddled market, less in an area that has been more recession-resistant). Most lenders will require that you’ve been at your job – or in the same general field of work – for at least two years before you buy. But that’s the bare minimum – beyond that, you don’t want to be barely beginning a career in which you think you may need to move sooner than that, nor do you want to buy when you’re advanced in your career, but in an industry which is dying or downsizing the workforce in your region (unless you have a strong Plan B).

When you get to the spot in your career where you can realistically project a stable income 7 to 10 years out, life might be giving you a green light to move forward on your homebuying dreams.

Tomorrow’s post will wrap up this 4 part series. Don’t miss it!!

Author~Connie Cooper

4 SIGNALS IT MIGHT BE TIME TO BUY (VS. RENT) YOUR HOME (PART 2)

Rising rents at a time when the prices of homes for sale are low and, in some places, falling?

Rents are going up. Rental rates in many areas are also on the rise – in fact, the foreclosure crisis has created additional demand on many markets’ rental housing inventory in several different ways. First, former homeowners who lost homes to foreclosure now need to rent; as well, buyers in foreclosure hot spots have been hesitant to buy, many electing to stay renters far beyond when they would have otherwise. On top of all that, super-tight lending guidelines have stopped even some who would like to buy homes from doing so. As a result, rental homes are in high demand – and rents are rising.

Rising rents at a time when the prices of homes for sale are low and, in some places, falling? One more signal that now might just be the time to buy. (Of course, where foreclosures are high, the chances of continued depreciation are, too – to offset this risk, have a long-term plan, to minimize the possibility that you’ll owe more than your home is worth when you need to sell)

Tomorrow, you’ll see how to plan for the long term and minimize your homebuying risk.

CHECK IN TOMORROW FOR SIGNAL #3

Author~Connie Cooper

4 SIGNALS THAT IT MIGHT BE TIME TO BUY VS. RENT YOUR HOME (PART 1 OF 4)

To rent or to buy?: what used to be a given – that you would buy a home as soon as you could afford to – has become an agonizing conundrum for many a would-be homebuyer, in the face of the housing market’s big bust and super-slow recovery. Low prices seem to create a wide-open window of opportunity, but they also create the concern that prices will keep falling after closing. And that Catch-22 has hundreds of thousands of buyers-to-be stuck on the fence.

Fortunately, there are handfuls of life, mortgage and local market signals which indicate that the time *might* be right to hop – scratch that – leap off the fence and into homeownership:

Signal #1 – Mortgage rates are going up. Home prices have been low for the last several years, and in fact are currently looking like they’re heading back down to the same levels they were at the depths of the real estate recession. During this same time frame, interest rates have also been low – this one-two punch has created record-high affordability for the last four years running, causing buyers to believe that this window of opportunity won’t be closing anytime soon.

While prices don’t look like they’ll be skyrocketing anytime soon, interest rates are another story. Rates have been on a rollercoaster over the past few months, and with inflation and Fed rates set to spike later this year, today’s low interest rates might be as good as they’re going to get for a long time to come. And I mean a very long time – in the next few years, governmental intervention in the mortgage markets is likely to wind down, and that means higher mortgage interest rates are not only inevitable, they’ll probably be here for a long, long time.

Mortgage rates on the rise are one signal that now might be the peak of home affordability, and the peak of the opportunity to buy.

CHECK IN TOMORROW FOR SIGNAL #2!

Author~ Connie Cooper