Thursday, January 13, 2011

IS NOW THE TIME TO BUY REAL ESTATE?



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My middle son, Austin, and I went to the BCS National Championship game in Glendale, AZ, monday night. Awesome game and a great time. College football at it's best. Auburn defeats Oregon, 22-19 on a last second field goal. I shot the video just seconds after the winning kick.

Big thanks to my good friend John Sparkenbach for getting me the tickets!


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John Paulson is the man who turned the greatest trade of all time. Betting against the housing market, he netted a cool billion dollars for himself in 2007. That’s “BILLION with a B.”

Today, he’s saying it’s the best real estate buying opportunity of all time.

"If you don't own a home, buy one," Paulson said. "If you own one home, buy another one, and if you own two homes, buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy a home."

Factoring in mortgage rates, housing affordability is back to where it was in September 1996. Then mortgage rates were 8% and the average price of a home was $171,600.

You can actually buy a home for a monthly payment that is not very many dollars different from the monthly payment one would have needed in September 1996, when rates were significantly higher.

Adjusted for inflation, the payment for an average-priced home today is about 30% lower than it was 14 years ago.

Essentially, real estate is a way to buy now and pay later. And the case for housing extends to other property types, too. Owners of quality real estate are getting deals on mortgages that we are unlikely to see for a generation.

NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!!
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