The housing tax credit has been extended and expanded, details are all over the internet, so will buyers act now?
What has caused buyers to wait? Is it confidence in the market? Is it concern about their jobs? Is it a feeling that the housing market has another drop in prices as more foreclosures hit as executives laid off during the recession seek short sales or the banks foreclose on them?
Or will the incentives offered by this bill cause those 90% of Americans employed to make a move and buy a larger home or better located home? Will the incentives enable them to sell their own houses more quickly? Will these incentives allow baby boomers to downsize as they age?
Is there enough time for these incentives to actually make an impact on the housing market? Will they cause the greatest spring market we have seen in recent years?
Lots of questions few answers right now. What do you think?
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Nick & Trudy,
Only if we knew. I think our job is to get the right information out to our buyers and sellers. We all know it is a great time to buy.
I have had two of my clients contact me this weekend that are move up buyers. Most of my first time home buyers were leary of their job security. I'm very excited to help my move up buyers. I'm going to send a blast email to all of my past clients that have been in their homes over five years.....
Our market has changed I now have only 25% short sale or REO in the MLS so most are equity sales.
I don't have the answer. But I can say that 10.2% unemployment number looms heavy.
Some great initial responses, thank you. Donna and Larry you are right, I was surprised how many people still did not know about the initial home first time buyers credit even after all the press and information that we all put out there. Contacting past clients as to the new opportunities is a great idea, we need to be pro-active. In the same way we need to restate the facts and not let the press frighten our clients in to being the deer in the headlights. 89.9% of Americans are still employed, way more than are out of work. Be aware but don't get stagnant being afraid of things that might never happen.
If my business is any indication, there were a lot of first time buyers who took advantage of the initial credit and scrambled to get to closing by Nov. 30, creating an artificail lull for a few weeks at the end of November while everyone worked on closings.
I am starting to pick back up this week to normal numbers (from 2007 & 2008), so it seems that buyers are back. I am very hopeful that the buyers (like my next door neighbors) who didnt qualify for the first time credit will now enter the market for larger homes (they recently had a baby and are looking for more space). Again, if personal experience is an indicator, it seems that this is the portion of the market that will be most active in the next few months, while many first time buyers should still be out there as well.
Looking forward to a record setting 2010!! And you know that if I'M busy, it must mean that YOU'RE busy!!! Happy early Holidays and I hope to see a lot of you in the coming year!!