I am in the market to buy a home. Is now a good time to buy?

Now is absolutely a wonderful time to buy! The Home Purchase Tax Credit for first time buyers is one of the reasons why it’s a great time to buy NOW as opposed to waiting.
Lower prices, a huge abundance of inventory for sale, sellers that are getting more desperate by the month (at least the serious ones are)…all of this is what creates a very strong negotiating position for the buyers side of the transaction.
What do you risk by waiting?

Rising Interest Rates
If interest rates start going up by any significant amount, you are losing all the benefit of buying the home for a lower price because your interest payments will go up significantly.

Losing the Home Buyer Tax Credit
That’s a $7,000 interest-free loan from the government that you WON’T get if you wait to buy…it’s free money!

The market could turn around before you know it.
From my experience, it takes 2-3 months for real estate agents to know that the market is changing direction…it takes another 2-3 months beyond that before the average buyer/seller realizes the shift (How many people do you know who didn’t believe their Realtor when told that the market was no longer going up 2 years ago? How long did it take them to come around and realize the shift?)

We tend to give all my buyers the same basic advice.
If you are buying a home in a downward trending market, understand that you’re buying a HOME…not a cash cow. Plan on living in it. Plan on staying. There is no better long-term investment than real estate - but it’s the long term that makes it a safe bet…the only time you get into trouble is when you HAVE to sell (if the investors who got burned didn’t have to sell, they could have taken their properties off the market, waiting for it to turn around, and then sold for a great profit…but their hand was forced because they were (mostly) in over their head. Buy a HOME first…investment second, and you will be absolutely thrilled with the deals you can get in today's marketplace…just please don’t turn around and want to sell next month for a $35,000.00 dollar profit!