January 31st, 2009
From Where I Sit
I received an intriguing note the other day from Steve Copson, our Windermere Mortgage Company branch manager. He reported with enthusiasm that 30-year, fixed rate mortgages are available at just a touch over 5% interest. He also enclosed a graph showing today’s rates are the lowest since 1978, which was as far back as the graph went. Yet today’s economy has worried most of us into clamping our wallets shut with both hands. After all, who knows how long and deep this downturn will be?
So here we are, in what is surely a buyer’s market, with the best loan rates in decades dangling before us… yet doubts persist. I don’t think folks in Western Washington have lost confidence in real estate values, but they have lost confidence in tomorrow. We have a daily news diet laden with the-sky-is-falling accounts of layoffs, business failures, and mind-boggling bailouts that leave us wondering what might implode next-maybe our bank, or maybe our job. It is darn hard to make a major purchase in that frame of mind.
Yet the time will come when “Should I buy now?” or “Should I borrow now?” will become “I should have done it then.” Now, I don’t advocate trying to gauge the bottom of the market, nor am I saying you should act today-you should only buy or borrow when you feel comfortable. What I’m suggesting is that we are in extraordinary times, and there are and will be significant opportunities.
If you’ve thought about refinancing your home, or buying a new one, or investing in real estate, you should be paying attention today. Best rate in 30 years? Even in a scary economy, that’s an opportunity. Lots of listings, not so many sales? Another opportunity, cleverly disguised.
One of these days…
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