When to buy

Question

I was just curious is there ever a right time to buy a house like a lot of people around me say wait till the market goes down cause it’s high but like it always seems like it’s gonna keep going up you know I know there’s sometimes the moments where it goes down a little bit, but it’s always gonna go up no?

Account Closed · Answer

@Jaime Zarate i've sold real estate in columbus, oh and detroit, mi. so two super different markets. and in situations where we're trying to get into an asset class that is just getting eaten up by buyer demand (meaning bidding wars, sellers unwilling to negotiate, etc.). sometimes it's effective to start up the search again during the slow months of real estate when there are less buyers to compete with. slowest months are september through december. then buyers start coming back out in january. but january through march is the second slowest time of year. so if you're getting outbid on the properties you want, you might score better deals in q4 and q1.

Alice Wang · Answer

Great question. There are people making money in real estate in every type of market. Up or down. If you are trying to invest by timing the market, unfortunately you are missing out on opportunities. Good investors figure out how to combat the market, not wait it out. As a realtor I always get asked:" what is a good time to buy?" My answer is alway "The best time to buy was 30 years ago. The second best time to buy is right now." Happy investing!

Twannisha Jackson · Answer

hi, you buy a house whenever you can afford one. the market gonna do what the market does, real question is are you willing to take the interest rate? mines is 7%. anything under 7% is incredible for me but 9% is the highest i’ll go- that’s when i would wait for an 8%. buy what you can afford.

Jaime Zarate · Answer

Well I would buy a house for the investment/wealth aspect like renting it out or house hacking is still okay to buy house then?

Nikki Jefferson · Answer

@Jaime Zarate house hacking is always a great idea. As for 'when is a good time to buy' the answer is always yesterday! A week ago! A year ago! There's never a perfect time but the best time to buy is when you know what is going on. You know the numbers and the terms right now and everything else is uncertain and always changing.

Marcus Auerbach · Answer

You can google historic home prices (for example case schiller index) if you want to know. The reason home prices go up, because the value of the dollar goes down with inflation. You could have bought a brand new house in 1960 for $15,000. Back then they financed that over 30 years.

Most first time home buyers are stuck in that holding pattern. The irony is, if the housing market would go soft, they would be to scared to buy, because "prices are falling"

But there is that thing called supply and demand and the US has a chronic housing shortage, especially in the Midwest, and it will probably take a decade to catch up. The issue is so big, that it became a topic in the last presidential election

Wale Lawal · Answer

@Jaime Zarate

Great question—and you're definitely not alone in wondering this. The truth is, there’s rarely a “perfect” time to buy a house that everyone agrees on. The market can dip, but over time, real estate generally appreciates. So instead of timing the market, focus on whether it's the right time for you—meaning you’re financially ready, you’ve found a solid deal, and you can hold the property long enough to ride out any short-term dips. If the numbers make sense now (e.g. monthly payments, rental income if applicable), that’s more important than trying to predict a crash that may or may not come.

Good luck!

Alecia Loveless · Answer

@Jaime Zarate As long as the numbers work it’s always a good time to buy a house.

No matter what type of property you are looking for you will have to do lots of looking and analyzing before you settle on one.

Drew Sygit · Answer

@Jaime Zarate how well can YOU time the stock market?

So, how well will YOU be able to time the real estate market?

Investors do NOT have to buy, but they should always be looking!

Try to take advantage of properties on the market for 90+ days, probates, divorces, etc.

Jared Smith · Answer

@Jaime Zarate, welcome to the perpetual conundrum of real estate. If I had to guess, I would say your people around you are not investors themselves or their perspective would likely be different. The reality is that you can find good, solid, base-hit deals in pretty much any market. If I told you you can get into a deal and in 5-7 years the appreciation will likely exceed what you put down even at 30%, not including equity pay down from the resident and potential passive income on top. Would you do that deal today? Because I have dozens of those.

Surround yourself with real estate go-getters and you will find deals!

When to buy

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