Advantages of buying a home in the post-tax incentive era

I would like to share Mr. Jeff Detwiler's comments with all of you about why today is the best time to buy a home, even though we live in the post-tax incentive era. I hope it will help all of us to convince buyers who are using the expired tax-incentive as an objection. Mr. Jeff Detwiler is the President and COO of The Long & Foster Companies.

"Let’s talk about the 'missed opportunity' on the tax incentives. Let’s say first-time home buyer couple is looking at taking a 30-year loan on a $340,000 home, which was the average Long & Foster sale price in July. If they had purchased in early April, in time for the $8,000 credit, the interest rate probably would have been around 5.25 percent.

If that same couple bought today and locked in a rate around 4.5 percent, they would save more than $130 per month on the mortgage payment compared to the early-April purchase.

Even if they only live in the house for 10 years, they would save more than $16,000 in interest. These record-low interest rates mean buyers "match" the $8,000 they would have gotten in tax incentives if they live in the house just five years."