Yesterday my realtor sent me a listing for a house in my neighborhood, asking if I knew someone interested in being my new neighbor. I checked the house out and my jaw dropped. The house looked very similiar to mine, although a couple hundred square feet smaller. Updates such as vinyl windows were made, and the house sits on 10,000 sqft of land – plenty to expand on the current house. The house is in short sale, meaning it’s selling for less than what is owed on the current note. The asking is listed at $70,000 (or @22%) less than it sold four years ago and well below what I paid for my house.

So is it time to buy? Prices of houses are well off the highs of a few years ago. Many of the traditional homeowners (non flippers) are now just getting into the ugly side of this economic crisis. Layoffs and late/non payments are piling up while job offers and income is limited. Mortgage rates are also sitting on pretty low rates, with 30 year fixed floating around the 5% mark. Don’t forget the first time home buyers tax credit, which allows those who purchase a home between January 1st and December 31st of this year to receive $8000 tax credit. This money does not have to be paid back, unlike the previous $7,500 credit given last year.

So, we have a huge drop in housing prices, historically low mortgage rates, and tax credits/advantages to buying hanging out there right now. Those 3 signs all indicate a great opportunity to buy that home. Of course, You still need to do all the other work around getting a home – making sure you can afford the mortgage and interest, have job security, emergency savings,  and a credit rating that will actually let banks lend to you.

If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the moment to strike, I believe the time is now. Do your due diligence beforehand, but mortgage rates and home prices won’t last forever. We are already outside the scope of a normal recession period. I’m not saying we’ll recover next week, but you don’t want to be mumbling “I shoulda” this time next year.