The economy may be in trouble but there are always opportunities regardless of market conditions.
Interest rates are another advantage to home buyers. Rates are about as low as they get. With today's interest rates you can save a ton of money over the length of a 15 or 30 year loan. A few years ago when I refinanced my home loan the length of my loan dropped from 30 years to 15 years. My payment stayed the same.
Another, lesser known advantage to buying a home now is a tax free loan available via the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. This loan is available to qualified home buyers when the 2008 or 2009 tax return is filed. To be qualified, a home buyer must not have owned a home in the past 3 years. The amount of credit is equal to 10% of the purchase price but no more than $7,500. If you purchase the home after Jan 1 2009 but before the deadline of July 1, 2009, you can still receive the credit by filing an amended 2008 tax return.
Remember, I said this is a LOAN? You receive the money via your taxes but it's equivalent to a interest free loan. After two years the money must be repaid via your tax return. If you claim the full $7,500, your tax return will pay back $500 each year over a 15 year period until the full amount has been returned.
Another key point... if you sell your home before the amount has been repaid at a profit you must pay off the loan with any profits. On the other hand, if you sell the home at a loss the loan is forgiven.
Another important detail I've read regarding pay back of the loan at tax time is you may need to adjust your federal tax wage withholding to ensure you cover the credit pay back.
More details are available on Realtor.org and at KAR.com
Bill - Great Post... I'm trying to spread the word too - It's so important!