As realtors, we are always telling people why “today or now is a good time to buy” and many times we have good reason for that. The prices are down and there are a number of foreclosures available, buyer incentives, etc, etc. Maybe the best reason of all right now to buy is the interest rate.

At the end of last year, Move.com, the company that also owns the more popular Realtor.com, published a survey they conducted forecasting home buying in 2010. According to Move.com one in 20 Americans say they plan on buying a home within the coming year. While that doesn’t seem like a lot of people the most interesting part of the data are the demographics. The people most likely to buy will have a median age of 34 or younger and will be living in the South and West according to the survey.

Ok, so you only have so much money to spend on a new home. You are realistic about what you can buy with that money and after looking at quite a few places, you know that you are not going to be able to get everything you want. The question now becomes: ‘What things do you sacrifice and what characteristics are critical for a good investment?’

In recent months, I have spoken to quite a few people that are concerned with keeping their expenses low in this economic environment. After all, it’s a smart practice in case the economy has a relapse, you lose a job, or you have some unexpected expenses.

Wow, what a hangover. And I am not talking about the New Years Eve Party, but rather, the last year in real estate. I feel like someone hit me over the head with a lock box and I can’t take enough Advil to make the headache go away.

A husband and wife were just about set to buy a home. They had narrowed it down to the final two choices and wanted me to go out with them one more time to help them decide. It was Tuesday night when they had contacted me and we were meeting on Thursday.

I am sure by now that you saw the news from two weeks ago about the first-time home buyers’ tax credit being extended through April 30, 2010 and Congress creating a new credit for people other than first-time home buyers.

On Wednesday, Move.com, the company that also owns the more popular Realtor.com, published a survey they conducted forecasting home buying in 2010. According to Move.com one in 20 Americans say they plan on buying a home within the coming year. While that doesn’t seem like a lot of people the most interesting part of the data are the demographics. The people most likely to buy will have a median age of 34 or younger and will be living in the South and West according to the survey.

A husband and wife are on vacation, the husband says to the wife, “Hey, what do you think about maybe making an on offer on that home we saw three months ago?” The wife says, “Yeah, I kinda liked it. Let’s call our realtor and take another look when we get back home.”

Last week, we began to take a look at a hot topic these days in real estate and that’s appraisals. We are seeing more and more people making solid offers on homes only to find out two weeks later that it did not appraise for the asking price. There are many reasons for this and [...]