A Warm Spring Real Estate Market?

With news of a higher foreclosure rate than ever, is there any hope in the forecast for a warm spring real estate market?  There is good news, especially for buyers.  There is an excellent selection of homes on the market to choose from, making it easier than ever to find the right home at the right time.  Homes have also become somewhat more affordable and the chances of getting in a bidding war are less with more houses to go around. Interest rates continue to stay reasonably low so it is easy to find an affordable mortgage. 

Not all the news is good.  Prices could continue to inch downward for some time to come.  Sellers need to be very aggressive in pricing in order to stay ahead of the competition.  There was a time when sellers could price there homes just above the latest comparable listing, those days are gone.  It is now necessary to take into account the declining market when pricing and price lower than the competition to avoid sitting on the market and getting stale.  However, homes priced well are still seeing activity and even multiple offers.

Things are picking up with the spring market.  Many buyers have been holding off on deciding on anything for a while.  There has been a lot of fear and people have been waiting to see how much worse things are going to get.  Since prices have been leveling off or declining fairly slowly opportunity is starting to outweigh caution.  Buyers realize there are some great values in the market now.  While interest rates are still low they have started to creep up.  Buyers who wait for home prices to drop further may end up paying a higher interest rate which can cost them a lot more in the long run.