Re: Book on buying a house?


<royls@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:47d96254.9143286@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:58:07 -0400, "sinister"
<sinister@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

For better or worse (well, probably for worse) I might buy a primary
residence this year.

Why not wait a year? I've been expecting China to pull the plug after
the Beijing Olympics, and times could then get very interesting, in
the Chinese proverbial sense...

One word: "Wife".

My own model is that, while the bubble has deflated somewhat recently,
(1) it takes quite a while for prices to adjust downward---at least a year
in response to changes in the fundamentals,
(2) prices will really take a beating when interest rates go up.

I don't know when rates will go up again, but the rest of the world cannot
keep lending to the US forever. My estimate is that in 15 years, it's a
certainty that this part of the world economy (trade balance, etc) will have
gone back to equilibrium. 10 years, very likely. Five years, probably but
not at all certain.

My wife really wants to buy, and even though I've explained the fundamentals
to her and she's not at all stupid...well, let's just say that my impression
is that on average women are much more emotionally attached to the idea of
owning an abode.

The safest and most profitable time to buy real estaste is when prices
have been steady for a year after a crash.

Agreed...like I said above, though, the real crash won't happen until rates
go up 100+ basis points, and I think that's coming, but my wife's patience
will be exhausted first.

:-(

Does anyone have a book they could recommend on what to do, look for,
pitfalls, etc? (Meaning, the house, inspection, loans etc.)

Your local public library does.

-- Roy L


.

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