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Are you kidding????


Blog by Patricia Houlihan - Personal Real Estate Corporation | March 31st, 2009


I am just listening to a webinar for realtors on how to do well in this market and it is a bit distressing....in answer to how do you answer the question "is it a good time to buy now?" the answer had something to do with reciting stats on number of sales the past month...I had to ask myself-is he serious? with the sad script on how many houses have been bought in the last month? why is that a reason to buy???? is that the leming approach to getting buyers to buy...
I truly believe that there are amazing reasons to buy there is no need to try to come up with a script like he said (which is not very encouraging).  I think any realtor should be able to clearly explain to their clients why it really is a super buyers' market at the moment:
-the amazingly low rates make it one of the best markets we have had for getting your dollar to go further
-there is great selection of homes like we haven't seen in years
-now in most cases there is time to breathe before making an offer
-prices have come down a lot in most cases
-rent is throwing money in the garbage every month so that your landlord can take it out and put it in their pocket
-rents here can cover a lot of mortgage payment
-for most it will be their only tax free gain on any investment when they do sell
-just as what goes up must come down, what has now come down will go back up-as we can see looking at a graph of prices in Vancouver over the past 40 or 50 years-downturns are followed by upturns and again we need to remember that this investment also gives one a place to live!
So I would suggest the answer to the question realtors are asking "how do you get buyers to buy now????" They should explain that this type of buyer friendly market only comes along once in a while-if they miss it they will regret it...why did they want to buy as prices were reaching record highs and are now hesitant to buy at lows? and again factoring in the rates...to get buyers to buy now, I think the realtor has to understand the above benefits and be able to explain them to the client...
It really is a great time to buy...with rates like this I would love to have more cash to buy myself!
I would welcome your feedback on this!
 Patricia