Eric Cook

If only we had magical powers and a crystal ball to foresee the future of the housing market, but unfortunately no one does. However, we can rely upon highly skilled experts to make educated assumptions and guesses about when we are going to see the light at the end of this long, dark housing market tunnel.

Recently, Stan Humpries, chief economist at Zillow.com addressed some of the biggest housing myths, or rumors swirling around the Internet and the local water hole:

1. Hip, hip hooray, the housing recession is over! Well…not so fast, Humpries cautions. He urges Americans to look around their neighborhood and assess what is selling, what isn’t selling and how much neighbors are receiving their properties. He adds that prices are going to have to bottom out before we are going to see recovery, which he expects to occur around third quarter of 2010.
2. My home will go back to pre-recession values once the market stabilizes. Another myth that simply won’t happen. Humpries says that for at least three to four years, home values will be long and flat. He likens the recovery as being more “L” shaped than “V” shaped. He says that on the positive side, values won’t continue to free fall.
3. The worst part of the foreclosure crisis is history. Once again, poor Stan Humpries is coming out looking like the grim reaper. Nope, he says. Until the job market gets it preverbal “color back in its cheeks” the foreclosure market will remain the same. Can’t have foreclosures recede with people continuing to be out of work.
4. We can all thank tax credits for saving the housing market. While Humpries agrees that the tax credits rearranged homebuyer’s psychology and approach to home buying, in reality historically low prices coupled with a 50-year low interest rate structure is what’s keeping the housing market afloat. Also, add in FHA increasing its role and you have more eligible buyers today than you’ve had in previous years.

Here’s the good news…if you are a first time homebuyer or an investor, the time to buy is now. You’ll never stumble across a market quite like this, where the property prices and interest rates are extremely low.

Humpries says that inventory is constantly increasing providing buyers with once in a lifetime opportunity. Take these facts into consideration:

• There are currently seven to eight million homes on the verge of foreclosure
• 5.3 homeowners are waiting and ready to jump into the market
• Twice as many homes were added to the market as were sold in April
• The housing inventory numbers are the same as they were last year

One of the best ways to get in the game is to get pre-approved for a mortgage with AmeriFirst. Our expert loan officers will work closely with you so you can house hunt with that pre-approval in hand; which mean buying power for you! For more information about our mortgage programs, call us today at 800-466-5626.

Information Source: CBS MoneyWatch

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