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Why now is a good time to buy a home notwithstanding everyone telling you to wait.

Posted by John Reed on

Another it's impossible to buy a home article by Nicole Friedman in today's WSJ.American Principal Residence book

Shrink how big of a home you seek. Add your furniture buying money to the down payment. These are things home buyers have been doing since the 1930s. When my wife and I bought our current home in 1983 we had no living room furniture for several years.
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Buy farther out of the big city. Go to another state if you have to. Here is my principal residence sequence: Collingswood, NJ triplex $32,000; Haddonfield, NJ duplex $29,900; Haddonfield, NJ single-family $36,000; Moraga, CA single family $152,000; Danville, CA $400,000.
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That last house is now worth $2.6M. Bought.in 1983. The first was bought in 1973. Mortgage interest rates ranged from 7.25% to 14%.
What a bunch of incompetent children are all these whiners led by Friedman and the WSJ.
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The homes are unaffordable, they say. They get outbid. How can you get outbid if the home is unaffordable? Apparently, one person or couple could afford it. One is all a seller needs.
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Bid higher, moron. The only thing that has changed since I bought my first duplex in 1969 is the price differentials among regions got huge. If you want a starter home now you ay have to go to a starter region.
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If you can't buy the home you love, buy one in the region you can afford. Then you will be able to afford the region you love later.
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You say you don't want to do that? Well then it's not affordability is it? You're just spoiled and inflexible.
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Because of leverage and NIMBYism, if you buy in a low-cost state you will probably be able to buy in a high-priced state in five or ten years.
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My NJ to CA duration was 1972 to 1980---8 years. We have remote work now which makes it easier.
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Or you can stay in NIMBYville whining about affordability the rest of your life while collecting rent receipts.
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Buying real estate is not for sissies or overage children who have never learned how to get it done.

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