When is a Seagull like buying a house?

I heard an interesting parabolic riddle (I always wanted to say that) by an author on one of the morning television shows today. I was also on the phone, tripping over the dog’s water bowl and trying to make breakfast at the same time so I didn’t catch the name of the man who was talking. When my brain processed it a little later on it really struck me though.

If there are four seagulls sitting on piece of driftwood and one of them decides to fly away, how many are left on the driftwood?

The answer is four. DECIDING to fly away is not the same as actually making the flight.

It’s really the same with a lot of folks today who are looking at houses. We all know this is a buyer’s market and a lot of people are taking advantage of it to get some of the great bargains that are out there. There are lot of folks I talk to though, who have made the decision to buy but they are waiting: for prices to bottom out, mortgage rates to drop below the historic lows that we have right now, or they keep hoping that the next new listing that comes on the market will be the perfect home.

The fact is that it is only a buyer’s market for those folks who actually buy a house. At some point, prices will go flat and then rise, mortgage rates will go up, and there will be fewer houses on the market to choose from. Nobody knows when these things will happen.

The simple truth is that the stars are aligned pretty nicely – right now – for qualified home buyers. So if you’ve made a decision to partake in the buyer’s market, there’s no time like the present.