Buying a House in a Buyer's Market

Now is a great time to buy a house.  Prices are falling, and so are mortgage rates.  Millions of houses are for sale, and sellers are getting anxious. 

That's one way of looking at it.

Alternatively, you could say:  This is a bad time to buy a house.  Prices might be lower in a few months.  Same with mortgage rates.  With more than 4 million houses on the market nationally, and more being added daily, sellers are bound to become desperate.  Why not wait them out?

In many places, it's a buyer's market in real estate, with sellers outnumbering potential purchasers.  The resulting downward push on prices makes buyers happy.  But it complicates matters for buyers, too.  In some markets, there are too many choices to sort through.  Even more bewildering, buyers wonder if they should wait a few months.

If you're serious about buying a house, this is both the first step and the final goal. To put it more precisely, you have to decide whether you will actively shop and then negotiate a fair deal, or if you'll just passively browse houses, hoping to stumble on a steal.

You're more likely to succeed with the active approach instead of waiting (possibly in vain) for prices to fall further. You can't predict when the local market will hit bottom.  Even if prices do fall, someone could buy your favorite house out from under you.

If you find the right house at the right price, buy it.