For many different reasons, most people are eyeing the real estate market right now for potential 2010 purchase. Some people simply want to move their family up to a larger home with less cost, while others are considering going into business flipping houses or taking on additional rental properties.
The year 2010 will bring about many changes in the real estate world. One of the questions you may want to think about is whether or not investing in real estate is a wise decision for you. Here are a few things to consider:
On one hand, this is the perfect time to make a purchase since the value and selling price of homes is set to rise in the future. This means you can buy a new home for your family without its value dropping a short while later. This also means you can pick up a cheap rental house and make higher profits in time, or buy cheap prices to flip for substantial profits.
Another thing to consider is that the foreclosure crisis is not over yet. It has been predicted that right now a quarter of Americans owe more on their mortgage notes than their homes are actually worth. In the coming year many more people will become unemployed and find their homes in foreclosure.
With hundreds of billions of dollars in adjustable rate mortgages set to recast next year, the new payments can end up being more than twice what their original monthly payments have been. This also will see more people losing their homes due to nonpayment of their mortgages.
In March, 2010 we will also see the expiration of a federal program which has kept mortgage rates rather low. This program allowed the federal government to buy mortgage backed securities and debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but when it expires you can expect to see mortgage rates on the rise. This could mean a hike from 4% up to 6% before the end of the year.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is also considering some other big changes for the real estate market in the upcoming year which might make securing real estate more difficult in the future. For instance, the required credit score could be much higher, you may be required to put down a substantially larger down payment, and insurance premiums could skyrocket.
If you decide to purchase a home before the end of June, 2010, you could benefit from up to $8,000 in tax breaks currently being offered by the federal government as a stimulus to the economy. Purchase a second property and you could benefit from an additional tax break up to $6,500. All of this may sound extremely tempting, but make sure you can afford the mortgage payments on the property before taking the government up on these offers.
There may be other changes that come upon us in 2010, so if you are planning on entering the real estate market make sure you remain financially secure and will not stumble upon hard times like so many others. This can be an exciting time to make a purchase, but you want to make sure you can handle whatever happens over the next year or two.
Karen Lissack has been writing about real estate and home related subjects for almost a decade and a half. She is proficient in any aspect in real estate from buying to selling, even investing. She is fully informed about chapel hill real estate and has aided people in finding the best chapel hill homes the market can offer.
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