Hi All!  Jennifer logging in for the blog.  Happy New Year and thank you for taking the time to visit our site Nyrose & Associates and read our blogs.

For my very first blog I thought I would address the age old question REALTORS® get asked on a fairly regular basis “is now a good time to buy?”. The classic REALTOR® answer is… “of course… its always a good time to buy!”. But is this always the case? Let’s take a look and the pros and cons of home ownership:

SOME REASONS TO BUY:

  • Home ownership is an excellent way to build equity.  That’s an important consideration if you’re trying to build some financial stability – especially if you happen to be single and are doing it on just one income
  • Paying a mortgage off is usually better than “throwing money away” on rent.  You could be paying high rents for years, adding up to many thousands of dollars, yet never end up with anything that’s yours
  • Property values tend to appreciate over time.  Historically, real estate has proven to be one of the best returns on investment for Canadian consumers.  And you’re enjoying your investment by living in it, versus just a piece of paper sitting in a safety deposit box!
  • Owning your own home gives you the option of earning extra income, by renting out a specific portion of the property or by taking in a roommate

SOME REASONS TO WAIT:

  • If you have reason to believe that your job may be in jeopardy, now is not a good time to buy a home. Unemployed individuals often place priorities on buying groceries and putting gas in the car over making a mortgage payment, hoping they can make up the mortgage payments later. Instead, they tend to go deeper into debt.
  • If your main objective is to put a roof over your head, consider whether it’s smarter to rent than to buy. In some real estate markets, it can be a bit of a stretch to meet the financial obligations of home ownership while rents in those areas are 50% lower than a mortgage payment. When home prices are so high that few buyers can afford to buy their first home, you may be better off renting and paying less for that roof. A quick search of popular sites which advertise rental properties (Castanet, Criagslist, Kijiji etc) seem to suggest that this is not the case for Kelowna’s rental/real estate market.
  • Although many single people buy a home, especially single woman home buyers, often a home buying purchase is made with a partner or spouse. If your relationship with that person is unstable, what will you do if you’re relying on that person’s income and support to make the mortgage payment, and that person vanishes?

Kudos to you for thinking through whether you should buy a home. Whether you’re a candidate for home ownership depends on many factors, some of which carry more weight than others. Only you can determine which of those factors is the biggest influence in your life.

Thank you to all of our clients and friends who helped to make 2010 such a great year for myself and Nyrose & Associates.  Welcome to 2011!

Cheers,

Jen