WHY SHOULD WE BE BUYING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE IN DALLAS, TEXAS, now?

If you are like me, I cannot watch the Dallas evening news anymore. I cannot stomach the gloom and doom that is reported for an hour. I even find myself enjoying the commercials! Note to self: there is something wrong with this picture!

The national housing market has taken a nosedive and many investment analysts do not believe we have seen the bottom, yet.

Why, then should we consider entering the real estate market in North Dallas, Preston Hollow, or Northwood Hills? Let us look at the individual components that help determine the optimal time to buy and/or sell in any given local market. They are interest rates, home prices, and inventory.

Interest rates are at historic lows. Because a buyer qualifies for a monthly payment as a percentage of his/her gross monthly income and overall debt, the lower the rate to borrow funds, the more funds one can borrow.

Additionally, market prices are good! At any given point in time, there are always plenty of motivated sellers. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, many citizens find they need to move for a variety of reasons. A local job change can spur on the event. The vast geography that makes up our Metroplex, often times motivates residents to move to lessen the commute to a new company. So regardless of the market, there are always people in Dallas and Fort Worth and the connecting suburbs that need to move. Because of the uncertainty in the markets worldwide, many potential sellers have been “sitting on the fence,” waiting for the optimal time to put their homes on the market. Overtime, this causes pent-up demand.

Within the next couple of months, I predict the inventory in the Dallas housing market will begin to grow. Sellers hoping to take advantage of the spring market are preparing their homes for sale now.

As a result, the market is about to experience a “perfect storm” in North Texas. When all three aspects of the market are favorable for homes sales, i.e. low interest rates, increasing inventory and aggressive pricing, the buyers come out the winners! This phenomenon does not occur very often, so if you have a reason to upsize, downsize or oversize, I recommend you do it now!