Is Now a Good Time to Buy?

The number one question we get asked daily is... is now really the best time to buy a new home? Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods' CEO, Vernon McKown and president, Steve Shoemaker give us the breakdown so you can decide if now is the best time for you!

There are three things you need to consider and ask yourself when thinking about buying a home. Are you ready, able and willing?

1) Are you ready? - Being ready to buy a home should be based on your life circumstances. Is your family growing and you're running out of room? Are you now an empty nester and need to downsize? Have you recently gotten married or divorced? Are you ready to stop renting and start investing in a home and building equity?

Rent vs. Own- If you are renting a home, you're building someone else's equity. If you own a home, you're building your own equity. Your typical home is roughly building $3,000 to $5,000 in equity per year. Your monthly mortgage payments will be higher than your rent, but there is a residual benefit to you later on.

2) Are you able? - Being able to buy a home is a financial question that most homebuyers have currently due to interest rates. Here at Ideal, when using one of our preferred lenders, Citywide or CSolutions, there are many tools they can use to help buy interest rates down, plus offer $4,000 toward closing costs. We can help you figure out your options. 

3) Are you willing? - Being willing to make the decision to buy a home instead of trying to time the real estate market. Ideal has been building homes in the OKC metro area for over 30 years. In those three decades, the price of homes has never come down. Prices may flatten out for a period of time, but they never decrease. The reason is because of inflation. The materials used to buy a home continue to rise with inflation, therefore so do the average prices of homes. Since the 1950s, the average home has appreciated in value by about 3% per year.

At the end of the day, you as the homebuyer must decide if you're ready, able and willing to take the next step in becoming a homeowner. Don't let the market decide for you, or you could be waiting a long time.