My Investing Notebook :: Learning from the pros; making decisions on my own. ::

Is is a good time to buy now?

I don’t think so. It’s going to take a lot longer for this market to finally settle down. It’s going to be up and down for some time.

The housing market will settle down and might start going up sometime in 2008 — I’m not the only one that thinks like that, a lot of economists have the same view. Why so long? It was an up market for a long time, 1998 – 2005. It’s going to take a long time come down.

“It may not be until 2008 until the market bottoms out,” predicted James Hughes, dean of the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.The problem, Hughes said, is the “extraordinary gains” in the market played out over seven years, from 1998 to 2005. When the highs last a long time, “it takes time to adjust,” he said.

I see a lot of reductions in the current market, but they’re not big enough for me. The way it looks now, I can probably buy something in the 350-400K range (in NJ). I’m looking for something around 300K. Not there yet. But I think it will get there by 2008. If not, oh well, I’ll have to pay more, or continue renting.

ReferenceNew-home sales still declining, NJ.com