Believe it or not, 30 year fixed interest rates are still in the very low 5% range.  If you are looking to buy a primary residence, FHA still has a great program for you with as little as 3.5% down payment. Conventional 2^nd home rates are the same in most cases as a primary residence loan.  

Homes are very inexpensive these days and are showing some signs of a slight increase in values over the next few months.  Whether you believe this or not, it’s very unlikely that home prices in this market will decrease much more.  

This may be a great time to start a search for a new home.  Just remember to work with a Real Estate Agent that knows the market and is interested in what your wants and needs are.

I hear every day, “when are we going to see the bottom of the Real Estate market???”  Well, I think we’re there.  I have a friend that is a Realtor in the Phoenix area specializing in central and west Phoenix metro areas.  He said that many bank owned properties end up in a bidding war and end up closing much higher in price than where they were listed.  He said he has just started seeing this happen over the last couple of months.  We’ve started to see the same thing happen in the Lake Havasu City area.  If this continues I would say it’s obvious that the market has bottomed out and the recovery is under way.

Many people will sit back and wait to “make sure” the bottom has been hit.  This is not a good idea because if the bottom has been reached, the best deals will be long gone in a matter of weeks.  If you are considering buying a new home NOW IS THE TIME!!

I just read an article that said that home prices have held steady for the last 3 months in a row in the Southern California market.  Many experts believe that this could mean that the housing decline in much of the Southwest US is at the bottom as far as values are concerned.

Lending is still very tight but for people with reasonably decent credit scores and some money down loans are getting done.  You will have to be a patient because lenders are very cautious these days and are requiring quite a bit of documentation from everyone.  On the good side, rates are in the mid 4% range for a 30 year fixed so it is a great time to buy a new home!!!!  Happy Hunting!!!!