Although housing prices have been rising slightly in recent months, lenders say this may be the best time in a long while to purchase a home.
According to the experts, there are several reasons why this is a good time to purchase a home.
"One is that pricing as everyone knows - the values of homes have come down a little bit in the past few years so that's a big factor as to why it's a good time to buy right now. And obviously, everybody knows interest rates are at historically all time lows right now," said Darron Carson of Central Pacific Bank.
One other important element - the old saying in real estate is still true - location, location, location.
"There are different areas that are increasing in equity and appreciation at this time as well. So you obviously need to pick the right property at the right area and make sure that you've done your homework when you're purchasing a home," Carron says.
You heard Carson mention interest rates earlier - an important factor when it comes to paying off a loan.
"We're actually under 4 percent on a thirty year note right now. And we can do low in the low 3's on a 15 year mortgage as well so that's an extremely low interest rate right now and it's a good time to take advantage of this," he says.
The single most important item for first time home buyers - the down payment. It's usually twenty percent of the total cost.
"That doesn't exclude you if you don't have that ability to put twenty percent down, you can put less than that down. You'd have mortgage insurance and there are some other products that are available that you would can put less than 20 percent down, but normally it's twenty percent," Carron says.
Finally, Carson has some advice if you're thinking about getting into the housing market.
"A- save money - B - keep your credit as clean as you can keep it and don't use your credit as much as you can. Those three things are probably the basic three things that you can do to help with getting yourself in a position to buy a home," he says.
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If you have a question for our financial experts, e-mail us at dollarsandsense@khon2.com.
