Dale Team Atlanta

Latest Real Estate News

said September 22, 2010

filed under: Latest Real Estate News

Time to party! According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, The Great Recession is over. Yipee! In fact, apparently we should have started partying since last summer. People who track these things say the recession has been over since June 2009. Who knew?

Here’s something cool and oddly comforting:  if the economy takes another downturn, officials will consider it to be a brand new recession.

And in case you couldn’t tell, The Great Recession really was The Great Recession. It lasted longer than any other recession since World War II. Clocking in at 18 months, it beat the closest competition – 1973-1975 and 1981-1982 – both 16-month recessions.  

Now, nobody is saying the economy is roaring back to life, and the Atlanta foreclosure statistics are still staggering, but as history plays itself out there’s new hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is not an on-coming train.

Latest Real Estate News

said September 8, 2010

filed under: Latest Real Estate News

If you’ve been kicking yourself for missing the tax credit last Spring, listen to this:

You are actually better off buying now without the tax credit than back then with the tax credit.

How can that be, you ask? It’s all about interest rates. Interest rates have dropped so low – we’re talking historic, all-time lows – that buying now is like getting the tax credit and so much more.

Here’s how it shakes down:

Let’s say you got a $160,000 mortgage last April. Your interest rate would have been about 5.21%. Your monthly payment would have been $880/month. At the end of 30 years, you would have paid $156,644 in interest.

But…

If you bought now and got a $160,000 mortgage, your interest rate would be 4.42%. Your monthly payment would be only $803 per month.  You’d recoup the tax credit you missed in 8.7 years, AND at the end of 30 years, you would have paid only $129,119 in interest. That’s a savings of $27,525. Not chump change.

So if you are still licking your wounds for missing out on the tax credit, stop licking. Turns out you were brilliant to wait. As long as these interest rates stay where they are, the perfect time to buy is NOW.

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