-         continued low interest rates

-         first time home buyer $8,000 tax credit if you purchase a home between 01/01/2009 and 12/01/2009

-         This is traditionally the start of the house buying season

Now that THDA has released their Stimulus Loan to help first time homebuyers who do not have a down payment, that takes the lack of a down payment, for those who have good credit histories and meet all the other criteria for a THDA loan, out of the loan equation.  It’s just a great time to buy a house!

I was talking to someone at an event the other day and telling them that housing sales was going in the right direction and they argued with me saying that they had heard “just the day before” that house prices were down and we haven’t seen the bottom yet.  Though I don’t know if anyone can tell you if we have or haven’t seen the bottom of the market, I can say that housing sales overall is up.  The question is; up from where?

It’s all about how you interpret the numbers.  In this case the person I was discussing this with acknowledged that the current numbers he had heard was comparing this past month (February) to last years February.  If you do that then the report is correct; housing is down in that comparison.  What I argue is this; this past year the mortgage industry and real estate industries has changed so drastically comparing the before the sweeping changes to the after is like comparing apples to oranges.  So I like to see hat kind of progress is being made from one month to the next.  In other words; is it improving every month?  The answer to that question is; yes!  Now we will have to see what happens in March but I have heard that sales are up again from February.  If true; that is indeed good news!

Believe it or not there are some places around the US that have strong housing markets.  That doesn’t mean they are undergoing a boom of sorts like California and some other states did but it does mean they are holding their own and not suffering a downtrend like so many other places are currently going through.  These are towns and places that never got swept up in the housing bubble so there wasn’t anything to bust as things went belly up.

Of course, you may not want to live in any of these places as they may not be what you would consider the “place to be seen”.  However, for those who do live in these areas and others looking for a good buy and not necessarily the cool atmosphere, one of these places just may be the place for you.  I’ve never been to Syracuse, NY but I can tell you Little Rock, AK, Pittsburg and El Paso, TX have some definite things to offer.  Who knows, maybe we can all move there to buy our next house … but then again, wouldn’t that mean we would push up prices and …  Oh well, been there done that so I’ll just stay where I’m at, at least for now.