Have you thought about purchasing a home??
If going from RENT to OWN sounds good to you, I have compiled a list of GREAT resources in the Greater Boston area for:
- Low down payment mortgage options
- 1st-time home buyer classes
- Down payment & closing cost assistance
These programs are offered by various lenders and community organizations. Click the logos below for more information about each program. Do your research and find the option that is right for you!
LOW DOWN PAYMENT MORTGAGE PROGRAMS
DOWN PAYMENT & CLOSING COST ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
What if the sky falls??
We’ve all heard the fable about Chicken Little running around proclaiming that “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” But it wasn’t.
One way to interpret that story is that we shouldn’t be afraid of some imagined or potential catastrophe. Another is to ignore everyone we hear running around saying the end is near.
But in the story, an acorn had fallen and hit the chicken on the head. So, something happened to the chicken to cause it to run around telling everyone else. It just wasn’t the entire sky; the chicken exaggerated. But at the same time, the chicken just said what it thought was actually happening.
The chicken wasn’t entirely right, but the chicken wasn’t entirely wrong.
Market crash?
One of the most common concerns people have about buying a home is that the market might crash. This concern has existed throughout the ages. It’s not new. It’s not necessarily something that you need to worry about any more (or less) than usual. It’s a valid concern, but it’s something people have been questioning more and more in recent years. That’s logical since there was a pretty big market correction in recent history. And it followed a time when everyone was claiming how great an investment real estate was — which led to everyone and their brother buying houses. Many people who suddenly became real estate “investors” should’ve never bought a house, let alone three or four.
Should we be worried?
Things were out of hand back then. There were just as many people running around screaming that the real estate sky was falling as there were people running around calling them crazy because the real estate sky would never fall.
HERE'S THE DEAL...
Real estate markets fluctuate. House values go up, and occasionally they go down. Over the long term, they have pretty much gone up. But when the markets are down, yes, people can get hurt if they can’t hold on until the market goes back up. But if a person could just hang on, the values usually bounce back higher than they were before. It’s the way it goes.
And when markets “crash” (which isn’t as often as it may sound sometimes), they don’t necessarily affect everyone equally. Some make it out unscathed. In fact, most people make it out of a bad real estate market just fine.
So if you’re cautious about buying a home because you’re worried the market might crash...good. It’ll help you make a more deliberate and calculated decision.
But don’t let fear paralyze your decision because even if the market does “crash,” it may never affect you directly.
A falling acorn may bop one person on the head — someone who happens to be standing under a tree at just the right moment — but it’s highly unlikely that everyone will be crushed by a falling sky. And even if you get hit in the head with an acorn, it doesn’t mean the end of you. You’ll recover. Same with falling real estate values.
Home Value increase graph