"When people are crying, you should be buying"

"When people are crying, you should be buying! When people are yelling, you should be selling!" So goes the sage and time tested advice of Warren Buffet. In theory everyone knows the best time to buy is when prices are soft and home owners are crying about having missed the height of sale prices. In reality lurking fears whispering "what if prices drop more?" often keep buyers sitting on the fence. (As an aside, sitting on a fence is a most uncomfortable place.)

If buyers have been waiting for a sign I don't think the neon could be any brighter than available financing for under 3% for a 5 year fixed term or under 4% for a 10 year fixed term. That's as certain and as low as she goes, folks! If buyers still aren't convinced you may want to know that in December in the Okanagan 21.8% of homes purchased were purchased as revenue/investment properties. This means that investors are already jumping in.

Prices held pretty steady last year even though the number of sales was lower in the Okanagan. Would this not suggest we're in the valley bottom? I think it does.

Since last year I've been advising my clients to buy, upsize, pick up revenue property now before we ramp up again (as cycles in real estate invariably do) to another phase of a seller's market.

Over and over again Realtors see the two biggest barriers to everyone living where they want to and buying when they should: greed and fear!

Buyers, don't be afraid. Good grief, some of you renters are paying someone else's mortgage anyway! And sellers, if you've owned your home for any length of time, you're already going to be making a very decent profit. Don't hang on to a home that no longer suits you! Make the move you know you should.

Off the fence, people. Off the fence!