While Wall Street and the media are heralding the resurgence of the housing market, a sizable number of home buyers who have been well qualified to purchase the homes of their dreams for many years are still sitting on the sidelines waiting for home prices and interest rates to get even better. Well, the wait is over.

So, for those of you who think continuing to wait will provide you with better financial situations when you finally decide to buy your homes, think again, because the window of opportunity is rapidly closing, and below are 4 solid reasons why--especially for California (CA) home buyers. All of the following calculations are based upon 30-year fixed rate loans.

1.) Home prices are going up -- The longer you wait in the current housing environment to purchase your home, the higher the prices will go. CA home prices this year are about 19% higher than they were last year, and they are increasing at the rate of 1% to 3% monthly. Currently, the median home price is well over $400,000, but for this analysis $400,000 will be used. That is the highest median price for CA homes since April of 2008 before the historic "meltdown." According to the CA Association of Realtors, only 44% of CA residents can afford to purchase a median priced home today. To put this into proper perspective, a year ago a $400,000 home would have cost about $336,000. Therefore, not only does it now cost $64,000 more with an additional $12,800 required for a 20% down payment, the monthly payment is approximately $481 more. And, waiting another year could easily result in this $400,000 home costing $476,000, with an extra $15,200 required for a 20% down payment, and a monthly payment of roughly $620 higher, or $238,400 more over the life of the loan.

2.) Interest rates (IRs) are going up -- Currently, IRs are still at historic lows, not as low as they were a year ago, but still very low. They have risen about 1% in the past year and all financial indicators point to the fact that they will rise significantly over the coming years. It is highly like that next year they could be at least 1% higher than they are now. The monthly calculations of the payments above take this increase into consideration. As you can see, the increased monthly payments are very significant.

3.) Property taxes will go up -- Property taxes are based upon the purchase price of a home. Consequently, the higher the cost of the home, the higher the property taxes. The mortgage payments calculated above include these higher property tax payments.

4.) Waiting to purchase can cause loan affordability and qualifying issues -- The longer the wait to purchase, the higher home prices, IRs, and property taxes will go; and the more difficult loan affordability and qualifying will be. Someone who could afford and qualify for a home with a $336,000 purchase price a year ago may not be able to afford or qualify for the same home at a purchase price of $400,000 today with its mortgage payment plus property taxes (PIT) of $481/mo. more. Likewise, someone who can currently afford and qualify for a home with a $400,000 purchase price today may not be able to afford or qualify for the same home at a purchase price of $476,000 in a year with its higher PIT of $620/mo. A way to counteract this considerable monthly payment increase next year would be to purchase a home for $365,000 now with a 20% down payment so that the PIT would be about what it would be for a $400,000 home today, but, of course; this lower priced home wouldn't be anywhere near the size and quality of today's $400,000 home.

The bottom line is this. Waiting to purchase is not an option. It was a few years ago, but it is no longer.

Furthermore, waiting to accumulate enough savings to make a 20% down payment is also not an option considering that it is feasible to purchase a home with 3% down and pay mortgage insurance (MI), probably, for no more than 2 years in this rapidly appreciating home value market. A $400,000 home with a 3% down payment would result in a $388,000 mortgage loan, MI of about $372/mo. (based upon a 720 to 759 FICO score), and a total mortgage payment of just $97/mo. more than what it would be next year for a $476,000 home with 20% down. However, in 2 years when the MI drops off, the savings will be $275/mo.

To sweeten the deal, though, MI is tax deductible for most home buyers, and if it only had to be paid for 2 years the loan with MI would result in an approximate savings of $173,300 over its life compared to the $476,000 loan. In addition, by paying only 3% down for the $400,000 home instead of 20% down for the $476,000 home, $83,200 would be freed up to use for other important purposes.

The time to purchase a home is now. Don't continue to wait until it's too late for you to purchase at all!

To get more information about how to make your mortgage loan work for you instead of you working for it, contact me at 626-644-2020 or email me at bkleckner@divitahome.com. I will be glad to walk you through the process.

Also, take a look at our website at divitahome.com/team/blake-kleckner to get a good idea about who we are. With more than 40 quality lenders to choose from that offer 1,000+ loan programs, we definitely have something for everybody.