In my opinion, it's a good time to buy a home, but not a house. What's the difference you ask? Well, a home is something more personal; it's a place to raise a family, create memories and stay for a while. A house is a structure bought with little to no emotion. People that buy houses are often looking to just "get their feet in the market" or looking to make a quick buck; at least for now, those days are over. Buying a house as an investment is probably not the best use of your money at the current time. If you are buying a house with the intention of "flipping it", your risk may outweigh the potential reward.

I believe it's a good time to buy a home because interest rates are historically low; this goes a long way to offset the potential for further decline in value. Since many experts believe there is still more depreciation left before we hit bottom, you do need to weigh this in your decision; but again, if your motivation is to purchase a home to live in, buying now is a sound decision.

No one knows for sure how much more houses will devalue, but with interest rates hovering in mid 4% range for a 30 year fixed, getting out of the rental rut seems very attractive. With inflation looming most experts see higher rates in the future.

A person, who was previously renting in California and paying $1800 per month, now has options. It's not very hard to find a property in the suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles for $250,000. These were valued in the $400,000 to $500,000 range just 3 years ago. With the help of an experienced REALTOR(R), you should have little difficulty finding a home in this range. Based on current rates, by obtaining an FHA loan and putting down 3.5%, your payments could actually work out to be the same or less than the $1800 in rent you currently pay.

While this is just one example and may not apply to all, I strongly believe that if you have the means, motivation and method to purchase a home, now is good time to explore the options available and see if it's right for you. WeFixRates.Com