Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing. I was living in Southern California and looking at property about 3-4 years ago. If I had bought then (I was on the edge of affordability) I would have been at least $100K ahead by now. Instead, I didn’t buy, and moved cross-country to Georgia where I bought a house, and at most it’s jumped maybe $15K in price in the last two years.

I should have bought in CA, even though it would have been tough to afford. But I didn’t.

I don’t know Scott’s situation 4 years ago, but most of us were still priced out even then. At the time I was starting a family and a career. In the 4 years that have followed I’ve been unable to save as fast housing prices have jumped, even though I was able to save 25 – 50k a year. Things are settling down now, so it looks like there is an opportunity. Of course, if it wasn’t for the damn mortgage interest deduction I’d be in much better shape relative to the landowners.

Whether or not the housing sector will be strong or weak in a given area will depend on the local economy. Some parts of the country will be in for a rough ride, to say the least, but other areas will be in for continuing growth.

Is “now” a good time to buy a home in the Washington DC area, or would it be better to wait for some more time?

Scott,

I am in real estate, although not in Washington D.C.. Just looking at the states available from the D.C’s Board of Realtors, I would concur with Brad and hold off on even looking until at least this fall and buy in the winter. Inventories are at their highest then plus the there is a drop off sales also in that period.

This should be a helpful chart:

http://www.gcaar.com/statistics/2007-home-sales/dcsf0207.pdf

Perhaps if you had not typed IN ALL CAPS and posted the link to the kook site, maybe I would have understood you much more clearly.

I am probably giving a kook like you far more time than I should, but I would still love to know how Ron Paul will make housing affordable and contain debt.

I’d say now is not a good time. I think the hottest areas of home growth over the last few years haven’t really hit bottom yet. I don’t think it will be good in places like DC, San Francisco, LA, San Diego, etc, until mid-2008. I think people are still trying to keep the prices up, and as long as the job picture stays strong, we won’t see another major hit to prices. However, I think we’ll plunge into recession late this year, and that will be what it takes to finally deflate the bubble.

I’m no expert, so take that advice for what its worth.

I shouldn’t post before I have my first cup of coffee.

Housing will again be affordable and debt will be contained.

Sorry Jerm, I’m looking for a president that will make housing affordable or to contain debt.