Every day I scour the internet looking for trends and real estate news.  Most of the time, I come across some really great articles. But more often than not, I find articles like this from CreditLoan.com. It seems as if bad news sells and the more “down” the story, the more readers flock to its sites and then make the assumption that the end is near.

The Wall Street Journal recently gave 10 good reasons why NOW is a great time to buy a home. I found them interesting and agree with them.  I don’t play the stock market and I’m not a financial analyst, but let me tell you why I think today is a great time to buy a home in laymen’s terms:

1. Interest rates are at all time historical lows. This means that you can afford to buy more of a house than you could back in the late 80’s where interest rates were as high as 13%.
2. You invest in your community. In this time of connectedness (thanks to the internet), establishing roots seems to have made a comeback.  Even local Realtors realize that being HYPER-LOCAL offers advantages to community growth.
3. You will be buying a piece of the American dream. Homeownership used to be something to aspire to.  It told the world that you had made it.  Yet in times of subprime loans and the monetary fiasco we currently face, many people lost sight of that and started treating their homeownership like a crazy weekend in Vegas!
4. Speaking of the crazy monetary market, if you had invested in Real Estate (assuming you didn’t refinance the heck out of it) your “investment” would have grown 43.4% in the last 10 years over bond and stock purchases according to MSN.com & Case Shiller.
5. Sense of pride. Ask your parents why they bought their homes; for that matter ask someone that is over 55 and they will tell you the stories of how they scrimped and saved to buy a home so that they could have something that was THEIRS. Something that they could pass on to future generations.
6. Building memories. Do you recall Thanksgivings at Aunt Bertie’s house or Christmas at Uncle Earl’s?  Do you remember the feeling of family, closeness and togetherness?  You can’t buy those, or pay for them.  There is something special created in a home.
7. Tax advantages. Obviously you want to speak to your tax person, but here are just a few ways that you can benefit from owning your own home from HouseLogic.com.

What are your thoughts?  Do you believe all the hype or are you going to jump on the opportunity that is happening now? Whether you agree or disagree, I welcome your feedback!