What's the deal? Is it a good time to buy yet????

I expect real estate will continue to follow its long term cyclical uptrend.

wanna buy a condo?

hee, hee

but now or be....you all can finish

yes in fringe areas like Harlem, no doubt about that.

cannot talk about areas where wall streeters would buy though. till i don't see the "no more proprietary trading" implemented and see whether there are redemption's on hedge funds if a couple of more bad quarters show up... tough to tell how many traders would be employed. we will see on that, but most of hte unemployment comes from people that live in fringe areas i believe, also as prices went down 30% many might not be priced out of their 1st choice either. a fringe double whammy i'd say.

Yes, fringe hit harder than rest of the city. But if your down payment is sitting around earning .25% and you find a place you like in an area you like for a price you can afford and it is about the same or cheaper to buy rather than rent, and you plan to be there for 5-10 years, this is not necessarily a bad time to buy. You never have to buy...but you shouldn't NOT buy because of snarky posters on a real estate board, either. What's right for your family and your finances?

that's right, buy bc a borker tells you....

West, I am not and never have been a borker, and you know that.

"for a price you can afford"

sorry, but in a deflationary environment, that 0.25% is not tiny in real terms. you are winning by waiting as your cash goes further while prices go down.

unless there are monthly savings right away form buying instead of renting it's a bad deal. and i mean, real savings, not the "you are building equity" promise that depends on prices not going down. if you buy now your monthly principal paid doesn't compensate you for the negative equity that comes from prices going down.

there are other investments, it's not RE or a savings account.