Is now a good time for me to buy real estate?

This question really depends on what your goals are! Contrary to what the media will tell you, there really isn’t a “bad” market. We have a buyers market, a sellers market and a balanced market. We have just come from sellers market in February and quickly transitioned through a balanced market to a buyers market. This means that the real estate market has a lot more inventory than we have had in the last couple years.

As experienced investors will tell you, there have been many points where we thought the sky was falling and then it turned out to be okay. During the last recession in 2008, the average home price in Chilliwack was $331, 224 (according to CADREB). People were definitely saying not to buy then but people still did.. do you think the person who bought a home in Chilliwack for $350,000 in 2008 would regret that purchase today? I would say it’s very unlikely.

The saying what goes up must come down definitely applies to the real estate market but people always forget the opposite is true too. What goes down must come back up too.

Now I am not saying this is the best time for EVERYONE. If you were looking to cash out on your home or downsize it might be worth looking into some alternative options to hold on to your investment a little longer. Alternatively, this can be a really good time for people who are looking to upgrade their homes! Say you bought a townhome and it was valued at $500,000 but it sold for $400,000. BUT when you bought your new home it was valued at $1,200,000 but you got it for $1,000,000. You may have “lost” $100,000 but you were able to get your new home for $200,000 less. Now when the market very likely goes up, as it always has historically, you will be sitting pretty. This is all hypothetical but it gives you an idea of how this market could be beneficial for you.

This is why we say there is no such thing as a bad market. Different markets can help different people with different goals.