Should You Continue Renting or Should You Buy - Simon Salloom

Several times a week someone tells me, "My friends say wait to buy because the market is going to go down this year." I am sure these same friends were telling these same people the same thing last year. Let's focus in on Santa Monica Condominium sales for example. Last year, when the "bubble" was bursting median sales prices went up 12.3%. The median sales price for all types of real estate in Los Angeles went up 7.3%. Yes, the number of sales went down from 8,269 in 2005 to 6,888 in Los Angeles and average days on market went up from 41 to 57 days. However, 2005 was a record year for real estate sales. The fact that the pace of sales decreased in 2006 means the market shifted from going a metaphorical 100 miles per hour, a pace that is impossible to maintain, to a View the rest of this article