I’m just as guilty as anyone else.  I keep saying the housing market is getting better. Maybe it’s just me getting better at what I do, thereby attracting more clients.  Either way, I already have three closings already under my belt this year (one less than the entire year of 2009).

But what is wonky about today’s market?  From Out of Your Rut.com, we are told 2010 was the worst year ever – is now the time to buy?

…there are nagging problems with housing that can’t be ignored. Consider the following…

Price/interest rate relationship. House prices have fallen significantly in an environment of record low interest rates—below 5% for a 30 year fixed rate loan for much of the past two years. At any other time in history, significant drops in mortgage rates would resuscitate housing in a matter of months. Something’s different this time.

This begs an obvious question: if low rates failed to lift the market, what affect will rising rates have? If we’re betting that rates remain low for the next couple of years, we’re also betting that the economy will remain weak. How will that support housing? This is an apparent conundrum and we’ll have to wait to see how it plays out.

It is a weird weird market we have today.  I now predict that it will take years to work itself out (no longer am I saying we’re at the bottom because while we are, the bottom of this bathtub is deep).

As Out of Your Rut says, if you’re going to buy – buy low, buy less than you can afford, and try to pay off the mortgage early.  You’ll be better for it in the long run.

Rut photo by ted and jen via flickr creative commons.