Your home: An investment in which you can live

Sun., Nov. 26, 2006

Don Walker The Spokane Association of REALTORS®

Extremely favorable mortgage rates have helped keep the housing industry growing during the past few years. The unusually heavy pace of home sales nationally and locally reflects a strong desire to buy by entry level and repeat buyers.

Mortgage rates are slowly creeping up and home prices are still rising a bit in the Spokane area.

Home-buyer studies show that Americans change homes about every seven years. Classes on home buying for prospective buyers are being offered by a number of local nonprofit groups that help Spokane buyers take some of the anxiety out of the process. Classes are generally free. They have done much to improve home-buyers’ knowledge of how to buy and sell in this amazing market.

Not long ago, home buyers typically invested 10 to 20 percent of the purchase price of their home as a down payment. Today it is easier to find a program that fits nearly every situation. Financing today make it possible for nearly everyone to buy a home if they choose to do so. Down payments are currently much less for first-time buyers and veterans.

Housing has proved to be a positive investment for several reasons. A check on the growth of home values in the past 40 years shows an increased value of better than 5 percent each year.

For the second time this year, the average sale price for a home in the Spokane area topped the average sale price from the same month one year ago. In September, the average sale price was $205,183.

Home buyers receive tax benefits for their investment in the form of deductions allowed for mortgage interest — one of the write-offs available in today’s world.

And here’s where it really counts. A home provides shelter. You actually live in your investment. Where else can that happen? You buy a home for little down, your investment yields more than 5 percent per year, and you live in and control the situation.

The increase in value over the years is better than what most savings provide, and, wonder of it all, you get to live in your investment.