If you must buy this year, then late December is probably the best. If you must buy next year then late December is probably the best. If you must buy no later than 2003, then late December . . .
Just kidding. In all seriousness, go back to my post and see what kind of asset real estate is likely to be over the next few years. I don't know the Bay Area (and real estate is a very local commodity, it goes without saying), but I would look for a 1600 square foot townhouse and see about renting it. Take a spreadsheet in combination with a Quicken Turbotax form and figure out how much your real estate tax benefit is going to be from buying, how much you can earn with your down payment in the market (by listening to wise men like Gottfried and Dabum), and think about all the other fudge factors (job security, future pay raises).
As expensive as a $400K house/townhouse might be on closing day, watching the equity evaporate over the course of several years would be measurably worse. Someone on this board from Houston, hey JimP, tell a few stories about the Houston market in the 1980s, willya?
Kb |
