Have you ever noticed just how obsessed some people are on making life decisions based on what is guaranteed?  Very seldom is there reward without risk, and reward is never guaranteed.

Face it, we all love guarantees.  Guaranteed income.  Guaranteed performance.  Guaranteed success.  Guaranteed results.  Guaranteed home values?  

In real life, there are no real guarantees.  There are no defined patterns on which to base a guarantee.  Staying put in our “comfort zone” could turn out to be more risk than the alternatives.  Be the risk-taker!

Let’s look at home-ownership.  The print media in this country is having a field day saying “The American Dream” of home ownership is “The American Nightmare.”  Even funnier, many people actually believe what those idiots print!   Now that most have stopped reading print media, they now place their gloomy garbage online.

Every day, I hear people say “I’m not going to buy until ‘things’ get better…”  What “things?”  Do you have a steady job?  Can you pay your bills?  Are you planning to stay in the area for a while?   If you answered “YES” to those questions, then you need to act now before the rules change again and take you out of the game!    Be the risk-taker….and get a historically low fixed-rate mortgage payment to boot…..guaranteed!   If you don’t take the risk, how will you ever know when “things” are better?  You damn sure won’t read about it.

Think interest rates will get even lower?  Considering that the current Federal Reserve Rate is ZERO, how can they go much lower?  And even if they do, you can count on inflation to offset any perceived savings.  The lower rates are, the tighter lending criteria will get too.   Be the risk-taker!

Think home prices will fall?  In some areas of the country, they might.  No one can guarantee your home’s future value, but the one guarantee is that YOU will one day own it! 

Assuming you have a good job and want to stay in the area, the only reason I can think of NOT to buy a home would be if your world-travelling parents have a palatial estate complete with a guest house, which they have given to you as long as you want to live there – at no cost of any kind, not even yard work.   Another possible exception would be if Sandra Bullock wants you to be her “roomie.”

Regardless of what property values do, you are better off owning your home than renting it.  Rents rise.  Leases not always renew.  Every day you continue to rent is an added day that you will pay for your home, if and when you do buy.  Thirty years may seem like an eternity, but it goes by really fast.  After 30 years of renting, you own nothing.  After 30 years of owning a home, you own the home out right… unless you borrowed money against your equity.  I’ve never heard of an “apartment equity loan” either. 

That said, how old do you want to be when your home is paid for?   Could it be that being a risk-taker is not really a risk at all?

The Greater Nashville area is loaded with new homes for every need and lifestyle.  At Ole South (www.OleSouth.com) you will find new homes from 99,000 to 299,000 in a variety of desirable neighborhoods – in Nashville,  Smyrna, Murfreesboro, and Spring Hill.  You can be assured you will receive the very best new home value – not just in price, but quality and service too!

Please contact me anytime I can be of assistance in any way!  615.593.6340 or e-mail TLewis@olesouth.com.

Trey Lewis is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Tennessee with Ole South Realty, 615.896.0019  direct 615.593.6340.  Specializing in new home sales in the Greater Nashville area to include Nashville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, and Spring Hill, Tennessee.