The great thing about investing, in general, is that there is never a good or bad time to invest. This doesn’t mean that it’s always the right time to invest in everything, it just means it’s always the right time to invest in something. The rule of investment is to buy low, sell high, but the truth is that when one thing is low something else is almost always high. This is one reason why nearly all investment counselors advise you to diversify your portfolio. If the bottom drops out of one investment, you most likely have several other investments going strong to balance out the difference.
At the moment, the US is experiencing a significant housing shortage that is causing prices to rise across the nation. And they keep going up and up. This leads many to wonder whether another crash isn’t merely an inevitable occurrence. This thought is also driving many home buyers to question whether they should buy now or wait for prices to plummet. The truth is, the state of the housing market right now is vastly different from that of the pre-crash era. The ultimate cause of that crash was irresponsible lenders handing out toxic loans like they were candy. When enough buyers were unable to pay, the market reached critical mass and collapsed. That wasn’t actually a collapse of the real estate market, however, that was a collapse of the mortgage industry. While they are inextricably intertwined, one should not be confused for the other.
Since then, lending guidelines have become much stricter, so irresponsible lending practices are not driving the current market. The truth about real estate, however, is that while it may see some rises and falls, overall it tends to be a solid investment. The question is simply whether you buy conservatively enough to weather any potential storms. While it’s true that what goes up must come down, it’s also true that what goes down must come up. Real estate market speculation aside, if you are planning to live in or own a home for 20 years or more, real estate is almost always a stable investment, no matter what the market is like when you purchase. If you have the resources to simply ride out the lulls, markets generally tend to climb once again.