I saw a few houses, and decided to buy one of them. A condo originally priced 210,000, and they accepted my 193,000 offer. I'm a first time buyer, with zero experience and my agent helps me with things. How is housing market right now? Is it a good time to buy?
I'm in Chicago Suburbs, and thinking about taking a 15-year loan.
Real estate is very local. It could be an awesome time in one neighborhood and a terrible time a few blocks over. There really is no way to generalize.
Whether it is a good time depends way more on your personal situation, factors may include:
I would say that it is a good time to lock-in a fixed mortgage rate. There are a few predictions that large volumes of Treasury securities coming to market could spike longer term interest rates. That situation could produce inflation and recession at the same time which is stagflation.
And there is some prediction of mild recession after the year 2019. These predictions might be combined with a prediction of an inverting yield curve which is lower long-term rates. But neither recession or higher mortgage rates would be good for real estate values.
However, inflation increases the cost of rent and so buying a house is an inflation hedge.
First, whether it's a good time to buy a house in general is rarely useful information. What matters is whether it's a good time for you: things like your current income, future plans, and risk tolerance are always bigger factors than the local market. As well, in some markets renting and buying are entirely different kinds of homes. Where I live renting a house is close to impossible, and there are no apartment buildings: you either buy a whole house or rent a "flat" in a huge old place that has been split up into them, a tiny apartment above a store, or a basement apartment in someone's home. So when you want a house, you pretty much have to buy.
That said, it's usually a better time to buy than to sell, simply because you never have to buy and some people have to sell. If there are a lot of houses being sold, the price goes down, which is good for you. If there are not many, the price goes up, and you might decide to wait and buy later (or you might get excited about the rising value of your asset and join the crowd.) It's easy to spin either of these as "a good time to buy" and most real estate agents will do that. After all, they don't get paid if you don't buy anything.
If you know you want to live in this location for at least 5 years, and with this size of living space (eg are not planning to have a lot of children or start a dog breeding business or whatever else might need more space), and are comfortable with making your own repairs and improvements, then you're ready to look at the financial side of being ready to buy. Buying a condo takes some of the maintenance work out of the picture and can make it easier (requiring you to be less ready) than a detached house where you have to mow the lawn and paint the outside. Only when you know the you-personally factors are "ready" should you run the numbers to see if you're financially ready.
