'Buy now!' Conventional Wisdom Says...

'Buy now!' Conventional wisdom says the time is right to take advantage of home incentives, from the Phoenix Business Journal, reports that contrary to today's popular wisdom to ride out the current market correction in single-family home sales, some experts say: Buy now. Incentives, from swimming pools to cash offerings of up to $100,000, eventually will come to an end. "Most of the pricing incentives are geared to get closings by the end of the year," said Pat Moroney, president of http://www.bizjournals.com/search/bin/search?q=%22Standard%20Pacific%20Homes%22&t=phoenix Standard Pacific Homes. His company is offering $25,000 to $100,000 off new home sales, depending on the house. "It's a better time to buy now than this same time last year," Moroney said. "A lot of people are waiting to see the bottom of the market and, in my opinion, we're almost there." The home builder said the excess inventory -- mostly spec houses built when sales were booming in late 2004 and through 2005 -- is being absorbed quickly. Another positive development is that the number of resale listings going on the market is falling. For the first half of 2006, the Multiple Listing Service reported new listings of 3,000 to 4,000 per month. In July, however, only 1,300 new homes were added to the MLS, and just a little more than 500 were added in August for a total of 46,028 from January through August of this year. "This is significant in that resale homes on the market appear to be reaching a peak," said Michael Chasse, a home builder specialist with Scottsdale-based http://www.bizjournals.com/search/bin/search?q=%22Land%20Advisors%20Organization%22&t=phoenix Land Advisors Organization. "Hopefully, this trend will continue and we'll reach the tipping point where listings on the market will start coming down to a more reasonable level, which will also establish less sales competition for the new home builders."

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