Poll shows fewer people plan on buying homes

According to a poll conducted by the Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance, a growing number of Americans are stressed about the current state of the real estate market, and it's impacting their decisions about real estate purchases. Not at all surprising when we see that gasoline and food costs are continuing to climb, forcing many homeowners to make some cold hard decisions about what they can and can't afford.

Almost sixty percent of those polled in this survey said they definitely won't be buying a home in the next two years. More then a quarter of the homeowners polled said they worry their home will lose value over the next two years, and one in seven mortgage holders are afraid they won't be able to make their mortgage payments on time over the next six months. These statistics are pretty overwhelming but they say what everyone already knows; people are unsure and scared of what the future holds. Moving to a new home is a luxury for many, and with gasoline prices starting over $3 a gallon, it's a luxury that more people are putting on the back burner.

As everyone knows, real estate markets vary by area. Yes Arizona is seeing some tough times right now, but it's not as bad here as it is in much of the country. Though the average sales price in Tucson was down about 1% from February to March, home sales increased 26% over the same period. We're still seeing a high number of foreclosures; one in 264 Arizona homes received foreclosure notices in February. Many of those were investors that bought with the intention of "flipping" the property, financed most of the home's purchase price and are now stuck with an extra mortgage they can't afford. Some were borrowers that just bit off more then they could chew. Whatever the reason, the large number of foreclosures are slowing down the rest of the local real estate market. Until the inventory of foreclosure homes begins to shrink, Tucson's resale market will continue to drag behind what it once was.

Right now most of my clients are buyers searching for second homes, hoping to find a place they can eventually retire in. These individuals don't need to sell in order to buy, which is the perfect situation to be in. There's great inventory out here right now, with just over 2000 homes available in NW Tucson alone. It's a great time to take advantage of our local market and buy while many home sellers are willing to negotiate any deal they can in order to sell. Deals are out here if your persistent, and buyers are in the driver's seat