Released: September 29, 2007

Buy a home now, lose money?

Source: Elizabeth Razzi, Washington Post (Free Registration)

It takes a bit of courage to buy a home in a weak real estate market.

But buying can still be a reasonable, financially sound choice for anyone with the traditional reasons for settling down: You need a bigger house for a growing family. You want to live in a particular school district. You want a place you can remodel and expand over time. You’re a first-timer who wants to snag a place while interest rates are affordable.

But you will have to tune out a lot of alarmist commentary if you wish to keep your composure. Just last week on the “Today” show, Jim Cramer, the nuance-allergic host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” program, told viewers nationwide to pass on a purchase. “Don’t you dare buy a home now. You will lose money,” he said. They might wonder about that advice in Seattle, where prices rose nearly 7 percent from July 2006 to July 2007, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, or in Charlotte, where prices rose 6 percent.

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