Ilyce On NPR Today June 25, 2007

I just got off the air with Talk of the Nation on NPR. We were talking about whether now is a good time to buy.

Dean Baker, an economist based in Washington, took the view that prices are coming down and will fall a lot farther. He thinks maybe buying a house in a year is a good idea.

I think it depends on where you are and what’s happening locally. In every market, there are pockets of the housing market where you can get a good deal every day of the year.

A lot of whether you buy or not depends on how long you plan to stay in your house. Figure that out and you’ll know whether you should buy or rent. (Hint: The magic number is somewhere around 5 to 7 years at a minimum.)

You can listen to the show at www.npr.org.

June 25, 2007