There has never been a time in history, in Florence, that was prime than now to buy a home, and especially for first time home buyers.

The inventory of existing homes is high. That means there is a great choice of homes to choose from and sellers may be more flexible in there selling price. Although home values in the Florence, SC community have held, some sellers are willing to discount more than usual to move their home more quickly.

Interest rates at their lowest in decades and will only stay down long enough for the housing market, nationally, to start recovering. Once the market has started on the upswing again, I feel that interest rates will climb back to more normal ones.

What many first time home buyers do not realize is that they can own their own home for less than they are spending for rent every month. Banks in the Florence market do have mortgage money available. Here is an example of typical home in the Florence, SC market. With a mortgage of $120,000, at 5% interest, the principle and interest payment every month would be $644.19 per month. Depending on the age of the home, this could purchase an 1100-1700 square foot home with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths.

Now add the new FIRST TIME HOME BUYER TAX CREDIT of $8,000.00 and you have a once in a lifetime opportunity!

In my next blog, I will begin to explain how simple it is to use this tax credit.