It’s been a while since I posted. Frankly, it can be a bit demoralizing trying to carry the banner about why buying and owning your own home is a good idea when the national news keeps pummeling us with the opposite view.

To be fair, the media and analysts don’t tell us it’s a bad time to own a home per se. What is a problem for so many folks who bought over the last 2-5 years is the mortgage vehicles used to make the purchase. As I’ve written many times before, too many people were loaned too much money when their credit history indicated they would have trouble keeping their finances on track. The oft used phrase (ugh…I dread typing it AGAIN…) “sub prime” mortgages.

But the national news misses the fact that some areas are actually enjoying housing price increases. A recent Standard & Poor’ Corporation release points out that Charlotte, NC, just down the road from us here in Greensboro, is on of a very few metropolitan regions where home prices increased over the past year. You have go to the end of the article to find it, but the good news is there.

North Carolina in general has been steady in its gradual home value appreciation. And that gradual aspect of it is what has protected us from the sickening declines in values of other regions. We didn’t jump way up. We don’t have to fall way down. We just keep on keepin’ on.

And interest rates are at a two year low! That means that qualified buyers have lots of inventory from which to choose and get it at a lower fixed rate.

Fixed rate. Fixed rate. Don’t mess around with Adjustable Rate Mortgages right now. And don’t even think about an off-the-wall lender. This is no time to get cute. Stick with a good, reputable, professional lender. Get approved (it doesn’t cost anything more than a credit report to do so) and go find a house.

It’s time to get back to feeling good about wanting to own your own home. At least in these parts.