I remember reading this somewhere… I think it was said by the famous sports coach in the USA, John Wooden. I believe what he means by this is that there's no time to waste but it's certainly not a time to rush.  I'll assume so for this blog post anyway. 

That quote came to me when I was speaking to someone today about buying property. They were saying, in essence, that they had been looking to buy and weren't sure if this was the right time. The funny thing about buyers is that most want to buy when things are white hot, and they choose to wait when things cool, albeit temporarily. The smartest thing to do is the opposite, if you have the courage and opportunity to do so. 

Right now in our major Eastern cities (Sydney, Melbourne, ACT, etc) the market is having a short breather courtesy of a share market correction and a few interest rate rises. In a short space of time, the market will be on the roll again. How do I know this? I've been working in the Sydney real estate market for almost 30 years. Things tend to go in cycles. Patterns repeat themselves. Everything that looks expensive today looks cheap tomorrow. The same media headlines get recycled on a regular basis. So I'm confident that come Spring 2010 (120 days away) the market will start rolling again (if it hasn't already started beforehand).

So I counselled the buyer on two key things. First, never rush a property purchase or over commit by spending more than you can afford. And second, don’t wait too long because quality property is rarely left unattended especially in the big cities, where the shortage of prime property (in fact almost all property) has reached a critical point. If you are ready to buy, don’t stop looking now because things have cooled down slightly, it’s actually the best environment to go shopping in. The non-metro areas are a half step behind the cities but they too will enjoy a strong 2011 so again you only have about six months to get set before these markets rise.