Why Waiting to Invest in Real Estate Isn't a Good Move

Amongst savvy investors, it is a common mentality that waiting to invest could have a far worse impact on your finances than making a bad investment.

It does sound a little backwards, on the surface.  However, as findings from blogs like The Simple Dollar and Lifehacker have found, when it comes to investment, an extra couple of percentage points will not make a significant impact on your intermediate-term investing.

No one wants to make a bad investment.  Waiting for the "right moment" to invest, however, is actually a bit counter productive, according to The Simple Dollar:

[I]t will take a very long time for a poor investment choice to have a significant negative impact on you, but it doesn't take much time at all for the choice to not invest to have a negative impact on you.

Let’s say, for example, that you’re able to put aside $100 a month for retirement. You can either start putting money aside right now in a investment chosen at random that earns 6% per year (on average), or you can give it six months of study and choose a much better one that returns 7% per year.

How long before the 7% investment catches up with the 6% investment?

A little over 11 years.

The same premise is exactly true in real estate.  The right time to invest in a home truly is now, and that is typically the correct answer.


First, we expect the market to appreciate by 4.2% per year over the next 5 years. [Tune back shortly for our article with a more detailed analysis on this topic.] Further, the cost of owning a home is increasing, based, in part, on climbing interest rates.  Waiting is, almost 100% of the time, the wrong decision if you would like to save money.

This is especially true when considering waiting for mortgage interest rates, as you can see above.  As industry specialists have found, mortgage interest rates are only expected to rise with time.  Waiting for them to drop is something that has not been anticipated by financial experts.  You cost of owning a home, therefore, is anticipated to only increase with time.

Curious how this applies to you?  Send me an e-mail or give me a call and I'll be happy to help.