What to do in todays Real Estate Market?

The market has been a bit testy these past few weeks. For stock holders and for home owners.

How would or should you handle your finances in this market?

I have just a few suggestions:

1.) Take an inventory of your present financial situation to find out how much money you have
that is liquid. You should plan to have at least 3 months worth of expenses on hand.
REMEMBER THAT NOT TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE MORE THAN 1 PAYCHECK
AWAY FROM BANKRUPTCY. Don't be one of them as you may know many folks
are being laid off from their jobs.
1. Home heating costs are rising.
2. Food prices are rising
3. Gasoline although settling back are still very high.

2.) If you are renting and thinking about buying a house you should do a new budget
using approximately 29% of your gross income for housing expenses. That is for the
principal, interest, taxes and homeowners insurance. Your combined debt (including
the house payment should not be more than 38% of your gross income. So remember if
you have a car payment, credit card payment, child support, student loan or any long
term dept ( more than 6 months remaining) the monthly payment amount must be added to
the house payment and it should not exceed 38% of your gross income.
THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS WAS BEFORE THE RUN AWAY MARKET.
3.) You will need a down payment these days. For Government loans (FHA) you
will need to have 3.5% of your own money into the downpayment etc. (This can be a
gift from a relative) The new deal is that the lenders want you to have an equitable
interest in the property. They do not want it to be too easy for a borrower to just
bail out of the property when the going gets tough.
4.) You can still ask the Seller to pay up 3% - 6% of your closing costs.Depending upon your
downpayment.