by Siew Cheng Hoe

Created on: March 28, 2009   Last Updated: March 30, 2009

The housing market is always good.

When the housing market is in a boom, the seller is happy with the money he gets for selling property at a high price. He thinks the housing market is good. What he means is that the market is good to him.

When the housing market is in a gloom, the buyer is happy with the cheap bargains that he can find. He thinks the housing market is good, and he means that the market is good to him.

The housing market is always good, provided you know how to control yourself from buying at the peak of the boom and avoid selling at the bottom of the gloom.

If you have suffered a loss from the housing market, please do not blame the cyclical housing market. Blame yourself.

When the price is high and everyone is clamoring to outbid the next buyer for the prized property, the price shoots higher. You should not join in the crowd of eager buyers.

You should think of selling your house and downgrade to a smaller property. In this case, you are able to cash out from your house and have a nice amount in your bank for future investment.

In a housing gloom when price is ridiculously low, this is the time for you to make use of the cash in your bank and upgrade to a much bigger and better house. It is also time for you to snap up bargains and own a few properties.

You may worry that the bank refuses to let you take a loan when the economy is in a recession. This is the time when a nice amount of money in the bank comes in useful. No matter how many people tell you that "money cannot buy everything", a nice sum of cash sitting in the bank will buy you trust from the bankers.

The bankers are very funny people. They will lend you money when you have money. They will not lend you money when you need money to pay the bills.

Cash in bank, especially a nice sum of money in bank, will endear you to the bankers. They will offer you a housing loan at an attractive rate to buy properties in a market gloom. Please ensure that you take up fixed interest rate loan instead of floating rate loan.

The national interest rate is erratic and out of your control. The central bank is the one controlling the interest rate and you do not know how high or how low the interest rate will be a year from now.

Taking up a fixed interest rate loan will help you sleep better when the national interest rate shoots through the roof.

The housing market is good. The housing market will always be good to the smart buyer and seller.

So folks, please remember to buy low, sell high and do not speculate or be greedy.

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