Your new home is waiting for you: Comfortable two bedroom, two and a half bath, 1193 square feet, ten-year old townhouse for sale in South Elgin, Illinois. Sweet family neighborhood with great neighbors, playground and park across the street, and a community center and swimming pool nearby.

In 2007 I advised my daughter, Lisa, to invest in property. She was a single young woman with a good income. “Why pay rent when you can make money on your own home?” was my advice. This was not one of my best Mother Knows Best moments. I’ve eaten my words many times over since then.

Lisa’s townhouse is now up for sale $50,000 less than for what it was purchased. That means that rather than combine the equity she and her husband traditionally would have made on each of their townhouses to use as a down payment on a larger home, they both must gather substantial savings to pay off their mortgages at closing.

Unfortunately, this is a common scenario not only in the Midwest but across the country. People are losing their beloved homes and uncertain as to how to recoup. The times they-are-a-changing as the song goes and no one knows just how they will continue.

In a recent poll realtors predicted the Midwestern housing market will remain stable or rise by the end of the year. So rates are not expected to decline. Housing sales are well above a year ago. And mortgage rates are at a record low. Now is the time to buy. It is definitely a buyers’ market with great deals out there.

Lisa would be more than happy to show you her lovely townhouse. If you are interested, call her realtor, Beth Sekey, at 630-587-4664.

©Mary K. Doyle