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I'm seeing a new Associated Press housing poll everywhere this morning, so I thought I would use it as a jumping off point for a kind of home buyer I've been thinking about lately: the move-up buyer.
Here are some of the results of the Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance poll.
• Sixty percent said they definitely won't buy a home in the next two years, up from 53 percent who said so in an AP-AOL poll in September 2006.
• 11 percent are certain or very likely to buy soon, down from 15 percent two years ago.
• The biggest worriers are those expecting to buy soon. Of that group, 43 percent frets that their home's value will drop in the next two years, compared with 25 percent of those not expecting to buy shortly.
Yes, it's a national poll, but it hits on what real estate agents often tell me: buyers continue to be hesitant. The buyer who seems to be in the toughest spot is the move-up one afraid of losing money on a sale while trying to buy. Which would be OK, because what's lost on one end could be made up on the other, except it seems folks are worried homes are depreciating rather than increasing in value, perhaps contributing to today's hesitancy.
Any move-up buyers feeling extra hesitant? Any out there who've taken the plunge recently? Any agents working with move-up buyers?
