Hot Tips for Cool Weather

These select Top 5 LGBT cities currently offer double-digit discounts.

For those who want to move to a fantastic LGBT city – or who are lucky enough to already live in one but are sick and tired of paying increasingly expensive monthly rent and want to invest in home ownership – real estate harvest time is here. As October arrives, so do signs of winter. Leaves change colors, the air turns crisp, and as farmers begin to pick and put away the last of their crops, real estate agents and mortgage brokers prepare for a significant slowdown in activity.

But that makes this season the best time to go house hunting, and this year there are also various other contributing factors that are coming together beautifully to create an extraordinary buying opportunity that may not last much longer. Best of all, many of the most alluring bargains are found in places that also happen to be the most fun and attractive LGBT neighborhoods in the USA. All of the great LGBT cities listed below have experienced price drops of at least 15 percent, compared to what real estate was selling for before the recession:

#1

New York, NY

With almost a 33 percent decrease in home prices, NYC takes top honors by showing the most dramatic discounts for a major city that is also one of the most desirable destinations on the planet. Before the real estate crash, NYC was getting so expensive that home prices were prohibitive. But right now there is a rare chance to gain entry, and history proves that an investment in Big Apple real estate is one of the best you can possibly make.

#2

Miami, FL

Meanwhile the “Best City in the World” (as Miami was voted by Wallpaper fashion arts magazine) is a strong competitor on the opposite end of the Atlantic seaboard. So if you prefer sunshine, surf, and SOBE, house shop in Miami. There prices are off almost 25 percent – and that includes condos for sale in South Beach.

#3

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco needs no introduction, as the name itself is synonymous with lush and vibrant LGBT society and culture. But prices have slipped between 17 and 18 percent, which means that introductory fees to ownership in this legendary gay and lesbian Mecca have become much more affordable and reasonable.

#4

Seattle, WA

Seattle has a great LGBT newspaper, LGBT community resource center, LGBT film festival, and attracts more than 100,000 participants for its annual Pride Festival through Capitol Hill – the city’s best-known LGBT neighborhood. Plus real estate is selling at more than a 17 percent discount compared to prices before the recession. You can buy a home and have plenty of cash left over to fund your local gourmet coffee habit.

#5

Atlanta, GA

Historic Atlanta – where prices in LGBT neighborhoods like Midtown, Little Five Points, Virginia Highlands, and Cabbagetown have seen affordability increase by more than 16 percent – is another top choice. The city has long been a magnet for gays and lesbians all over the Deep South, and thanks to the involvement of the LGBT community “Hot’lanta” had evolved into a world-class LGBT city with all the perks of any outstanding metropolitan center.

Interest rates across America are also low, which makes it easier to buy in any of these LGBT hotspots. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was below five percent in early October, whereas last year the same loans carried interest rates of more than six percent. If rates fall more they may soon be cheaper than they have been in the last 40 years.

But you cannot defy the laws of economic physics for long, so these buying opportunities will not last forever. Just as tight credit and exorbitant asking prices caused the real estate bubble to crash a couple of years ago, today’s amazingly low prices and affordable mortgage interest rates are starting to fuel a definite uptick in home sales.

Home sales have been showing more vigor than they have in about two years, and the increases in prices are across the board – including almost all of the metropolitan areas covered by the highly regarded S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Recent price jumps even happened in the market for new homes, where the damage from the recession has been the worst. New home inventories are actually the lowest they have been since 1992, because builders cut back so sharply on new construction due to a lack of financing and an overabundance of stagnant inventory.

So discounted homes have lots of room for gains in value, but the opportunity to cash in on easy equity appreciation may begin to disappear between now and 2010, when buyers again come out of the woodwork. That’s why savvy shoppers will beat the crowds by purchasing now, while cold weather slows the pace of real estate and those with homes listed are more inclined to sweeten offers to close a sale.

To find mortgage and real estate professionals committed to exceptional service to the GLBT community, visit www.GayRealEstate.com and www.GayMortgageLoans.com. Or call toll free 1-888-420-MOVE (6683).