Joe Light, a Wall Street Journal reporter, recently wrote a column about the potential timing of buying a vacation home. “If you're thinking of buying a second home in the next five years, this might be your best opportunity.”

He suggested that following the bust of the housing market, “the vacation-home market is showing signs of life.” He even states that there are some signs of bidding wars.

Fixed mortgage rates hit new historic, all-time lows this week.

The most recent Freddie Mac survey reported that the 30-year FRM averaged 3.84% for the week ending Thursday: this historic rate is the lowest ever recorded, down from the prior week's average of 3.88%. For the same period last year, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.71%, which is 18% lower year over year.

The lowest all-time FRM rate, 3.87%, was recorded on February 9, 2012.

According to the recent National Association of Realtors [NAR], pending home sales rose to highest level since April 2010.  The recent NAR report put first-quarter sales closings at the highest first-quarter sales in five years. It also indicated that signed-contract activity for the second quarter should maintain the positive trend.  This report  places pending home sales rise at the highest level in 2 years

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller national index of home prices fell to post-recession lows.  In the S&P composite index, the annual home price fell 3.6% and 3.5% for both the 10-city and 20-city reports. 

Despite the decline in prices, the price decline is less severe than January’s 4.1% and 3.9% figures.

The declines hit nine regions including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, New York, Portland, Seattle and Tampa – representing new post-crisis lows.

As rents continue to increase, and median home prices search for a true bottom, the combination of factors appears to be beneficial to home buyers according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. The article sees these factors as being part of a "good start" to the spring real estate market. The article also cites that continued interest from investors and second-home buyers across the board.  The survey of 82 metropolitan areas tracked by Reis points to:

The Wall Street Journal published a story about how vacationers have turned into a huge source of home buyers, especially in the case of investment and vacation homes last year. They cited that the number of homes purchased by investors rose 65% during 2011 to 1.2 million, accounting for 27% of all home sales. This compares with figures for 2010, in which investment properties accounted for just 17% of all sales. Wow! That's a jump of 59%!

There is a lot of chatter out there right now as it relates to the best investments available. With trillions on the sidelines, it is obvious that people are still not breaking down the doors on equity. I recently have read quite a few articles citing that the time to get into real estate is now. These articles include the Wall Street Journal, Smart Money, CNN Money and The Chicago Tribune.

The results were based upon a national survey by RE/MAX National Housing Report stated:

See If You Can Benefit

On October 24, 2011, President Obama announced plans to open up refinancing to more homeowners who are underwater. This proposal was a revision to the previous Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and is now known as HARP 2.0.

Some of the major changes under HARP 2.0 include:

No underwater limits: Previously, borrowers whose loan-to-value limits were greater than 125 percent were ineligible to refinance. Now, borrowers can refinance no matter how far their homes have fallen in value.

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