Alpharetta Apartments | Moving in with your feet up

A good cause for pause is deciding whether to rent or buy. In the current economy, some people think renting is best because it affords time to save, assess and make a composed decision. But buying also has advantages. Home prices are extremely low. The recession has put pressure on sellers to part with their property. This is opening the market up to attractive deals. But the most important thing is to make the decision based on your personal financial situation. It's the only way to make the right decision.

My view of the current economy is mixed. For the most part, the economy is still in decline, but the pace of decline has clearly slowed. I’d like to make a distinction between stabilization and recovery, and I believe we’re seeing signs of stabilization.

As regards stabilization, I’d like to highlight four areas: employment, housing, consumer spending, and manufacturing.

Employment: Unemployment insurance claims data, released this morning for the week ending June 6, reinforced a two-month trend in labor markets, and that is, layoffs are gradually decelerating. However, claims remain near record-high levels, and firms’ reluctance to hire has lifted the most recent unemployment rate to 9.4 percent in May.

Housing: Many of today’s problems started with housing, and by most measures a clear recovery in the housing market has yet to emerge. My contacts here in the Southeast confirm the most recent data on the national housing market, namely that house prices are still falling, but the rate of decline has moderated somewhat.

Improved affordability combined with historically low mortgage rates and a new first-time homebuyers’ tax credit have helped move a portion of the huge inventory of unsold homes off the market. Preliminary results from the survey of homebuilders and realtors in the Southeast conducted by the Atlanta Fed indicate more optimism that sales will pick up in the future.

So there you have it, the economy will decide which is best. Until then, do all your apartment searching with a trusted professional. It's the only way to move.

Michael Russell writes about a variety of subjects. This article discusses Alpharetta apartments. For more information, visit Promove.