Buyers Ready To Snatch Spring Bargains

Bargain prices on housing combined with low interest rates below 5 percent may bring the real estate market its busiest spring season in years, economists say.  Distressed sales continue to put downward pressure on home prices, which may lure more buyers off the fence and ready to snag a deal during the typical prime-time buying season. Some builders are ramping up discounts on new homes as well as boosting commissions to brokers to try to spark more transactions. Sellers of existing-homes also are getting more competitive in pricing their homes. 'After three years of the housing downturn, people are becoming much more realistic in terms of valuing their homes,' says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of REALTORS®. Read more.