If you were sitting on the sidelines of the housing boom, like me, before the housing industry crashed, I’m here to tell you it’s safe to get in the game now.

Now that we’re in a recession, home prices are down and interest rates are at their lowest in nearly a half century. Plus, there are first-time buyer incentives, such as a $8,000 tax credit toward a home purchase.

I’ve tested the waters, and I’ve got a very low fixed interest rate and a great price to build my first house on a prime lot in a highly-valued Jacksonville community.

I’m so glad I waited on home prices to fall before applying for a mortgage. I almost got sucked into getting an adjustable rate mortgage for a $300,000 house three years ago. I also was looking at a $200,000 townhouse. This was before the current recession when investors were flipping houses and buyers were more than willing to get adjustable rate mortgages to buy their McMansion dream houses.

Now, the $300K house I was looking at before is going for $100,000 less and the townhome is down by $80,000. And now I’m building a house for far less than I would have three years ago on a big lot.

My strategy was to wait until prices fell into a reasonable range because we all know what goes up must come down and I just thought houses weren’t worth as much as advertised. Plus, waiting enabled me to boost my credit from the 500s to my current 722 FICO score.

So if you’ve been waiting, like me, for the right time to buy a house, now is the right time to get a great deal.

By Teneshia LaFaye