What is the state of our market? Part Three...

Previously, we talked about what to expect if you are a buyer in our current market.

But what if you are a seller? Should you be feeling hopeless? No, but let me give you some helpful information as well.

If you do not need to sell, don’t sell. It is true that values have dropped. So you will not get as much for your house as you would have a few years ago. Now, I cannot look into the future, but we are hopeful that prices will go back up at some point, and in looking at trends we have no reason to assume otherwise. So if you are happy with your house, then sit still.

If you are in over your head, meaning that you bought when the market was at the top and/or you have refinanced in the last few years and pulled money out, you should sit still as well. I would highly recommend waiting for prices to go back up and not be tempted to pull out any more money from your home value unless it is for an improvement that will be a real winner. (We will talk about those later.)

Now, if you have owned your home for more than 5 years, you probably have some equity. Listen up! This may be a great time for YOU to sell. Why? Because the house that you have dreamed of that may have previously been out of reach may be attainable now. Remember how I said values and interest rates have come down making it the buyers “perfect storm”? Well, you could be one of those buyers. Now I know some of you are saying, ‘But I am not going to give my house away or take a loss on it. I paid $200,000 for it and I am not going to sell it at $180,000!” That is fine. But I would encourage you to think this through. If you sell for a “loss of 20,000” but are able to get the house you had your eye on that was once $300,000 that is now $240,000…. Maybe it is worth it to take your $20,000 loss to save $60,000! You have stepped into what is likely going to be a great investment while buying at the market low and getting a great interest rate to boot. Just food for thought!

Next time we will look at the truth about foreclosures. Stay tuned@