To Sell Or Not To Sell – Which Side of the Fence Are YOU On?

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With so much talk about this being the best buyer’s market our real estate industry has witnessed in a long time, there hasn’t been too much focus on whether one should consider selling right now. And if they choose to do so, what benefits or liabilities do they face in the wake of today’s economic downturn?

We take a look at both scenarios, so that if selling your house is an absolute must and waiting out the market is not an option – you can gauge the potential ramifications. Likewise, if you can wait the market out, what exactly can you expect to accomplish and in how much time?

When In Need, All Else Doesn’t Matter

The majority of home sales on the market today are those of people who are in an impossible situation. This could mean that they have to relocate for their job, the local economy has caused job loss, medical emergencies have arisen leading to the inability to manage the home or worse, total financial breakdown for any or all these reasons. Distress sales have recently become a growing phenomenon that is hardly possible to avoid during this current economic state.

Given that the national home prices outlook is bleak at the moment, this is a very difficult position to be in for these sellers. Often, they are people who obtained mortgages during the “golden years” of real estate when almost anyone could easily be approved for a home loan. Though not always the case, a lot of families who got themselves into homes thinking that economy would last forever – have now found themselves in an impossible situation.

DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO SELL RIGHT NOW?

Keep in mind that eventually property prices will rebound – so whether through creative financing, alternative arrangements with lenders, or even converting your property into an income-generating one, seek out ways to avoid selling.

If you can answer yes to any of the following questions, it is safe to say that selling is unavoidable:

• Do you need a significant amount of cash?
• Are you finding it harder to maintain your rental property?
• Is the estate in question an inheritance where all parties do not agree on what to do with it?
• Has a partnership dissolved, resulting in the need to split the assets?
While there are alternatives [http://thecincyblog.com/2008/01/18/three-alternatives-to-selling-your-house/], if property owners are unable to avail those opportunities, then there is no option to wait for the market to recover and the property in question must be sold.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF SELLING NOW?

It is a buyers’ market after all – which means that homes are being sold. So if you do need to sell, you must stand out from the rest of the competition to find success.

Keep in mind that with inventory levels as high as they are in most markets (an average of about 8 months currently), buyers have a lot to choose from. This means that sellers have to offer many incentives for buyers to choose their property on top of existing factors such as neighborhood and schools system, area amenities or the type of housing community.

What’s Stopping You From Upgrading Into Something Bigger and Better?

As mentioned above, the majority of home sales these days are those surrounded in unavoidable circumstance. The rest of the home sales taking place nowadays are for people who want to seize the buying opportunities out there right now, getting in on historically low interest rates and equally as historic low housing prices. Combine both these factors and it makes good sense for many Americans who can afford it to move out and move up. The primary advantage for these people is of course that they save tens of thousands of dollars on mortgage interest and they get to live in a better home for about the same that they are already paying.

IF SOMETHING BETTER IS IN STORE – SELLING NOW IS A GOOD IDEA

Assuming that your home is sold, this could not be a better time for families to upgrade. When one home is vacated – the next one is occupied – those people then have to find a home, only for it to be vacated and those people have to find a home. This process is one of the driving forces of a well-oiled real estate machine that begins to affect local markets and eventually stabilize prices, contributing toward market recovery.
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Put very simply, if you have to sell and have no choice – you will suffer the consequence of yielding less than what you had anticipated. And if you can afford it, selling now is one of the best decisions you can make for you and your family because it will translate into a sizable investment once the market does recover.