Why Would You Want To Sell When The Sky Is Falling?

November 20, 2008

Are you crazy? Are you so flush with money that you don’t mind giving away $20,000 or $30,000 of your equity? I almost said “hard-earned” equity – but for most of us who’ve bought in the last 10 years, we didn’t have to do much other than sit back and watch our home appreciate. But however we’ve earned the equity, it doesn’t seem on the surface to be a good idea to sell right now.

But what if I told you that by giving away $20,000 I’ll give you back $30,000? You’ve now netted $10,000. Sounds a bit better now, doesn’t it? You’re continuing to earn equity the “easy” way – even in this different market.

Let’s say that you own a house that a few years ago was valued at $200,000 – up 30% from when you bought in 1999. Unfortunately prices have dropped in your area so now your home is only worth $180,000 – down $20,000 from 3 years ago. Ouch! It’s no good wishing you’d sold then – that window of opportunity has already passed. But if you have a stable job in an industry that appears to be weathering the economic downturn fairly well, then you might want to consider taking advantage of lower prices on larger homes. If you’ve had to drop your price 10%, then larger, more expensive homes will have to drop their price also. A home that would have cost $300,000 two years ago may now be listed for $270,000.

Then add in the monthly savings of an incredibly low interest rate (I just spoke to a Mortgage rep and he told me as of December 30, 30 year mortgage rates are holding at between the high 4% and mid 5% range. Fifteen year rates are slightly lower at 4.75%.) So what does this mean to your bottom line? For many, the cost is only a couple of hundred dollars more a month for a much bigger comfortable home. Only you can do your calculate what the cost of moving into a more spacious home would be. If I were looking to move up, and my long-term employment seemed secure, I’d definitely be looking now!

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Local Information for Salt Lake City, UT

Latitude: 40.7547 -- Longitude: -111.892622

Other Area Cities: Millcreek Salt Lake City Riverton Bennion Bountiful Centerville Cottonwood Heights Holladay Kaysville Magna Midvale Murray North Salt Lake Sandy West Jordan South Salt Lake Taylorsville West Valley City Kearns South Jordan

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Salt Lake City has many informal neighborhoods. The eastern portion of the city has higher property values than its western counterpart. This is a result of the railroad being built in the western half as well as scenic views from inclined grounds in the eastern portion. Immigrants find housing more affordable on the west side, which results in demographic differences. Interstate 15 further solidified these divisions.The Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Utah Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Church History and Art are some of the museums located in Salt Lake City. Other museums include the Utah State Historical Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneer Memorial Museum, Fort Douglas Military Museum, and the Social Hall Heritage Museum. Clark Planetarium at the Gateway Mall houses an IMAX theater.The Utah Arts Festival has been held annually since 1977 with an average attendance of 80,000. About 130 booths are available for visual artists and there are five performance venues for musicians. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Utah 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Salt Lake City	Utah	United States
Population	181,743	2,233,169	281,421,906
Median age	30	27.1	35.3
Median age for Male	29.5	26.7	34
Median age for Female	30.6	27.7	36.5
Households	71,461	701,281	105,480,101
Household population	177,170	2,192,689	273,643,273
Average household size	2.48	3.13	2.59
Families	39,830	535,294	71,787,347
Average family size	3.24	3.57	3.14
Housing units	77,054	768,594	115,904,641
Occupied units	71,461	701,281	105,480,101
Vacant units	5,593	67,313	10,424,540

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