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 Tempe, AZ

Latitude: 33.388696 -- Longitude: -111.928783

Other Area Cities: Chandler Scottsdale Tempe Gilbert Mesa Paradise Valley Phoenix

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Tempe (pronounced /t?m.pi?'/) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with a 2005 population estimate of 165,796 according to the mid-decade Census survey. Darrell Duppa is usually credited with suggesting the name, adopted in 1879, after comparing the Salt River valley near a 300-foot-tall butte, to the Vale of Tempe near Mount Olympus in Greece. Duppa also had the honor of giving name to Phoenix, 11 years earlier. Tempe is a major suburb of Phoenix and is located immediately southeast. The upscale suburb of Scottsdale is immediately to the north of Tempe. Tempe is the location of the head offices of US Airways (formerly America West Airlines) and the main campus of Arizona State University. It was the longtime host of the Fiesta Bowl, although the BCS game will move to Glendale in 2007. On New Year's Eve, the city hosts the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Block Party, one of the nation's largest New Year's Eve parties. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Arizona 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Tempe	Arizona	United States
Population	158,625	5,130,632	281,421,906
Median age	28.8	34.2	35.3
Median age for Male	28.3	32.9	34
Median age for Female	29.6	35.5	36.5
Households	63,602	1,901,327	105,480,101
Household population	153,383	5,020,782	273,643,273
Average household size	2.41	2.64	2.59
Families	33,654	1,287,367	71,787,347
Average family size	3.05	3.18	3.14
Housing units	67,068	2,189,189	115,904,641
Occupied units	63,602	1,901,327	105,480,101
Vacant units	3,466	287,862	10,424,540

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