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 Media, PA

Latitude: 39.918761 -- Longitude: -75.388127

Other Area Cities: Villanova Media Chester Darby Folcroft Glenolden Lansdowne Prospect Park Ridley Park Drexel Hill Wayne Heights Narberth Rose Valley Swarthmore Upper Darby Wallingford Yeadon Haverford

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The borough of Media is the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania and is located 12 miles (19 km) west of Philadelphia. Media was incorporated in 1850 at the same time that it was named the county seat. The population was 5,533 at the 2000 census. The history of the town goes back to William Penn, but the area remained predominently rural until the twentieth century, and is suburban today. The Delaware County Institute of Science was founded in Media in 1833, while the Pennsylvania Institute of Technology, a two-year technical college, Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades and Delaware County Community College, a two-year liberal arts college, are located nearby. Media promotes itself as "Everybody's Hometown." Land in area was sold and settled soon after William Penn was named proprietor of the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681 by King Charles II of England. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Pennsylvania 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Media	Pennsylvania	United States
Population	5,533	12,281,054	281,421,906
Median age	40.8	38	35.3
Median age for Male	38.2	36.5	34
Median age for Female	43.4	39.4	36.5
Households	2,782	4,777,003	105,480,101
Household population	5,134	11,847,753	273,643,273
Average household size	1.85	2.48	2.59
Families	1,113	3,208,388	71,787,347
Average family size	2.73	3.04	3.14
Housing units	2,966	5,249,750	115,904,641
Occupied units	2,782	4,777,003	105,480,101
Vacant units	184	472,747	10,424,540

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