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!

As of 11/22/09 the Bobbie Clark RePage is ranked at 4,377 with 50 points.
The monthly top RePage owner will receive a cash prize. Help this agent by bookmarking this site and posting it to blogs and other Web pages and encourage others to visit.

Local Information for Ogden, UT

Latitude: 41.227744 -- Longitude: -111.961193

Other Area Cities: Ogden Clearfield Clinton Eden Layton North Ogden South Ogden Riverdale Roy Washington Terrace

Enter our Photo Sweepstakes and Win $200 for your Ogden photos!

To see random photos for other cities Click Here.

Submit your photos of Ogden and become eligible to win $200. Click Here for details.

Originally named Fort Buenaventura, the city of Ogden was the first permanent settlement by people of European descent in the region that is now Utah. It was established by the trapper Miles Goodyear in 1846 about a mile west of where downtown Ogden is currently located. In November 1847, Fort Buenaventura was purchased by the Mormon settlers for $1,950. The settlement was then called Brownsville, but was later named Ogden for a brigade leader of the Hudson Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. The site of the original Fort Buenaventura is now a Utah state park. Ogden is the closest sizable city to the Golden Spike location at Promontory Summit, Utah, where the First Transcontinental Railroad was joined in 1869. Ogden was known as a major passenger railroad junction owing to its location along major east-west and north-south routes. Railroad passengers traveling west to San Francisco from the eastern United States typically passed through Ogden. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Utah 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Ogden	Utah	United States
Population	77,226	2,233,169	281,421,906
Median age	28.6	27.1	35.3
Median age for Male	28.1	26.7	34
Median age for Female	29.2	27.7	36.5
Households	27,384	701,281	105,480,101
Household population	74,870	2,192,689	273,643,273
Average household size	2.73	3.13	2.59
Families	18,405	535,294	71,787,347
Average family size	3.32	3.57	3.14
Housing units	29,763	768,594	115,904,641
Occupied units	27,384	701,281	105,480,101
Vacant units	2,379	67,313	10,424,540

Visit US Census