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 12/04/09 the Dona Crane RePage is ranked at 2,158 with 80 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 Chicago, IL

Latitude: 41.840675 -- Longitude: -87.679365

Other Area Cities: Naperville Calumet Park Chicago Oak Park Niles Country Club Hills

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

To see random photos for other cities Click Here.

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

Chicago (IPA pronunciation ??'ka?go, ?i'kæ?g?; shi-cah-go, shi-caw-go) is the largest city in the state of Illinois, the largest in the Midwest, and, with a population of three million people, is the third-most populous city in the United States. The Chicago metropolitan area (colloquially known as Chicagoland) has a population of over 9.5 million people in Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, making it also the third largest metropolitan area in the United States.[1] Chicago is located along the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan and is a major center of transportation, industry, politics, culture, finance, medicine and higher education. Chicago is the financial, business, and cultural capital of the Midwest. Founded in 1833 at the site of a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, it soon became a transportation hub of North America. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Illinois 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Chicago	Illinois	United States
Population	2,896,016	12,419,293	281,421,906
Median age	31.5	34.7	35.3
Median age for Male	30.5	33.3	34
Median age for Female	32.6	36	36.5
Households	1,061,928	4,591,779	105,480,101
Household population	2,836,469	12,097,512	273,643,273
Average household size	2.67	2.63	2.59
Families	632,558	3,105,513	71,787,347
Average family size	3.5	3.23	3.14
Housing units	1,152,868	4,885,615	115,904,641
Occupied units	1,061,928	4,591,779	105,480,101
Vacant units	90,940	293,836	10,424,540

Visit US Census