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 Albany, NY

Latitude: 42.659829 -- Longitude: -73.781339

Other Area Cities: Hudson Albany Delmar Loudonville Colonie Troy Cohoes

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Albany is the capital of the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2000 census, it has a population of 95,658. It is the county seat of Albany County. The City of Albany lies 145 miles (233 km) north of and slightly east of New York City, and slightly to the south of the juncture of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. Albany has close ties with the cities of Troy, New York and Schenectady, New York, forming what is generally known as the [Capital District], which in turn makes up the bulk of the Albany-Troy-Schenectady-Saratoga Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area with a population of 825,875, making it the fourth largest urban area in New York State. Albany is built on the site of the Dutch Fort Orange, and its surrounding community of Beverwyck. The English acquired the site from the Dutch in 1664 and renamed it Albany, in honor of the Duke of Albany. A 1686 document issued by Thomas Dongan granted Albany an official charter. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

New York 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Albany	New York	United States
Population	95,658	18,976,457	281,421,906
Median age	31.4	35.9	35.3
Median age for Male	30.2	34.5	34
Median age for Female	32.8	37.2	36.5
Households	40,709	7,056,860	105,480,101
Household population	85,756	18,395,996	273,643,273
Average household size	2.11	2.61	2.59
Families	18,397	4,639,387	71,787,347
Average family size	2.95	3.22	3.14
Housing units	45,288	7,679,307	115,904,641
Occupied units	40,709	7,056,860	105,480,101
Vacant units	4,579	622,447	10,424,540

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