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 Council Bluffs, IA

Latitude: 41.253698 -- Longitude: -95.862388

Other Area Cities: Omaha Council Bluffs

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Council Bluffs is a city in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States on the east bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 58,268. Sometimes considered a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska, on the opposite bank of the Missouri River, Council Bluffs is several decades older than the much larger Nebraska city which was founded by Iowa businessmen and real estate speculators in 1854. The city was named for the 1804 meeting of Lewis & Clark with the Otoe tribe that took place near present-day Ft. Calhoun, Nebraska. The area east of Bellevue, Nebraska was later known as Council Bluffs. The present city of Council Bluffs was first settled by Billy Caldwell's Pottawatomi during the 1830s after they were removed from what became Chicago. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet operated a mission among the Potawatomi for a time and Fort Croghan was built to control liquor traffic on the Missouri. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Iowa 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Council Bluffs	Iowa	United States
Population	58,268	2,926,324	281,421,906
Median age	34.6	36.6	35.3
Median age for Male	33	35.2	34
Median age for Female	36.2	38	36.5
Households	22,889	1,149,276	105,480,101
Household population	56,939	2,822,155	273,643,273
Average household size	2.49	2.46	2.59
Families	15,089	769,684	71,787,347
Average family size	3.03	3	3.14
Housing units	24,340	1,232,511	115,904,641
Occupied units	22,889	1,149,276	105,480,101
Vacant units	1,451	83,235	10,424,540

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