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 Plymouth, MA

Latitude: 41.955841 -- Longitude: -70.666549

Other Area Cities: Plymouth Scituate Marshfield Marshfield Hills Green Harbor Halifax Hanover Hanson Kingston Middleboro Duxbury South Duxbury East Bridgewater

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Plymouth was the landing site of the Mayflower, and the location of the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony, established by the English settlers, once known as the Separatists or Brownists and now known as "Pilgrims" [1], in 1620. It was the second permanent settlement in British North America, and the capitol of the Plymouth Colony until the colony's annexation by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. Plymouth was a local center of shipbuilding and fishing for centuries. Its principal notable industry was the Plymouth Cordage Company, a major manufacturer of rope and cordage products, founded in 1825. At one point, the longest ropewalk in the world -- a quarter-mile long -- was found on the Cordage Company's site on the North Plymouth waterfront. The Company thrived into the 1960s, when competition from synthetic-fiber ropes forced it out of business. Even though it had good economics (they did trade with the Native Americans), it wasn't enough to keep the business going. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Massachusetts 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Plymouth	Massachusetts	United States
Population	7,658	6,349,097	281,421,906
Median age	38.5	36.5	35.3
Median age for Male	35.7	35.4	34
Median age for Female	41	37.7	36.5
Households	3,286	2,443,580	105,480,101
Household population	7,142	6,127,881	273,643,273
Average household size	2.17	2.51	2.59
Families	1,744	1,576,696	71,787,347
Average family size	2.9	3.11	3.14
Housing units	3,420	2,621,989	115,904,641
Occupied units	3,286	2,443,580	105,480,101
Vacant units	134	178,409	10,424,540

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