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 Camp Hill, PA

Latitude: 40.241089 -- Longitude: -76.926202

Other Area Cities: York Matamoras Camp Hill Carlisle Harrisburg New Cumberland Colonial Park Elizabethtown Mechanicsburg Middletown Progress Hershey Palmyra Dillsburg

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Camp Hill is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 2 miles (3.5 km) southwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The population was 7,636 at the 2000 census. There are many large corporations based in nearby East Pennsboro Township that use the Camp Hill postal address, including the Rite Aid Corporation, Harsco Corporation, and Gannett Fleming Inc.. The name Camp Hill is believed to stem from a split in the congregation of a Peace Church, located west of the current borough. One faction of the church began meeting outdoors, on a hill. Prior to the American Civil War, the area was known locally as White Hill, which served as a stop along the Cumberland Valley Railroad between Harrisburg and Carlisle. During the Civil War, the Battle of Sporting Hill became the northernmost engagement of the Gettysburg campaign, which took place at Camp Hill in late June 1863. Camp Hill was incorporated as a borough on November 10, 1885 from East Pennsboro Township. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Pennsylvania 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Camp Hill	Pennsylvania	United States
Population	7,636	12,281,054	281,421,906
Median age	43.3	38	35.3
Median age for Male	40.7	36.5	34
Median age for Female	45.5	39.4	36.5
Households	3,387	4,777,003	105,480,101
Household population	7,501	11,847,753	273,643,273
Average household size	2.21	2.48	2.59
Families	2,157	3,208,388	71,787,347
Average family size	2.8	3.04	3.14
Housing units	3,529	5,249,750	115,904,641
Occupied units	3,387	4,777,003	105,480,101
Vacant units	142	472,747	10,424,540

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