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 Nashville, TN

Latitude: 36.154838 -- Longitude: -86.762141

Other Area Cities: Nashville La Vergne Belle Meade Brentwood Forest Hills Goodlettsville Hendersonville Lebanon Franklin

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Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County in the north-central part of the state. Nashville is a major hub for the health care, music, publishing, and transportation industries.It was the advent of the Grand Ole Opry in 1925, combined with an already thriving publishing industry, that positioned it to become "Music City USA". The Gaylord Entertainment Center was built as both a large concert facility and as an enticement to lure either a National Basketball Association or National Hockey League (NHL) sports franchise.Nashville has the largest metropolitan area in the state of Tennessee, spanning thirteen counties. As the "home of country music", Nashville has become a major music recording and production center. Nashville also has a small but growing film industry. Several major motion pictures have been filmed in Nashville, including The Green Mile, The Last Castle, Gummo, and Coal Miner's Daughter. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Tennessee 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Nashville	Tennessee	United States
Population	545,524	5,689,283	281,421,906
Median age	34	35.9	35.3
Median age for Male		34.5	34
Median age for Female		37.2	36.5
Households	0	2,232,905	105,480,101
Household population	0	5,541,337	273,643,273
Average household size		2.48	2.59
Families	0	1,547,835	71,787,347
Average family size		2.99	3.14
Housing units	0	2,439,443	115,904,641
Occupied units	227,403	2,232,905	105,480,101
Vacant units	0	206,538	10,424,540

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