Why You Shouldn't Wait to Sell Your Home

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

Maybe you have been thinking about moving to a new home but are afraid of selling your current home. It is true that you still may not get the full or expected value of your home in this economy, but it is also true that you may lose more money by waiting to sell. Here is why.

Right now, the real estate market still varies by location, but let us assume that your home will sell for about 10 percent less than it might be worth in a few more years. You would rather wait and sell it for more, right? Well, if you happen to be upgrading your home, then this is a bad idea.

If you currently own a $200,000 home, you may wind up selling it for 10 percent less than that, or $180,000. At the same time, an upgraded home will also sell for 10 percent less. So if you purchase a $300,000 home minus the 10 percent or $30,000, you will make up for your $20,000 plus and additional $10,000.

If you wait to sell your home, you may run into higher interest rates that will make the additional gain on your home vanish.

So in the case of upgrading to a larger home or a home in an area where home values are higher, it might make sense to go ahead and make the move now. This strategy may not work if you are planning on downgrading your home to a less expensive one.

Now, I am a big believer in living in a more modest home and actually downgrading in order to be more frugal. A smaller home costs less to run, most of the time, in many ways. However, I recognize that a home can be too small to allow for a good quality of life especially when you start adding kids and or in-laws, or you just might prefer to live in a larger home.

You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, online content manager, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of the woods but close enough to Target and Home Depot.

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