I've had the conversation with many a prospective home seller over the past 3 years. They'd like to sell, but don't want to do so in a "bad" market. They're going to sit it out and wait for the market to "turn around".
I'm always a bit baffled when I hear that. The reality is that even when our real estate market does bottom out, it's highly unlikely that we're going to see a quick turnaround in prices that will make them quickly rise to anywhere near the levels we saw at the height of the market in 2005/2006. Most people I talk to that are knowledgeable about the market feel that we'd be fortunate to see annual increases even in the 3-5% range for the next few years once we do reach a floor in prices. My fear is that many of these home sellers will end up selling at or near the bottom in terms of pricing. While waiting for the bottom to sell may speed up the time it takes to sell, it's unlikely to be a wise long term move. Just as many people in the stock market sell after a big market drop, and then buy again after the market appears to have recovered, it's all too easy and common to get wrapped up in fear-fear of losing more money, that can cause poor decision making and short term thinking.
Properties are selling in today's market. While it's a certainty that you'll get less today than you would have one, two or three years ago, it's also a strong possibility that you could get more today than you might in one or two years ahead of us. If you could turn back time and sell your home at the price you could have gotten a year ago, would you? At the time though, you would have been disappointed as the price was down from the year before. This can be an endless cycle that by the time you get to the end of the road and really don't want to wait any longer, some great opportunities have passed you by.
If you're thinking about selling, whether to move out of the area to retire, or simply to buy a new home locally, you may find that the present could be the best time we'll see for awhile in terms of price going forward. Whatever you're trying to accomplish in your move, consider your other goals outside of the sales price. Whether it's a different school district, a larger house, or getting closer to work, waiting for the right time can be a frustrating, and in the end, a pointless exercise. Trying to predict when and where the market will bottom out is a fool's game, and I won't pretend to be better at it than anyone else. There is a wisdom to planning for the future accepting today's circumstances rather than wishing and hoping and waiting for things to get back to where they were before.
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