Housing issue-List it now or 2009

[conn8757]

My retirement date is creeping up - November 30, 2008. We can't decide if we should put our house on the market at this time of the year (we are in Orlando), or wait until February or March when peak time starts. The market is very bad - we had it for sale last year for six months and no offers. We know it is worth 30% less than it was a couple of years ago. I am afraid if I put it on the market now, it will be an "old" listing when interest usually peaks. My husband thinks we should go ahead and put it up. There are at least 25,000 homes for sale in Orlando plus foreclosures. We may buy in TV soon whether this house sells or not because the prices are so good there. I cannot believe they will get much if any lower. I hate the thought of having a mortgage though. We would have to finance the new house until this one sells. Ideas or thoughts from those of you that have taken the plunge. Thanks so much for your input.

[thehags]

I honestly think the housing crisis will last for awhile. I personally don't think TV have hit its low. So if it were me, I would list early next year and wait until I sold until I purchased something else. I'm not a realtor but in a similiar situation and that's my strategy.
In either case, good luck

[jeffy]

I believe the market still has another 6 to 12 months down before recovering. From 2000 to 2006 I was investing and flipping and renting and holding properties as a full time business in Maryland. I sold out my last investment prop in June of 06.

I am now making LOW offers on FSBOs in the Villages. I think investing in TV is a good idea. I think once the market strengthens TV will be a great place to own properties. I think it is obvious to most that what is hurting our market here more than anything is the inability of people outside to sell their homes in order to buy here.

That being said, my approach to your question would be to list it NOW. However list it at a price that is VERY attractive to the few buyers out there now. So what if you loose 15% now. If the market continues down over the next year , you will loose it any way. Plus you will make up a lot of that 15% by no mortgage or holding costs of two properties.
When a market is going down , it is best to get out now.
Good luck.

jeffy

[Barefoot]

I believe the market still has another 6 to 12 months down before recovering. That being said, my approach to your question would be to list it NOW. However list it at a price that is VERY attractive to the few buyers out there now. So what if you loose 15% now. If the market continues down over the next year , you will loose it any way. Plus you will make up a lot of that 15% by no mortgage or holding costs of two properties. When a market is going down , it is best to get out now.
jeffy

My advice as a former realtor .. I agree with Jeffy! List it now, at an attractive price, for 90 days. If it is priced right, it will sell. If it doesn't sell, let the listing expire, and list again in January. It will show up on MLS as a new listing, not an "old" listing.

I don't know your age, but no-one has promised us all a long life. So dive in, giterdone, and move to Paradise.

[Peachie]

I'm financially conservative and I like my nickels in my pockets, not in the bank pockets. I would list your house now, change realtors down the road if it doesn't sell immediately for a fresh perspective on your listing. I don't know if length of time on the market in this real estate downturn situation is a concern. Savvy buyers realize nothing is moving much now but that doesn't mean the property has a problem. My husband and I held two properties because of the recession in the early eighties. That d*** "interest only" loan gobbled up a lot of cash and in hindsight, we should NEVER have done that. You can drop the price on your home by a big chunk when you list if you figure in the interest you would be saving by not carrying a mortgage to buy in TV. If you're going to rent a home out to make the mortgage payments, that may be feasible.... IMHO.

[tkret]

Click to view or copy and paste to your address bar, if necessary...


http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/47438/A-Bottom-in-Housing-You%27ve-Got-to-Be-Kidding

[Boomer]

Hi conn8757,

Even though we are not planning to sell our home, I keep an eye on real estate trends. I have for a long time. I had a license in the early 80's, of all times! But I also had a day job that I could not, would not quit. The early 80's were a mess for housing.

The current mess I think is more complicated than the early 80's. I also think that because real estate values have taken pretty good care of so many of our generation over time, the current situation can become extremely difficult for some to accept.

I hope that you have owned your current home for many years so that you will be able to better get your head around the idea of what may seem to be such a low asking price. I hope you have a really good buffer. That will make pricing so much easier for you.

If I were in your situation, I would get that house on the market as soon as possible. Mortgage rates are going up. Not as fast as they did in the early 80's when they seemed to climb daily. But the rates are climbing. As I have watched real estate for more than 30 years, I have observed that as mortgage rates climb, house values decrease. I could not draw a graph for you or anything. But I am sure there is one out there somewhere. It's just the way it works. Most buyers are looking first at the house payment itself. It becomes, quite simply and as always, what the market will bear.

In your case, you are ready to get on with the next part of your life. Gear up to do that and just move forward. Price it right and you will sell faster than those who have no room in the price because they bought in at the top.

I really don't think the turnaround is coming as soon as early next year. And even though you will likely get less than you had hoped for your current home, you will buy on the low end, too. We did a downsize at the peak of the market. Of course, we bought the downsize at the peak. It's pretty tough to have it both ways when the market is running crazy like it did. When it's a downsize, it is not so much of an issue.

So anyway, to paraphrase that great philosopher Mick Jagger, at this point in our lives, "Time, time, time is NOT on our side."

So if I were you, I would just deal with what is now, and get on with it. It might not be much fun, but you could be in for a nice surprise, too. There are houses that are selling. Price it for the market.

I wish you the best. And just go get it.

Boomer

[Boomer]

Good morning Conn8757,

I was in this thread answering you last night. That post is above here. And now, sure enough, I am sitting here in my kitchen like I do most mornings, looking at TOTV.

And sure enough, here I am, just rolling around in this real estate thread. (Real estate threads are way high on my list of favorites.)

Anyway, I looked at what I wrote last night, and then I looked back at your original question, and then I realized that I maybe should add Part II.

So here goes:

About that carrying of a mortgage. Be careful. I always say not to borrow money that you do not have. -- for sure have. If the cash flow is not in place to support an unsold home and a mortgage on a new one, just hold on and sell first.

Do not let a selling agent talk you into something that you are not financially ready to do. I got a parting shot last October from a TV agent. It was our last day there and we were touring new homes. She said to me, "You are going to be so sorry if you do not buy at these prices." True story. She did not know, well, obviously. She was programmed to sell. For us, the time was not right overall so it was a non-issue anyway. I tell the story because that's the story.

So you have all kinds of decisions coming up in your life it looks like. Take a deep breath. And if you need to sell to buy in order to sleep at night, take your time on the buying end. If cash flow is not an issue for you, and it never will be, well that's another story.

Boomer

[conn8757]

Thanks for all the advice, there was a lot of good points made. - My husband says we are calling realtors today. Since he spends sometimes $100 or more a week golfing here in Orlando (he always pays for our son or sons who goes with him), I think it is a wise decision. I am going to see if we can get a shorter contract than 6 months as someone suggested. That would take us out of the Thanksgiving through New Years when no one is looking and we have company here anyway. We will price it aggressively. The house is 24 years old and we are the original buyer. We have updated the kitchen and family room, but I admit the pool could use updated tile and our bathrooms would need updated counters etc. if we were staying here. We will see what the buying public (hopefully there is one) thinks. Hope to see you all soon in TV - and thanks for the help.

[conn8757]

Tket - I just listened to the website you posted - very enlightening. Thanks!

[Boomer]

Hey Conn8757,

I was just getting ready to log out when I saw your response. Sounds like you are in a really good position in this tough market. You have a buffer zone.

And about that contract length -- absolutely go after the shorter one. Your realtor may just work harder if the listing is shorter. You will move to the top of the marketing list. Or should.

Now, just to take another step in the advice arena -- it's what I do -- if people ask -- sometimes if they don't ask -- but I try not to do that -- sometimes.

Anyway, have you ever thought FSBO? I for awhile was the reigning Queen of the FSBO's. I like 'em. A lot. But I have to tell you true, I would never, never do a FSBO, selling or buying end, without an attorney holding my hand.

What a FSBO can do for you is to build even more buffer zone into the price. You can take even less psychologically and realistically. You never should pretend that you will get the whole dime because your buyer of FSBO's knows that you are not paying a realtor, of course, and always has that factored in.

I think the flippers are out there again. They may not be so able to build that house of cards with the leverage they could pull off during the insanity. Let's hope not anyway. But the flippers are there I think. Also, a flipper, for the right price, will do some fixing up. It goes with the flipping territory.

I have got to get out of here before I am jumping in the car and heading to Florida. I am getting way too into this Florida market stuff.

On, and I am not a flipper. But we have done our share of fixup on our own homes. We kind of like doing the fixup stuff. There are still people like us out there, too. In spite of what HGTV tells you about everything having to be perfect. I always liked needing to do something. Then I did not feel so guilty about ripping it out and starting over with my own choices. And Mr. Boomer really likes tools and knows how to use them. (But the Boomers are not normal people. I guess you already knew that.)

Boomer the Buckeye, Still in Ohio

[conn8757]

Thanks Boomer - we thought about FSBO or sending a letter out to all our neighbors prior to listing the house with our intentions so if they were interested or knew someone that was, but we are not really house savvy. Joe's company always bought our houses when we were transferred. This is the first home we were in more than 3 years. We have a son who would love to buy the house but he is not in financial shape to do that. Unfortunately we are not in a position to help him do it since we need to sell this one to pay off whatever we buy. Thanks for your help.

[villages07]

Conn,

Another thought....listing term; I agree with all others that 6 months is too much; I did a 90 day listing with MY option to extend 30 days at a time. You can also insert a clause that if you produce a buyer (without aid of an agent or the MLS listing) that the total commission is reduced by knocking out the buyer's agents' share.

Money Magazine, in its June issue, had a table that showed for the 100 biggest US markets: when their market peaked and when it is projected to hit bottom, how much drop/rise from peak to bottom, and how much average prices for that market are expected to go up (or mostly down) in the next 12 months.

Orlando was projected to bottom out in Q3 of 2010 and the next 12 months would show a 21% price decrease...one of the weakest markets in the country. Peak was in Q2 of 06 and total decrease from peak to bottom projected to be 42%. Ouch. Your results may differ.

Get it sold and start the next chapter of your life!!!

[Boomer]

Hi conn8757,

I so need to stay out of this kitchen and out of this thread. I will hurry!

Anyway, good thinking about letting the neighbors know. Take some pictures maybe. Make a little listing sheet up with the measurements of the rooms, the home's features, etc. There is lots of information out there on doing a FSBO.

Also, real estate Open Houses are primarily for agents to meet people to sell whatever to. I would be careful about being a FSBO Open House though. Although, before somebody comes after me here, that thinking may have changed and it may be different in Florida. Maybe Open Houses are a hot way to sell a house there, FSBO or not. (In TV Open Houses probably do better against the general stats for Open Houses. Potential buyers are in TV looking all the time. Maybe that's true of all of Florida's market now. But if you are running a FSBO Open House be very careful. Just read up on what to do in a good book on FSBO's. Browse your local bookstore or library. Information Power!)

Then there is the whole right of first refusal thing if you have a potential buyer who is dragging his feet and you think it is time to list.

I will tell you though, most people probably need an agent. But make sure it is the right agent. Who is selling the most stuff in your area right now? Get references. References on the selling end, not the buying end.

And also please do not lose sight of the fact that when you go after that shorter contract length, you are driving the bus. Don't let an agent tell you that the market is so slow, it will take longer. Just find another agent. Time is money.

Oh I do so love talking about this stuff. Can you tell? But I do have another life. Good luck and keep us posted.

Boomer