3 Reasons to Sell Your Home This Spring

(By the KCM Crew - 4-8-14) Many sellers are still hesitant about putting their house up for sale. Where are prices headed? Where are interest rates headed? These are all valid questions. However, there are several reasons to sell your home sooner rather than later. Here are three of those reasons. 1. Demand is about to skyrocket Most people realize that the housing market is hottest from April through June. The most serious buyers are well aware of this and, for that reason, come out in early spring in order to beat the heavy competition. We also have a pent-up demand as many buyers pushed off their home search this winter because of extreme weather. Sellers in markets where seasonal weather is never an issue must realize that buyers relocating to their region will increase dramatically this spring as these purchasers finally decide to escape the freezing temperatures of the winters in the north. These buyers are ready, willing and able to buy…and are in the market right now! 2. There Is Less Competition - For Now Housing supply always grows from the spring through the early summer. Also, there has been a growing desire for many homeowners to move as they were unable to sell over the last few years because of a negative equity situation. Homeowners have seen a return to positive equity as prices increased over the last eighteen months. Many of these homes will be coming to the market in the near future. The choices buyers have will continue to increase over the next few months. Don’t wait until all the other potential sellers in your market put their homes up for sale. 3. There Will Never Be a Better Time to Move-Up If you are moving up to a larger, more expensive home, consider doing it now. Prices are projected to appreciate by approximately 4% this year and 8% by the end of 2015. If you are moving to a higher priced home, it will wind-up costing you more in raw dollars (both in down payment and mortgage payment) if you wait. You can also lock-in your 30 year housing expense with an interest rate at about 4.5% right now. Freddie Mac projects rates to be 5.1% by this time next year and 5.7% by the fourth quarter of 2015. Moving up to a new home will be less expensive this spring than later this year or next year.

Spring Listing Season 2014

So spring is just around the corner and you have been considering selling your home all winter ... just like lots of other sellers, you thought it would be a good idea to wait until spring to list. That's not always true, consider this: if you listed sooner than everyone else, the number of available (competing) homes that buyers will look at and compare to yours would be less than if you waited and put it out on the market in the springtime, with all the others who thought "spring time is the best time to sell". It is true that buyers like to make the actual move during the summer months especially when school age children are involved. Buyers will buy when they find the right home, period. Do you think yours stand a better chance of being the "right home" along side 2 others or 22? The odds are in your favor when there are fewer listings on the market similar to yours. One more thought to consider: if the interest rate goes up, the home buyer who could afford your home today may not qualify to buy it tomorrow. By waiting you may actually be shrinking the size of your qualified buyer pool. My conclusion: don't wait, list now, buy now. But I may be jaded.