We went to New Orleans for four days of education, motivation and inspiration. What we received was a dose of reality. Not that we didn™t already know it, in fact, it is repeated each day if you watch the news. The bottom line is our economy may not get any better for a while and for some it could still get worse So what do we do about it?
For starters, although our economy is poor (worldwide) and the housing market is the lowest since the Great Depression there are opportunities to be had. However, in order to see opportunity one must take their head out of the sand and in order to capitalize on opportunity one must find a way to take action. We need capital and we need opportunities that make sense to us individually. Examples of opportunity in real estate: interest rates are at their lowest (this means at some point they will be going up). If today you qualify for a purchase of $200,000 at 4% and you do not take advantage of this because you prefer to wait for someone to tell you we have hit bottom before you purchase and the interest rate goes up to 6%, you would now only qualify for a loan of $165,000. The approximate difference in your monthly payment from 4% interest to 6% interest would be $241.48 totaling $86,933 over 30 years on a $200,000 loan.
As a seller this works a couple of ways beyond the fact that we have to educate the Buyers with the above information so that they will buy. 1.) You can now buy your downsized or sideways home and or head to your retirement destination and take advantage of these low rates and low home prices. 2.) You can wait until you sell your home for the price you feel you must have, but in this market the reality is you may not get that price. Think about what it is costing you each year to keep your home. Think about how much it would cost you to make a purchase now and reduce the price of your home in order to make that purchase. Yes, there may be a haircut in there; however, what do you get for a haircut?
You get the home you want, where you want, so that you can start living your life instead of worrying about when your home is going to sell and whether or not you should change Realtors. Nothing in our economy will change until we take action en masse. We have taken action with our vote and now we must get back control of our lives and move forward with our goals to make our dreams our reality. Please tell everyone you know how this makes sense and tell them to use me as their Realtor.
Heather Quinn
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