When should I list my house? (Orlando, Lake Mary: mortgage, equity, property taxes)

[beckycat]

With the way the market is, I'm unsure when to list my house. I'd like to sell by this summer. I'm afraid with the market, I won't get what I'd like. Would it be better to wait it out and list it the following year? (2009) Do you think prices will drop even more? I know it's hard to predict the market, but any advice would be helpful. I live in the Lake Mary area.

[nickindependence]

There are 2 schools of thought on this. I recommend to my customers that if they can afford to sit tight and wait then do so. On the other hand i firmly believe we havent seen the bottom of the market and you could wait for a long time before the market turns.

If you are prepared to be aggressive with your pricing then now is a good time to try to sell before the market slips further.

What i would suggest is to find realtor you feel comfortable with. I compare finding the right realtor to finding a date. You have be on the same page as each other and comfortable with them. Also, find out what they offer which will help you sell your property. For example, im originally from the UK and use the British market alot for sourcing buyers and advertising. I am also a newspaper columnist in the UK offering advise to UK buyers. It is these sorts of credentials you should look for but make sure that your realtor has the same goals as you.

I wish you the best of luck on what you decide to do. If you need any help let me know.

Happy New Year!!

Nick

[WestcoastBrit]

If you can wait till 2009, how badly do you need to sell? If you bought before 02/03 you can sell and still make, if it was 05/06 then you may go upside down. I sold in 6/07 having purchased in 02. Didn't make what I could of 18 months earlier but came away 55k up on initial 95k investment. No one can predict, but it doesn't look promising.

[GregTraub]

I guess the big question is why do you want to sell by the summer? Is it just a preference to move or do you need to within the next few years?

It is of course impossible to predict what the market will do, but it is very possible to figure a probability of what the future will bring. Every statistic I look at (not talking about news articles from the media or Association of Realtors), indicates the market has a pretty high probability of sliding further in the coming 12-24+ months.....Once January's stats come out We'll at least have an indicator if whether it will fall more slowly or as quickly as it has in 07'.

In a best case scenario home prices will level and not lose anymore value, but every indicator says prices will not be moving upward anytime soon.

So should you sell now? It all depends on your goals, how much you want to move, and whether you value the ability to move greater than "getting what I'd like" in terms of price. You never know though, you may think your house is worth less than it really is! There are many neighborhoods that haven't lost much value at all these past few years, you'd have to look at what's for sale in your area and what's sold recently. Lake Mary is still a very desireable location. Your first step is to either pay for an appraisal or call some realtors to give you a Competitive Market Analysis.

If your planning on purchasing another home, there are a ton to choose from today, and as a buyer you haven't had this much negotiating leverage in many years. Any discount you may have to do to sell your current home, there's a good chance you will get it back plus some when purchasing your next.

[AONE]

Don't despair Lake May had 410 homes sell last year. Presently there are only 358 homes on the market. It isn't so much the time as it is the presentability of your home. Make sure it looks fresh, neat, and no clutter. The more competitive the pricing the quicker it will sell. When I look at market value I tend to provide ranges , aggressive pricing, normal, and under priced If you fall in the normal price it should move in 2-3 months. I would time it with that in mind. As to 2009, I think it will be stronger than 2008 but who really knows? There are some areas that are still seeing appreciation in a down market. We are fortunate to have one of the most active markets in the country.
If you want to sell it is certainly possible. It is hard to know what the value of your home is with no information and even harder to speculate what you may want for it. but overall Lake Mary is a good area to own in and the prices have held pretty firm.
Not sure if this answers anything for you but maybe it did. Good Luck.
Ken Anderson

[kathyjn]

We also have a house in Lake Mary that we are trying to decide whether to list or just wait for a while and rent it out. It is currently unoccupied. We bought a house in N. Florida last year and did not need to sell the Lake Mary house first. Having been in Lake Mary since the late 1980s, we know the desirability of our subdivision used to be fairly high (not sure if it still is... we are in Lakewood, w. of Lake Park Drive). We don't mind putting a rock-bottom price on it if it means we can sell. At this point we've been paying two mortgages since May 2007; renting it quickly is tempting so we can stop dropping money on two mortgage payments. But I know selling an empty house is harder too. So we are in a quandary trying to decide what's best. Ideally, getting our equity out sooner than later is desirable, but if we must rent because things are slow, we can handle that too. What to do?

[rholborn]

I live in Lake Mary, and just like anywhere else what is selling is the best house, and best price. Lake Mary has a lot of wonderful things here in our community including location and schools. Great price, great marketing plan, will definately help.

[iloveBBQ]

kathyjn, what part of n fla did you decide on? we are thinking of making the same move, orlando area to n fla

[kathyjn]

The decision was sort of made for us -- we moved to Amelia Island, where my husband grew up, and where his elderly mother still lives. We had always planned to move up to be close to her once the kids were out of high school. Last year when we thought the market was good for buyers (it was, but I guess you could say it's even better now), we decided to go. Of course the flip side of the buyer's market is that we would like to sell our old house - at some point. We love Amelia Island, although for me it means a 50-mile one-way commute, which isn't as bad as it sounds. Traffic is not like what it is in Orlando. If you like a slower pace of life, Amelia Island is great. Even "off island" is growing, where property taxes are lower and home prices too. I'm talking about the stretch between I-95 eastwards, towards Amelia Island. We wrestled about whether to buy on or off the island, but ultimately chose on because of resale values and being as close as possible to his mother. She is 1.5 miles from our house.

[iloveBBQ]

"Traffic is not like what it is in Orlando. If you like a slower pace of life, Amelia Island is great."


ssshhh... gotta keep some of those nice areas for ourselves a secret... lol