A drastic increase in home prices over the last five years or so has forced many homeowners to reconsider their position on selling or staying. In fact, millions of Americans have gone into early retirement because of a combination of the coronavirus pandemic and the inflation of home prices. Many have decided to sell their homes and cash in early, taking advantage of the inflated prices and retiring earlier than expected.
While you can understand why they have made these decisions, you still are not sure whether the same decision is going to be the right one for you. Should you sell your property right now? It’s important to understand that the answer to that question cannot be given by simply reading something online. This is because everybody has to deal with a different situation and make their decisions based on the circumstances they find themselves in with their property. The best thing to do is speak with an experienced realtor, but before you do that consider asking yourself these important questions.
How Much Do I Owe?
One of the main reasons you should consider selling a home that you can afford comfortably is because you could get a high return on the sale. One of the key indicators on whether or not you will find a reasonable profit if you sell your home is to look at what you still owe on it.
A common mistake people make when factoring this information into the equation is that they just calculate how much they owe on the property. When you are determining whether or not you should sell your home you have to be aware that selling your home comes with additional costs including anything you need to do to fix up the home, moving costs, the cost to move into a new place, realtor costs and any other fees that come along with the process. Once you add all of those up you have a better idea of what it will really cost to sell your home and pay off all those expenses.
What Could I Sell For?
The next thing to consider is the actual value of your property. One of the best things to do to determine this is to go through online resources and find what your neighbors have been selling their homes for over the last several months. This will give you a ballpark idea as to what your home is worth but remember that you are trying to compare apples and apples, so if your neighbor has a pool and two extra bedrooms, they may not be the best comparison if you are trying to determine the value of your home.
When you are determining the value of your home, online resources will be helpful, but you also want to give yourself some wiggle room. You never know if during inspection there might be some challenges or issues with the property that may cause the price to drop. That’s why if you’re calculating the potential profit you could make from selling your home, you should always try to round down a little bit so that you come up with a more reasonable number. If the number is too low, chances are it is not gonna be higher when you go to sell the home.
Where Would I Live?
Finally, the key factor in making this decision is where you will actually live once you sell your home? Again, this is something that is different for everyone. Some people have other options, whether they are going to move in with family or loved ones, moved to another part of the country or they are calculating the difference in cost between renting and owning a home each month.
If it costs you $2500 a month to live in your home and an apartment would also cost you $2500 a month, most people believe that the home is the better option because you are building equity. While that is true, if you can sell your home, keep your monthly expenses the same, and turn a significant profit, you have something else to think about.
