When to Sell the House?

The market analysis done by each of the two real estate brokers who have visited us arrived this week. Both agree with our Personal Relocation Manager that housing values are going to continue to decline through next year. Why? One reason is that there are still foreclosures occurring. Also, folks who don't have to sell right now are waiting for the slightest sign of improvement in the housing market before they put their homes up for sale. Finally, Michigan has been hit especially hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs. Our unemployment rate is among the highest in the country. People have been leaving the state for places where there are jobs. In other words, there will be more supply than demand for some time.

When we spoke with our Personal Relocation Manager (provided to us by Beacon Hill), she suggested we might want to get ahead of the falling prices by putting our house up for sale this coming February or March. We might get more for our house than we would almost a year later, but we would have to store our furniture and move to a temporary location until our apartment is ready. Fortunately we both agree that having the house ready to sell in early spring of 2010 is not a possibility. So, we'll take our chances with the housing market and put the house up for sale in early 2011. This will give us much needed time to clear out the basement and do the necessary sprucing up where needed.