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Should I Wait to Sell my House Until I Can Get the Same Price my Neighbor Sold For?

It’s always better to trade up in a buyer’s market, like the one we are in now. While the value of your house has fallen, the price of higher-end homes has also dropped.

Here's an example. Say your neighbor sold his house six months ago for $300,000. In today's market, your home's value has decreased 10 percent and you could only get $270,000. So you might think you'd be taking a $30,000 'loss' on your home.

But, don’t forget that higher priced homes are also dropping in price.

So, using the same example, the $500,000 move-up home you'd like to buy has also dropped 10 percent in value and now sells at $450,000. If you sold your home today for $270,000 and purchased the larger house for $450,000, the difference in price would be $180,000.

But if you waited to recoup the 10 percent value on your home and sold it at $300,000, chances are that same move-up home would also move up in price to at least 10 percent to $500,000. That’s a $200,000 price difference between the two homes.

So by not waiting and selling today, you would actually save $20,000. And most likely, by jumping into the market today your savings would be even greater because consumers have much more bargaining power when shopping for higher-end homes in a buyer’s market.

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