5 Reasons You Should Sell Today (UPDATED)

Selling your house in today's market can be extremely difficult. It is for that reason that every seller should take advantage of each and every chance that appears. There is a fantastic opportunity available right now. Meet with your real estate agent and mortgage professional today and see whether it is the right time for you and your family to make a move. Here are five reasons you should consider selling in the first 90 days of 2011. 1. Interest rates have spiked up. Rates have jumped over 1/2 point in the last several weeks. The short term result of increasing rates is a surge of buyers jumping off the fence to purchase in fear that rates may continue climbing upward. This is a short window of opportunity. If rates fall again, buyers will jump back on the fence. If rates continue to rise, it limits the number of buyers who can qualify at each price point. Now is the best time to sell your house. 2. If you are moving up, you can save thousands. If your family goal is to sell your current house and take advantage of the fabulous selection of properties currently available to buy the home of your dreams a at bargain basement price, DO IT NOW! Prices will continue to soften in most markets. However, if you are buying, COST should be more important than PRICE. Cost can be dramatically impacted by rising mortgage interest rates. Do the math and decide if now is the time. 3. During the winter months, the buyers are serious. We all realize that buyers are not quick to pull the trigger on the purchase of a home today. There is no sense of urgency with the supply of eligible properties at all time highs. However, at this time of year, the 'lookers' are either staying warm (in the North) or just busy with other priorities. The home buyers left in the market are serious and are more apt to buy. Less showings - but to more motivated purchasers. 4. You beat the rush of inventory that is coming next year. Every year there is an increase of inventory which comes to market from January through April as homeowners put their houses up for sale in preparation for the spring market. Here is the number of listings available for sale in 2010. � January - 3,277,000 � February - 3,531,000 � March - 3,626,000 � April - 4,029,000 We believe there is a pent-up selling demand (homeowners who have held off selling over the last year) that will lead to an increase in these numbers this spring. You won't have to worry about this increasing competition if you sell now. 5. You have less 'discounted' inventory with which to compete. This year, sellers of non-distressed properties have been given an early holiday present. With banks trying to rectify their foreclosure procedures, there has been a large supply of discounted properties removed from competition. No one knows how long it will take banks to return to the normal flow of foreclosed properties to the market. However, until they do, every homeowner has a better chance of selling their property. Bottom Line If you are looking to sell in 2011, there may not be a more opportune time than this right now. Serious buyers, great move-up deals and less competition from super-motivated sellers and foreclosures creates the perfect selling situation. Don't miss it!

Real Estate vs. Stocks Over The Last Decade. Which Would You Rather Be Invested In?

  While no investment has really been safe over the last decade, it may surprise you to know that real estate has been one of the better investments over the past ten years.

Forbes.com reported on this issue two days ago:

With all the teeth-gnashing over the real estate bubble, the bust and the mortgage mess, you can be forgiven for failing to notice this little tidbit: Housing had a superb decade. In fact, the value of a square foot of housing in the U.S. is up 58% from its January 2000 level, according to data from New York housing analytics firm Radar Logic on the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. That represents an average annual gain of 4.3% in the value of one square foot of housing.

The growth in average U.S. housing values looks pretty impressive compared with that of other assets, especially stocks. The S&P 500 is lower now than it was in January 2000. So is the Nasdaq. Even factoring in inflation, which ran between 2.5% and 3.5% for most of the decade, a home purchase really did produce wealth for anybody who opted to sell some stocks and buy at around the time the dot-com crash got rolling.

While not all areas performed as well as others, overall the better investment over the past decade has been in real estate. Of course, this is based on someone purchasing a home in the early part of the decade. Those that purchased in the mid 2000's were not so fortunate.

What will happen in the next decade? No one knows for sure. I Remember though, sitting around the table, listening to my relatives talk about how they could have bought the house down the street for some ridiculously low price years ago. I feel this is where we're at today. The deals are out there and they aren't hard to find.

Where On The Internet Can You Find Homes That Are For Sale?

Last time I wrote, I spoke about where buyers come from. Today, I would like to talk about how you can go about finding homes that are for sale. As I stated in my last blog, 90% of all home searches start on the internet. For those of you just starting, you may not know where to even begin on the internet to find homes. Let me start by saying, there are many websites out there that can provide you with the information that you are looking for in your home search, my advice would be to find one that you like and stick with it. Once you do find a site that gives you the information that you want, contact a REALTOR� to verify the information that you're looking at. The status of a home can change quickly: so, you could be looking at something that may no longer still be available.

The first place I would recommend, would of course be my own site. If you go to this link: http://www.joedelbuono4realestate.com/search/index.htm, you'll be able to put in the search criteria that you are looking for in a home. You can also narrow down your search by area, square foot of home and land, as well as number of bedrooms and bathrooms. The other nice feature about my site is the ability to have listings sent directly to you. Just go to this link: http://www.joedelbuono4realestate.com/search/home_alert.htm and click on the "have listings sent to me" link.

Another site would be www.zillow.com. While this site will show you homes in a general area, you won't really know if these homes are still active or contingent (already in contract). The one nice feature about Zillow, is the fact that it will give you an estimate (zestimate) of a homes value. The thing to remember, this is just an estimate, don't make real decisions based on these. This is where you want to talk to a REALTOR� to get his or her opinion. The other downfall is, they tell you if a home is in foreclosure but they won't reveal the address. Another reason to call a REALTOR�. The other thing about Zillow, is they may not have all the listings that are available for the area that you are looking in. Not all real estate brokers will share their information with Zillow; therefore, it won't be on their site.

One of the better sites is actually www.realtor.com. This site gives you lots of great pictures (if available) along with the listing agent and office. Not that you have to call that particular agent. Any agent can give you the information that you are looking for concerning that piece of property. It will also give you the status of the property, whether it's active or contingent.

The last one I'll tell you about is www.redifin.com. This is a very interactive site and give you lots of information. You can get school information, along with current sale information. They also give you a nice map layout of the property along with the listing changes that have occurred during the course of the listing.

The one thing in common with all these sites is the fact that you won't know if the property is a short-sale. This is a home that is being sold for less than is owed to the lender. This is again, where you'll need to get a hold of your REALTOR� to get this information. While you can get some good deal on a short-sale, it may not always be the easiest.

Let me know your favorite place to look for homes and I'll add it to my list.