Zillow Advice: Home Buying - Time to upgrade?

"Today you rarely find an ...

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 17:39:00 GMT

"Today you rarely find an overpriced listing."

Are you kidding? Almost everything listed is overpriced.

Go for it!Everyone wants ...

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:43:00 GMT

Go for it!Everyone wants to buy at the low and sell at the high and no one knows when that time is actually here. We do know that mortgage rates are at historical lows and those who can take advantage of this time are in the drivers seat. It sounds like you have done your homework and know home values.Today you rarely find an overpriced listing.Most Realtors do not want to waste their time and money trying to market a home that is not priced right. So don't worry about that...get your home listed as soon as possible so you can take advantage of what's happening right now in the real estate market.Good luck!

Thank you, those are helpful ...

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Thank you, those are helpful thoughts. Â We are in a secure financial position, so, God-willing, we should have no trouble affording more expensive home. Â I just don't want to waste money. Â
I think it will be important to make sure we pay the right price for the home we buy - we are looking at historical homes and, boy!, those are awfully tough to find comperables and come up with proper values. Â It has been my experience that owners of lovely older homes sometimes have an unrealistic notion of what their home should be worth. Â But it is the job of their Realtor to help them see reality. Â Our home is a very standard tract home, so it much easier to hone in on a precise listing value.

Wish us luck!

I call it Trading Down Dollars. ...

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:47:00 GMT

I call it Trading Down Dollars. Â Both houses are worth less so taxes are less, cost of sale is a little less, interest rates are as low as I have ever seen them, and may or may not ever be this low again. Â If you can find something that is really what you have always wanted why not you only live once.

Well it depends on your circumstances. ...

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:43:00 GMT

Well it depends on your circumstances. The pros are interest rates are low so your new house would cost less for you and your old house would cost less for a new buyer. Another pro is you could move up to hopefully your stay for a long time house and save money over trying to remodel the basic never gonna be great house. The cons are increased cost for the bigger house purchase, more cost every month for taxes/insurance/utilities and the problem of being able to resell the more expensive house if your don't stay in it for the long term. You should consider the stability of your job and really pencil out the increased costs honestly especially in this type of economy. It might be worth running a couple calculatorsÂ hereÂ on the increased mortgage cost and getting a CMA for your house to see what price you could sell for in a reasonable amount of time. Buying up does work for some people, but please do your homework first, run all the numbers and then decide if your situation is stable enough to benefit with the move up long term.