If you’ve been on the fence about selling your home and wonder if now is the time, you’re certainly not alone. Inventory levels in the Orlando area demonstrate that sellers are in a great position. In fact, during the month of June, sales jumped 21 percent from June 214, and, the median sales price is $181,500. What’s more, 46 percent of all homes listed on the market sold in less than month, according to the National Association of Realtors.
While that statistics are certainly on your side, your decision to sell your home isn’t solely pegged to market figures. There’s a lot more to consider, and, you need to look at each and every factor in order to make the right choice.
5 Signs that Now is the Time to Sell Your Home
There are many factors for the rise in real estate sales, which include, but are not limited to: loosened loan requirements, a plethora of mortgage products, low interest rates, new credit score modeling, and even daylight savings time, which gives buyers more time to see homes.
“The decision to sell your home should be based on a variety of factors that are both financial and emotional. While you should definitely pay attention to market conditions as part of your thought process—and those conditions will absolutely impact your home sale—you should always keep in mind that the choice to buy or sell a home is completely individual.” —Realtor.com
Such conditions make for a very active market, benefiting both sellers and buyers. However, you still need to make an informed decision whether now is the time to put your home on the market. Here are five signs that now is the right time to sell your home:
- You have cash in the bank. This means enough to cover all your costs, which include pre-inspection reports, an appraisal, repairs and cleanup, home warranty, staging, landscaping, moving expenses, and miscellaneous cost concessions to the buyer. You’ll also need a bit of cash to make tweaks to your new home like furniture and small appliances to replace ones that are broken.
- You have equity built-up in your home. Many homeowners are now out of the hole the housing bust created, so much so, they have a good amount of equity built-up. In fact, the tide has turned enough that a full 89 percent of homes in 2014 had positive equity according to a survey conducted by CoreLogic. In the Orlando market, existing homes are selling at a fast pace because of favorable conditions and because homeowners are in a strong equity position.
- Your home doesn’t fit your lifestyle any more. You might need extra space, such as another bedroom, need a shorter commute to and from work, or, have too much space and upkeep is a burden, so, you want to downsize. Whatever the reason, if your home no longer fits your lifestyle, this too is a good reason to sell your home now.
- You have the money and time to move. Getting your home ready for sale means having to make repairs on anything and everything that’s broken, upping the curb appeal with colorful flowers and mulch, brushing on a fresh coat of neutral interior paint, and hiring a moving service. Of course, many of these you can DIY, so, that will help to keep costs down.
The fifth sign that now is the time to sell your home is the real estate market in you area is active, and, on the upswing–which, is definitely the case here in Orlando.