Coming to the decision to sell your house is not a light or easy matter. There are a lot of questions to be answered like; should I use a licensed real estate agent or sell directly to a home buyer, or where should we move next? Don’t let these questions delay your decision to sell your house. Here are 4 ways waiting to sell your house in The Roanoke Valley will cost you.
Houses are in Demand
Waiting to sell your house in The Roanoke Valley will cost you because there are massive numbers of buyers for houses right now, and hardly any homes listed for sale. There are normally over 2,000 homes for sale at any one time in the Roanoke Valley, but right now there are less than 500! Mortgage rates are at an all-time low so now is a great time to put your house up for sale. With the aftermath of the “virus scare” and the economic shutdown, houses are in short supply because homeowners feared for their health and took homes off the market. However, if homes begin to flood the market, demand may start to wane. But for right now, there are still more than enough buyers in the market to buy all of the houses for sale (see our 2020 Annual Market Snapshot for The Roanoke Valley here).
Less Competition
If you put your house for sale right now, you will have less competition than if you wait until the market starts to dip (it always happens, eventually). Buyers will easily find your house in The Roanoke Valley (right now only 44 homes for sale in Salem, 164 for sale in Roanoke City, and 207 for sale in all of Roanoke County ) . Once a downward trend is realized, many sellers will use that as their queue to list their house for sale. That means, the market will soon become flooded and you will have lots of other competition for buyers in The Roanoke Valley. In order to catch the buyer’s attention when the market is flooded, you will have to make sure your curb appeal and all necessary upgrades have been done, and you may have to accept a lower offer than you had planned on, just to attract a buyer.
Prices Dropping
If you wait to sell your house for too long in The Roanoke Valley and you start to notice that downward trend, that means the average sales price for your comparable properties will also be less than you were expecting, and you may even have to accept a lower than market price offer to sell your house. This costs you the extra capital gain you could have had if you did not wait. When the market is flooded with houses for sale, the buyers have more power in selecting the house they want and are able to make lower offers because they have so many other options. This was evident in 2011 when the inventory of homes was almost DOUBLE what it is today. Desperate sellers in markets like these will start accepting the lower offers, which compounds the dip in the housing market.
Extra Fees
The longer you own the property for the year, the higher the percentage of taxes and dues you will owe. The annual taxes on the property are prorated based on how many days out of the year you own it, you will only receive credit for the part of the year you will not own the property. The same goes for homeowners association fees, only the part of the year you do not own the property will get refunded. These prorations are subject to the payment due dates. Most taxes are due at the middle and end of the year, but some homeowners association fees are assessed at a different point in the year.
DISCLAIMER: While we are real estate brokers in Virginia, we are not attorneys, CPAs, financial advisors, or tax experts. It is always best to consult competent professional advice prior to making any decisions with regard to legal, financial, or medical issues.