Welcome back! We are going to be talking about whether or not you should sell your Colorado Springs home in this current 2022 market. You may have been thinking, should I sell my house right now? I know a lot of agents would say yes, you got to sell your house. This is the best time to sell a house historically. You can get the most amount of money that you'll probably ever get for a very long time. Inflation has gone up very high. We have a limited amount of homes available for sale and a lot of demand. There's a lot of buyers and not enough homes to go around. So really everything is just over inflated. People are offering on average between four and six percent above the list price, full cash, full appraisal gap. Most agents are going to tell you that you should sell your house. I'm going to give you my honest opinion on whether you should sell your house in 2022 or not.
Why I’m Not Selling My House Right Now
I own my own house and I would honestly not sell it because I plan on staying here for a long time. Hopefully this house will be an investment retirement plan for us down the road. Now, each situation is different so you really have to think about whether you're going to be living here or not. Do you have to sell your house? Are you sick of living in Colorado Springs? There's all these different factors that would make your answer either a yes or no for you. Let's talk about those things.
Why You Should Sell in 2022
Here are just a few questions that you should ask yourself: Do you have to sell? Do you have to move? Are you going to be relocated? Are you downsizing? Are you needing to be closer to a specific part of town? Maybe you've got a different job and the drive is just killing you. Or maybe you have some debt that you want to clear up. Maybe you can't afford your house anymore. Perhaps you're tired of living in Colorado Springs because you feel like the city has gotten too big. You really miss the hometown feel and you'd rather live somewhere where it's a little quieter, where there's less going on, less traffic. You may want to be somewhere where it might be easier to find a job. If any of these are the case for you then you might want to consider selling your house. These are reasons why I would say yes, you should sell your house in 2022.
Moving Up
If you want to sell your house in Colorado Springs, you can probably afford twice as much house for half the amount of money if you move to certain areas. If you need a list of smaller, less expensive towns, shoot me an email. But, it's kind of like what Californians did to us. They sold their homes and were able to get a much nicer and larger property in Colorado. That could be a reason for you to sell and move. Maybe you want to start a new life. Maybe you need a change of scenery. You can work from home, or you don't really have to work. Maybe you just want to get out of dodge so to speak. Then I would say yes, definitely sell your house in 2022.
Cashing Out Your Equity
Now the other part of that is perhaps you have a lot of equity. Maybe the whole mortgage is paid off. Say you have your home paid off, you're living in a neighborhood with no HOA dues, and all you're really paying is property taxes. That house you bought maybe 20 or 30 years ago may sell for $300,000 or $400,000. All of that would be profit. You can take that money and buy something new. But, this would only be beneficial if you were going to be downsizing or moving to a less expensive area. Maybe you're tired of walking up and down the stairs. Maybe you have a yard and you're tired of watering grass, pulling weeds, taking care of gutters, and cleaning it up. I'm so grateful my husband does all that! It's a lot of work taking care of a house. Some people are just tired of doing it all. Maybe you want to downsize and get a townhouse where the HOA takes care of all of that. A lot of those things you're going to want to consider. Because if you were to take that profit from selling to buy something else, you're not going to really be upsizing a lot. You're probably going to be finding another house that is very similar. You may need something bigger. Maybe your family is growing. Maybe you have people coming to live with you or want to get roommates to make a little more income. A lot of people are adding rental spaces into their properties. If you are wanting to get something bigger you're going to need a lot more money, just keep that in mind. You're probably going to end up with a mortgage again. If you decide to sell and take the proceeds to buy something bigger, you're likely going to have competition. The supply/demand issue. The houses are so expensive and are going for way over asking price.
If it's not going to be that much bigger of a space, you're probably going to want to ask yourself if you still like your house and if it will do for now. A lot of people are comfortable with their mortgage rate and payment. Maybe you don't like your house and you don't mind paying a mortgage again or making a higher mortgage payment for something nicer. Maybe something closer to the mountains so you can have those views that everybody wants. It might make sense to make that move if that’s the case. Really sit down and figure this out. Figure out the math, how much it's going to cost. What kind of house can you get and afford in this new inflated market. Just get all of that dialed in before you make this decision. Now if you want to cash in on your equity as soon as possible I do feel like yes, you should sell now. Who knows what's going to happen?
Is A Recession or Housing Crash Coming?
A lot of people are predicting a market crash because we can't keep going on this route, right? People need affordable housing. It’s going to have to come full circle and all of the signs are there for a recession. Read this article on Business Insider. The only difference is, when it comes to housing we are at an all-time low for foreclosures. Historically speaking, we've never had this low of foreclosure inventory because it's so easy to sell a house and make a ton of money. As long as there’s a supply and demand issue, there is going to be this housing crisis. A lot of people are buying second and third homes. Investors are coming in, and when I say investor I mean someone who already has a home and they're using the second property for rental income. I had a rental in the past. It's not all these big corporations that are buying up houses. Some people own three or four houses at a time. That doesn't leave enough homes for other people investing in property. It’s one of the easiest and best ways to build wealth for yourself. People are realizing that and taking advantage of those opportunities. Especially in a city like Colorado Springs.
We have all these signs of recession. We have inflation, we've got fuel prices going up, we've got housing costs rising. Now the Feds are hiking up interest rates in an effort to balance the market. Now it's gotten even worse. All that to say, we don't know what the market is going to look like in a year. We don't know if you're going to be able to get as much as you would today, right now in 2022 as you would in 2023. Experts are predicting that housing is going to remain steady at least through the end of 2022. Like I said, we don't know if there's going to be an actual market crash. We don't know if there's a bubble. Previous information shows the housing crash and housing bubble were a result of poor lending practices. Adjustable rate mortgages were big. People were cashing in on their equity, refinancing and pulling cash out. Taking second mortgages to fund their trips and lifestyles. That caused a huge financial crisis. A lot of people lost their jobs and could no longer afford their lifestyles, couldn’t afford to pay back the second mortgage they took out. There's a lot of different factors when it comes to this in our current situation. It's kind of this weird perfect storm of different things going on. Wars, disease, inflation, what the heck?!
Long story short; depending on your personal situation, if you don't need to move, you plan on making your home a retirement plan or an investment, you don't need to sell. If you're happy where you are, you love your neighborhood and your home then of course you don't need to sell. Finding a new one is going to be very challenging right now. I am a real estate agent. I do make money when people sell their homes. For me, I feel like I’m not going to sell my home because I won’t be able to find something bigger or nicer. I'd rather just hang on to it for a while. That’s just my personal opinion about whether you should sell your house now in 2022.
Sell Your House in Colorado Springs
If you do need or want to sell your house give me a call or send me a text or email. I'll help you get the most amount of money in the least amount of time. I have a great marketing packet that I put together for you. I don't do sales like anyone else. I don't just slap photos on the MLS and call it a day. You get excellent marketing. Professional photos, Facebook ads, my YouTube channel, and so on. You want to get a lot more eyes on your property because buying a house is different now. 95 percent of people start their home search online through Zillow, Craigslist, and Realtor.com.
Your house needs to look great online as well, not just in person. Some people still aren't going out because of health concerns. They’re not going to open houses and walk through showings. I'd rather do a virtual tour first to see if I like the layout and overall how the home looks. Then I decide if I have enough interest to actually want to go see it in person. I do everything online, all my shopping is done online. I post properties on Facebook because Facebook knows how to target home buyers. You have a better chance of getting the highest and best offer, significantly over the list price. Anybody that tells you you don't need good marketing in this market is lying to you. You want to draw a lot of attention and interest to your home to ensure you get the most amount of money with terms that you want. You can leverage and negotiate based on what your needs are and that all boils down to a good marketing strategy. If marketing wasn't important we wouldn't have these great commercials at the Super Bowl or ads at the grocery store or while you're scrolling on Facebook.
IRIS BURTON
PROSPERITY GROUP
BROKERED BY EXP REALTY LLC
3361 N Academy Blvd
Colorado Springs, CO
irisjburton@gmail.com
