Dave,
My wife and I have been discussing whether or not we should put our home on the market. We know the average home sale price is high right now. We’d like to take advantage of the rising prices and cash in on the equity we currently have in our home but do you think the prices will continue to rise? If we wait another year could we get $10,000 or even $20,000 more on the sale? How do we know when it’s the right time to sell so we can get the highest value for our home?
Thanks for the advice!
John and Arielle, Grand Junction
John and Arielle,
Knowing when the right/best time to sell anything is one of the hardest questions in the world to answer, but I will try! Ultimately, if I could predict the best time for selling anything I would be super wealthy and writing this column from a white sandy beach on a tropical island with a drink in one hand and ……. Sorry, I was getting carried away there, back to reality….. Unfortunately, I am writing this column from my office late on a Wednesday night to the not so relaxing hum of office lights and forced air heat! All kidding aside, the world is volatile and things can change quickly for the good and for the bad. Right now, things are quite good. We are currently in the best real estate market we have seen since 2008 and for that, I am very thankful!
With that being said, I anticipate the market to continue growing across the board and prices to continue rising. I do believe that we will see some price settling in the next twelve months, but I am still surprised at how little inventory there continues to be, particularly under $400k, that keeps putting upward pressure on prices. Also, worth noting is that Grand Junction is now a destination place to live! What is driving our market is no longer about any one industry, but by being an amazing place to live! Peeps want to live here! Somewhere about 2017’ish Grand Junction turned the corner from being a boom and bust cycle town that would ebb and flow with the oil and gas industries to being a place that people all over the country know about and have pegged as a super desirable place to live. We do have many new subdivisions in process and there are hopes that new construction may help loosen up the supply and slow rising prices, but I am becoming more and more bullish on our real estate market as being on a long haul upswing that will be impacted by outside factors, but not nearly as likely to “bust” as it has before. Keep in mind that this new construction will not stop rising prices, only potentially slow them a bit if it starts to fill some of the inventory void! I will reiterate what I wrote about earlier this year, the secret about Grand Junction is out and people are going to continue to seek Grand Junction out! Why not, it’s an amazing place to live.
One last tidbit to consider. If you are selling at the top of the market, then it is highly likely that you are also buying at the top of the market. Buying and selling in the same market is somewhat relative…. If one house goes up 10% then it is likely the other one has gone up in a similar fashion! That is not always true, but something to consider, depending on the differences in what you are selling and what you are buying. I always recommend you try your best to maximize your price, but sometimes the “best” time is the “right” time for you and your family! I hope that helps….
Dave Kimbrough
The Kimbrough Team
