sell the large home now...the net effect

Our present economic environment has created a discernible paradigm shift in the psyche of the American populous. The signs are everywhere, that bigger is no longer necessarily better. For example, luxury car brands are now offering compact cars, and many home builders are now rolling out increasingly smaller models.

I feel a bit compelled to write about this trend because I'm presently speaking with a prospective home seller of a large home, and he's considering down-sizing (surprise surprise!), yet this homeowner is hesitant to bring their home to market because my assessment of the property's market value is somewhat lower than his. Could this possibly be you?

If you live in a large home and are thinking about selling it for whatever reason, here are just three reasons why selling now is better than later.
1. The trend amongst affluent buyers is to buy a home that's smaller, smarter, and more energy efficient. Simply put, the demand for large homes is decreasing, and so are the selling prices.
2. Jumbo Loans are becoming scarcer and harder to qualify for. Coincidentally speaking, the FHA loan limit for Jumbos has been reduced in many areas. So even if the buyer pool for larger homes is still be ready and willing, will they be able to buy?
3. Reason #3 is in my opinion the most compelling. Presently, in Miami-Dade County the months of inventory of homes under 3000 sq. ft. is 7.1, while the months on inventory of homes over 3000 sq.ft. is 12.3 months! The effect of this difference in months of inventory is that your large home will continue to depreciate for a longer period of time than the the smaller one that you'd like to buy. To mitigate this situation, consider selling your large home now, and you'll be much more likely to have more money to take with you towards the smaller home home because you will be both selling and buying in the same market cycle. The possible peril of waiting to sell is that one runs the very real risk of selling on the downside of the market cycle while then buying on the appreciating side. So instead of having $10.00 to apply towards your next home, you could conceivably end up with only $7.00.

So if you don't want to miss out on those three bucks, sell the large home now!