7 Reasons to List Your Home for Sale in 2020

With the 2020 Presidential election looming, many people have concerns over when and if they should sell their current Tampa Bay home in 2020. I’ve been in the real estate business for the last 14 years and I can tell you, every time we have an election, people get a little worried but there are ALWAYS people moving – and the current market is no exception.

Below I’ve outlined some reasons you might consider going ahead and listing your home in 2020.

1. Your family is expanding or you want to upsize. Congrats! If your family is expanding and suddenly your old home seems tiny with a little one on the way – now could be the best time to sell.  We are currently at the lowest inventory levels (number of homes available for sale on the market) we’ve had since 1982.  Realtors are frantic because we are literally running out of homes to sell.  And while that can make finding “the one” a little tougher – you will be taking advantage of historically low interest rates and a hot, hot seller’s market where you’ll net the most amount of money for your current home.

2. You have an empty nest or want to downsize.  Kids gone and now that big house feels too big?  Why pay the extra money it takes to air condition a large home, or pay a higher tax bill?  Take advantage of this seller’s market and get top dollar for your home, and use that money to put a larger amount down on something smaller, again, while locking in historically low interest rates on a new mortgage.  Perhaps you can even pay cash if you sell the existing larger home!

3. You have a great job opportunity elsewhere.  A lot of people are out of work due to Covid-19 and you’ve got an offer on the table.  Don’t hesitate!  We are so low on the number of listings available in Tampa Bay right now, your home will almost certainly sell quickly and at top dollar (when priced correctly and staged correctly – we can help with that!)

4. You want to take advantage of the seller’s market.  There is a saying in real estate that you can’t time the market.  Well – kind of.  It’s true that we don’t have a crystal ball to find out where the exact top and bottom of the real estate market is, but we can tell you from what we know historically – we are at the most extreme seller’s market we’ve seen in decades.  Take advantage of that!  You may even consider cashing out and renting for a while.  My personal crystal ball reading is that I think once the government ends the foreclosure moratorium, we will see people who’ve stopped paying their mortgages or who are out of work put their homes on the market in order to avoid foreclosure.  I think when that happens we will see inventory increase and prices stabilize or even decrease in some areas.  If you can sell high (now), rent, and then buy lower – you’ve timed the market well.

5. You are working from home now for the foreseeable future and need home office space.  We are hearing this a lot from couples who are now BOTH working from home and simply don’t have enough bedrooms to have an office.  Okay we can help with that – we will sell your existing home for the best price possible and help you find that new, larger home with space that can be used for a home office.

6. You want to sell your existing home and take advantage of lower interest rates on a new one.  People typically move every 5-7 years.  If you are over your existing home and need to upgrade, downgrade or just want something different – now could be the time.  While we are in a seller’s market, buying and locking in a crazy low interest rate may outweigh the costs of buying during a seller’s market substantially.  Have your lender or Realtor run an amortization schedule for you to see where your breakeven point is.

7. You’ve had a job layoff, and/or just can’t afford your home any longer.  Well this one flat out stinks, we know.  Lots of people are dealing with this right now.  But the good news is, you may make a substantial profit on your existing home over what you owe on your mortgage when you sell, and may be able to line your pockets with some cash until you find your next gig, and just rent for awhile.

Here’s a look at this month’s statistics.  Note that below 6 months inventory is considered a seller’s market and we are way, way below that.  Prices are up 18% from last year and active listings available are down 36% –  simple supply and demand – when supply is low, and demand is high – prices go up.