The Homeseller's Dilemma: Is Now the Time?

By: June Fletcher: REALTOR® Magazine Online
A jumble of often economic indicators, some of them contradictory, is confounding homeowners grappling with the decision of whether or not to sell.

While median residential prices are rising, surveys indicate that existing-home sales overall are declining.

David Lereah of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® believes prices will continue to grow, citing the double-digit annual increases posted in 24 states and the District of Columbia during the second quarter.

An unexpected result of Hurricane Katrina, meanwhile, has been the continued lowering of mortgage rates. The more pessimistic view holds that the overall decline in the prices of new homes and sales attests to the gradual ebbing of the real estate boom. Fears of hurricanes are also spurring some owners of coastal properties to sell, driven by fears that the bottom could soon drop out. Katrina has driven up oil prices, making the transportation of construction materials more expensive.

Also, the rebuilding process will likely siphon construction workers and supplies away from other regions in the country, indicating a sustained slump in the market that has prompted some property professionals to advise their clients to wait at least a year before putting their homes up for sale, in the hope that the economy will have restabilized by then.