Housing Slump Postpones Moves to Retirement Communities
Category: Retirement Real Estate
September 15 – An inevitable but painful result of the slowing of the housing market is that many new retirees are having to postpone planned moves to a new retirement community. The stumbling block is of course their inability to sell their primary residence, typically most retirees’ biggest assets. A September 13 article in the Housing Bubble Blog recounts the woes in several important California markets. The article mentions the limbo-like situation this has created for Ken Gonzales and his wife, forcing them to postpone their plans to downsize to a retirement community. Unfortunately they cannot get their price for their four-bedroom house in Riverside’s Orangecrest community.
The same situation is playing out in the East as well. A good friend of ours and his wife have now been waiting 2 years to sell their beachfront house in Madison Connecticut. Their plan is to use the proceeds to build their dream house on a lot they have already purchased in South Carolina. They get offers, but no one responds to negotiation requests or comes close enough to their magic number.
This popular blog entry generated scads of blog postings from people who scoffed at the woes of other people quoted in the blog, generally blaming greed as the cause of their troubles.
Obviously, buyers who do not need to sell their primary residence in order to move are in the driver’s seat in this economy.
Comments on "Housing Slump Postpones Moves to Retirement Communities"
Nicki Conway says:
I'm a Realtor in Sarasota Florida and I specialize in helping baby boomers with their retirement housing needs. These days I am getting a lot of baby boomers who would buy a home from me, but who are waiting to sell their homes in other places.
My advice to anyone who is "waiting" for the right price for their house is this: Don't wait. Your house is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. Buyers have been doing research on the Internet and through their Realtor. The price of your home should be based on what other "like" homes have sold for in the past year. If you're not sure what that number is, pay a little money to get an appraisal. You know you can get the price you want but if your home won't appraise for the amount you get, you will have to reduce your price or the deal will fall through. In this market, I've seen it many times. Lenders are squeemish and homes are appraising for less than the amount negotiated. These are hard times in the real estate business.
On the bright side :grin::grin:, the home that you BUY will be less now, too.
Remember, your listing will sell if it represents a good value to the buyer. Get a little bit ahead of the current market price-wise and you'll find a good buyer for your home.
Good luck fellow boomers!