Do i sell now?

So just to clarify, are you looking at selling as you want to find a new direction, somewhere else to live, or are you just wanting to gamble, hoping that prices will drop and you will pick up the neighbours house at a later date for a smaller price?

If you are planning on retiring or a sea/tree change, then perhaps selling may be a good idea, it is a good time to sell, and I don’t see house prices going up much in the near future – but rental prices may, to catch up to the price surge. If it is the later you are hoping for, then I suggest you sell your house, take your small fortune to the casino and put it all on black… I like black more than red… as you are only gambling in doing so. The current market would be like a roulette wheel with a complete history board of reds – but that doesn’t guarantee a black spin and there is always zero – that out left field spin – that virtually no one predicted coming up, no one can predict what will happen. If you read posts for the last 10+ years across forums the nay-sayers have been “predicting” a bubble burst for the entire time (and even before these forums this was the case)…

What I believe is that you may see a small price correction at some point, maybe 1-5% (possibly up to 10% in some Sydney areas) of property values, this is normal, then – unless the government has a magic wand to make thousands of houses magically appear over night – it will probably simply be a long period of flat prices for the next 5-10 years with a small increase at or below CPI. Noting that if you sell and then buy again, this 1-5% will quickly be eaten up by selling prices and stamp duty, so your chance of coming out in front is slim.

That said, if the economy takes a dire downward spiral, that causes large unemployment figures and FORCES people to sell their homes on mass, then we will see a collapse in prices, but if prices drop slightly, and people aren’t forced to sell, then why would they? So the few that do sell for personal or lifestyle reasons will hardly push supply above demand, especially with a constant shortfall in available properties across the country – particularly Sydney. I for one am looking at selling in Sydney, but this is because the prices are great and I want to sell my home that is coming near to its end as my principle place of residence, so I can buy where I am currently living and renting – it doesn’t make sense to hold it.

In the end it is your own decision, but you should make it for the right reasons, and not simply to try and make a quick buck, as the future of the property market will probably shock us all, and most of us will have wrong predictions on what will actually happen. Be happy with a roof over your head and don’t gamble it away if that is where your intentions lie, as you could put yourself in a far worst situation that you are now or the situation you are hoping to achieve.

tl;dr
I am no expert by any means, and I am sure the experts can pick at what I have said, but what they can’t argue with is to do it for the right reasons and don’t do it to gamble and make a quick buck.

John

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  aussieguy2000.