Sellers Market question

I bought a home in 04 thinking it was the greatest thing on earth. It seems that I am so overwhelmed with it 4 years later. It consumes my weekends and most of my free time since there is always something to do either inside or outside. The good thing is that the home has a 2nd apartment that I rent out and get some help paying the mortgage that way.

I have been told that once these foreclosures clear up things should stabilize again and hopefully turn into a sellers market again. The realtor told me we are looking at somewhere around 2010.

My home is fairly newer<built in 1992> but needs a little work. I need to install a central air system which will help resale value since most homes have this feature and I don't. I have been also told to install wood floors by a realtor which will make the home fell more warm and inviting.

My neighbor just sold his home for 365,000.00 but his house is a little newer than mine and has some upgrades. We have both have identical bi-level homes, his is just newer and was built with central air.

When I sell this I want to get something smaller such as a townhome or condo or maybe even single family home which has less up keep than I am doing now.

I know I will have spend some money to install the floors and the a/c. If I hold onto this property for at least 5 years or longer is it possible I can sell this for a decent return so I can get out of this home? Or am I going to have to keep this long term.

They are also redeveloping an area of my town with shops, hotels, and some other things which plan to stabilize property taxes and also create at least 10,000 jobs. I think this will help my value. The eta for completion is roughly 5 years away. I am in no rush to get out and will wait for the right time, but on the other hand it's hard for me to save an invest for the future with such as big mortgage and lots of responsibilities

I recently read that on average the price of a home doubles every 10 years or so.

I'd appreciate any input.

What is the location of the house? 5 years out should be long enough for a real estate recovery, but you never know. You purchased in 2004, which was near the real estate peak in many markets.

Remember, many upgrades recoup less than 100% of the initial cost, unless you are able to do it on the very cheap. Most upgrades are not investments, but rather are used to sell the home quicker, which reduces overall carrying costs.

The fact that you can afford to upkeep the property, along with the rental income, seems to afford you the option to hold the home for the long haul, if that is your decision. Depending on your mortgage, your payments should decrease at that point, due to less going towards interest.

The home is located in NJ within perfect commuting distance to NYC for commuters. I plan to be here at least another 5 years or when the market turns again whichever comes first. I think central air would add vaule and probally would help me sell it faster. I dont plan on doing other crazy improvemnets since I may not get them back.

I have been hearing different things about the real estate market. People have told me prices will not go up as fast as they were during the peak of 03-06 when it comes back. Prices will be stable and we will get increases like we were in the mid 90's about 2-3 percent a year.

My home was work about 380,000 and now is worth about 360,000. I want to downsize to something smaller such as a condo or townhome, but I need to make some decent money on my home in order to do that. If I can sell it for around 400K that would be ideal.

Now I hear this TV commercial that every 10 years or so the price of a home doubles. I'd have no problem holding onto the home for that amount of time if I have to. I just would like some advice on the market when it comes back will I be able to make some money or no? every month I gain more equity since I pay more princinpal, so come that time I may now owe as much either.

Basically, it is a toss-up, depending on your decisions. On one hand, you say the house is overwhelming, yet you are still able to hang onto it for as long as you need to and are in no rush to get out.

Since your house was spared from real estate turmoil, you have that option to downsize to that smaller home whenever you have finished those upgrades, depending on market conditions at that time. That future shopping area could help increase property value, like you mentioned.

TV commercials are not a reliable source of real real estate gains and cannot predict the future of that market, they just want to sell you whetever product/service they are peddling.

I agree with dingobiscuit, you don’t have to rely to TV commercials or other ads because all of them wanted to make sales even the truth is it’ll not help you. Try to use websites with free advertisement, there are lots of them and I’m sure it will help you.

To those who are looking for an Egyptian property, maybe this link will help you www.egyptventure.co.uk. My Australian friend who was looking for a property in Egypt acquired his 4-door apartment there and currently the apartment is doing good.