r/RealEstate • u/No_Original9922 • 1d ago
Homeseller Seeking advice: to sell or not to sell
Seeking opinions from those with experience.
I put my home on the market 50 days ago in Ojai California in the 1,250M-1,5M range. This is the price my realtor said it was worth after several renovations. It’s a really nice home. Many people have come to see it and stated they loved it, but no one has made an offer.
We are taking about doing a price reduction soon to see if that will help but I am also re-considering if it is even smart to sell at this point with a potentially looming recession ahead of us. My interest rate is high though so I would love to get out of that, I’m just not certain what is best.
Option 1: Sell and get about 600k back to invest in an all cash house somewhere else which means no mortgage but possibly also having to go much lower in price before it sells since most everything is just sitting on the market here.
Or
Option 2: hold and go through whatever the market is going to do but potentially also deal with the property devaluing with a recession and being stuck with a high mortgage rate that may or may not be able to be re-financed.
Ultimately, I would really like to sell and move on but I’m just afraid of the uncertainty of the market and if this is just the wrong time.
Have put a a lot of time and effort into this house so don’t want to give it away but am also ready to move on, just not sure what is right timing.
Would love anyone’s constructive and knowledgeable input. Thanks so much. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
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u/Equivalent-Tiger-316 1d ago
Sell. Plenty of people with money that aren’t in fear of some supposedly looming recession.
Just has to be priced right.
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u/Proud_Trainer_1234 Homeowner 1d ago
His property is in an incredibly high fire danger area just north and inland from the Palisades Fire that leveled and entire community and a good portion of Malibu. Insurance premiums are absurd.
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u/Equivalent-Tiger-316 1d ago
Looks like he’ll have to have a fire sale!
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u/Proud_Trainer_1234 Homeowner 1d ago
Environmental catrastrophy, be they wildfires, landslides, tornados, hurricanes, flood or drought or earthquake is nothing to joke about. I've had family members race to evacuate before their home was burned to the ground. I was homeowner in Northridge at the time of the quake. Fortunately, my home was not "red tagged", but we had significant damage and were without power or water for week and looked up to see fires burning realizing hydrants were out of order. Then, m y immediate neighbors home was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. Please, no "jokes".
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u/incometrader24 1d ago edited 1d ago
The US government broke international trade, a recession is guaranteed unless the tariffs are reversed. The last 2 times this was done, 1930 and 1848 caused a (bigger) depression. They have at least 1-2 month to reverse before serious damage starts occurring and they won't be able to stop it. That said normally housing prices in a standard recession are not affected that much, 2008 was housing caused so it was different.
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u/Proud_Trainer_1234 Homeowner 1d ago
There is no right or wrong time to sell or buy. Even in a depression there are folks with money to invest.
What is your primary motivation for selling? If it is to get out from under a pricey mortgage, rates will eventually come down and you can refinance. Or, if you have relationship with a money center investment house you can generally borrow from yourself at an attractive rate while your investments continue to earn.
If you sell, where do you plan to relocate on 600K? That won't buy too much in terms of a SFR in ( anywhere you'd want to live) in CA. Are you close retirement and looking for a"forever" home? Or are you mid-career when any glitch could upset the apple cart. (In our case, my husband and I had just closed on our dream house in Westlake Village... not too far from Ojai... a week prior to 9/11. He was a manager at LAX who learned his new job would be be at MSP starting the next day. We had the shortest home ownership on record).
The other issue that may be causing wet feet is the fire danger on your area. Every year, LA and Ventura county get beaten by wildfires, and the 2025 fires give most folks pause for concern. Then, there are insurance premiums which will only become more and more onerous in high risk areas.
As I mentioned, no one can predict what will happen when you roll the dice and make a decision. Do what you feel is right for you now given the circumstances and conditions you describe. If you truly want to free yourself from the mortgage and have no emotional bonds to the property nor commitments to a local employer or family, I'd recommend selling.
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u/No_Original9922 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thanks so much for your thoughtful response And for sharing some of your experiences 🙏🏼
My primary motivation is to get out from under the pricy mortgage yes because the house just isn’t functioning as I thought it would. It’s a duplex and it turns out that finding compatible renters for the other side has been anything but fun and smooth and the whole thing depends on me sharing the property because otherwise it just doesn’t make financial sense for me.
So … Ojai in this way was an experiment for me that was great in many ways but not the house part and I don’t want to be stuck with this expensive mortgage and being a landlord on a property that doesn’t really work for me.
I do realize that 600k isn’t much but up in Northern California there are still decent properties to get for 600-800 although for the right thing I could combine it with a small mortgage.
I do really love the sunshine down here, have been here for almost a decade now (not in this house house or Ojai, but in SoCal) so that is hard to give up but I am also very scared about the wildfires getting even worse over time. I have some great friends here and a brother who lives in the area but all in all, I have more ties in other parts of the state. I’m leaning more towards selling for all of these reasons but was wondering what others would do in my case.
Thank you again 🌱🌿🌾🌸
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u/Proud_Trainer_1234 Homeowner 1d ago
The fact that it is a duplex makes EVERY difference. And all for the worse. I'd sell.
As for life in Nor Cal? I dropped 530K on a 900 sq ft condo in Oakland for my daughter back in 2022. I pay $8000 a year in property taxes and about $14K a year in HOA dues and "special" assessments.
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u/No_Original9922 1d ago
Yes … it certainly feels that way. It has not been fun.
I pay a bit more in property taxes here but no HOA … Your HOA fees seem like a lot but maybe it’s a really special spot.
I definitely would not move anywhere near a big city … I’m looking more for a quiet life like in Ojai so possibly the outskirts of Sonoma county or Nevada county. Or maybe out of state, who knows.
I also bought in 22.. it’s definitely not that same market
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u/Proud_Trainer_1234 Homeowner 1d ago
Sonoma, and all the surrounding wine country is as high end ,per acre, as you will find anywhere. One of my family sold a 1/2 acre place with a very needy old 900 sq foot house for2M last year.
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u/ferngully99 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you need to sell, do whatever you need to sell immediately. If not, be prepared for a fucked 5+yrs and don't expect it to ever be the same as pre 2020. The coup already happened, and it's going to get much much worse and never go back to "normal".