Wenatchee Condo: Shall I Sell or Hold?

Dear Carol:
I own a condo at Washington West in Wenatchee, and bought it for 84,000 about 9 months ago. I have recently received an offer for 115,000 and I am not sure if I should sell now and buy a house, or hope that my condo continues to go up, and buy a more expensive house in the future. Please let me know what you think. Thanks, GB

Dear GB:
I would need to see the condo to evaluate whether $115,000 is a good offer. But, if you're asking whether I think now is a good time to sell the condo and buy a house, I'd say YES! Single family residences will continue to appreciate at a faster rate than condos. So, if you wait for your condo to go up in value some more, the houses will rise in price too so you won't really be accomplishing anything.

For example: If your condo appreciates a modest 10% you may gain an additional $11,000 - $12,000. If you're going to buy a $200,000 house, it will rise in price $20,000 at the same appreciation rate, so you'd really be losing about $8,000. Does that make sense?

Interest rates are sneaking up too. So the sooner you buy a home the better.

The market has stabilized, so there isn't the frenzy that was going on in the last couple of years, though. We are seeing more price reductions coming through so sellers are getting less greedy and more realistic with their prices. Plus, there are a lot of condos on the market now. If you have a good solid buyer willing to pay a fair price, it might be the time to take the plunge.
Good luck! Carol