Whether you are selling city, country or vacation property, you need someone who understands marketing and how to get properties to the closing table in a Buyers Market like we have today, where high interest rates, increasing taxes, mounting insurance premiums, high inventory of property for sale, and falling house prices put sellers at a very difficult disadvantage.

During the last few years we had record low mortgage interest rates available. Since most buyers must finance the purchase of their homes, sellers took advantage of the low monthly payments that low interest rates provided their buyers, so sellers could charge more for their houses because they were just as affordable at a high price as they had been with higher rates and lower prices.

Sellers were delighted as they reaped the bloated profits available. Most buyers didn’t understand that buying in a Sellers Market is generally a trap if they have to sell within a few years of when they bought. Look at this simple example:

A house with a $400,000 mortgage taken out in 2021 when the average interest rate was 3.15% would have a monthly principal and interest (PI) payment of $1,719. The mortgage balance in 2025 would be down to about $365,827. To sell that house in 2025 and just break even, assuming just half of a 6% commission and other closing costs are added, it would have to sell for about $380,460.

Assuming a Veteran buys it who does not have to put any money down, and receives a $380,460 loan at the current average interest rate of 7.09% in 2025, the Veteran’s monthly PI payments would be $2,554. That’s $835 more than the existing payment, and lots of buyers for that price range house simply won’t qualify for, or won’t be able to afford that high a payment.

To provide the Veteran the same monthly payment as the seller, the house would have to sell for $256,048 instead of $380,460. That means the seller would need to go to closing with over $120,000 just to sell the house.

Studying a list of properties that did not sell during recent listing periods (Expired Listings) in the Realtor MLS system, about one third of the houses listed are now vacant.  If one looks at the property History, it’s obvious that most of the owners of these houses gave up when they could not afford to cut the price enough to sell them under current mortgage interest rates. They abandoned ship because they didn’t have the funds or the inclination to put a huge sum of money into the sale of their property.

Goodbye good credit and goodbye any equity they had in the house when the lender forecloses.

Some owners rent their property; however, managing a rental in the DFW area from, let’s assume Seattle, even with a good local manager, is a tough road when the cost of repairs, vacancy, higher taxes and insurance make the rental a losing proposition.

Now for the good news. There are a number of better ways to sell that not only avoid a loss, but provide the seller with cash at closing (a profit), and which can be beneficial in a number of other ways. I have helped countless sellers sell their houses when most agents simply kept urging sellers to cut price. And if you think we have high interest rates now, the average rate in 1980 was 16.06%. That was simply a complete disaster, and it’s when I learned that there is more than one way to skin the real estate cat. Give me a call. I’ll explain how I can help you make lemonade out of lemons in the sale of your house.

Call on my cell: (972) 814-7391

• Homebuilding Degree from Trinity University in San Antonio.
   
• Designed and built several hundred homes from 1971 to 1984.
   
• Obtained my Iowa Broker’s license in 1975 and Texas Broker’s license in 1981.
   
• Have sold and/or listed several thousand residential properties to/for private individuals, plus entities such as HUD, VA, banks and S&Ls throughout Texas since 1981.
   
• Have personally sold countless very challenging properties with alternate financing methods that saved sellers considerable money and credit.
   
• Sold properties in all price ranges.

• Have personally bought and sold several hundred houses in the DFW and Houston areas since the early 1980s.
   
• Published a number of real estate books:
   
• Sold by Owner (TAB BOOKS, Inc)
   
• Home Buyer’s Confidential (McGraw-Hill, Inc)
   
• Buy a House in a Declining Price Market (Universal Self Help Publishing Co., Inc)
   
• Sell Your Home Fast! (Universal Self Help Publishing Co., Inc)
   
• Sell Your Own House, Farm, Ranch or Recreational Property and Save Thousands (Universal Self Help Publishing Co., Inc)