Does anyone have thoughts on how Y2K will impact selling your home, if you want to. Would it make sense, if you're thinking of selling a home to do it as soon as possible - early this year? Will it be hard to sell a house next year?

-- steve (wondering@albany.ny), March 26, 1999

Answers

This is like asking if it will snow next may. Depends on where you are and what the conditions are. Since there are enough DGI's running around with cash right now, if I were gonna' sell, I'd sell now. Next year - folks with no cash, home burnt to ground near inner cities, hell, who knows? karen

-- karen (karen@karen.com), March 26, 1999.

Get wherever you want to be ASAP, and minimize debt.

Do it now, or forever hold your peace.

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@anonymous.com), March 26, 1999.

If you're already thinking of selling, IMHO sooner is better than later. If TSBTHTF (the s*** begins to hit the fan--I don't think it's all going to hit at once) later this year and continues into next year, then yes, it'll likely be harder to sell then. Even if Y2K magically turns out to be only a bump in the road, I don't know that it'll be any easier to sell. I'm in western Washington, and Seattle home prices increased 16 percent last year. By renting instead of buying, I'm possibly losing out on some major appreciation this year (not to mention tax deductions, assuming the IRS is around to give refunds back). However, if Y2K is more than a bump, I think prices will come down instead of go up, even in a hot market like Seattle. So we're choosing to rent instead of buy for now, and we'll see what happens. Good luck with whatever you decide to do...

-- Don (whytocay@hotmail.com), March 26, 1999.

Sweetie and I are trying to sell now and I think we may have left it a little too late. We're in central NC, a booming area.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), March 26, 1999.

My husband and I just made a deal to buy 73 acres 1 hour from the city. We will sell our house ourselves, hopefully, by the beginning of May. We have already lined up a builder to begin a new house by the first of June. He thinks he can finish in two months and definitely not more than three months. I still think it will be Russian Roulette as we have to keep the money in the bank between the time we sell the house and the new one is finished. Although I worry a little about the economy in the next three or four months, I'm incredibly thankful we have this option. Mary

-- Mary (SWEEP6@prodigy.net), March 26, 1999.

I've only posted a couple of times and still feel new to this and am quite stressed out... We listed our home about three weeks ago and have 7 showings but no bites. Our problem is timing... The B.C. interior has a record snow pack (double normal) this winter. One ski hill on Vancouver Island has been closed since Januark, its buried under... As we started looking at farms over the last few months we were intuitively nervous about the Fraser Valley. The media has now confirmed our fears. The last flood in 1948 was very serious and they are preparing again. I know I'm rambling on but we can't stay where we are and feel like the 10 acrea farm we have picked out "in the mountain" will either sell quickly or they'll pull it off the market. It seemed hard enough to prepare for next year, then Kosovo, and now a serious threat of flooding will run our local stocks possibly short. Damn, I'm not churched but what else can I do but pray in my closet... :{

-- west.can. (preparing@can.ca), March 27, 1999.