With all the chatter of buyer and seller motivations for staying put right now, we tend to forget that sometimes people just need to, or want to, move. This is true regardless of whether the market is generally moving up or moving down. (And remember, "the market" for you as an individual homeowner is not what you read about. Rather it’s the many specific attributes of the home you own - or want to own - the size, the style, the condition, the neighbourhood...)
So why do people choose to sell or buy, even if the reported sales activity is slowing? Here’s a sampling of my clients’ motivations over the past while:
Need more space, need less space, having kids, kids moving out, new job in a different area, getting married, getting divorced, move from condo to house, move from house to condo, move to smaller condo (second stage downsize), retiring, lower mortgage costs, children attending nearby college, suburbs to downtown, sell house and have condo in city and home in small town, funds release for a business, leaving BC, moving to BC... I could go on. But the point here is that these reasons would exist regardless of the level of sales activity now, 6 months from now, or a year from now.
Suffice to say, buyers and sellers will always have motivations above and beyond the state of the market, the economic outlook, interst rate trends and so forth. If you're thinking of selling or buying, do what's right for your personal situation, at this time. Feel free to contact me anytime.
