Personally I would not take the advice of any realtor as they have a vested interest in transactions(buying and selling). If you look at the trend in home sales here in the north shore and throughout the country year over year homes have been selling for less over the past 4+ years. If you view the threads of the realtors over the same time horizon you will find that they have been saying buy all along(market bottoming, real estate is a great investment....). In Econ 101 you learn about the dynamic of suppy and demand, currently supply far exceeds demand and thus prices need to move lower to attract buyers. Also with the state of the employment picture, loss of equity in other investments...., it will be some time(if ever) before buyers again flood the real estate market to induce appreciation in real estate like we had seen the 10 years prior to 2004/2005.

Most people view the sale of their home as they would other investments, they need to make money on it otherwise they tend to "hold" their position. I suggest you view it as a trade and in the trading community we always tell people to have a casual indifference to the position they are holding(in this case their home) and get out of the bad trade. GET OUT!!!! Things will get still worse before they get better.

Bea, your question really can't be answered without asking you a few questions. Why are you thinking of selling? Are you planning to buy something else? On the shore? It really comes down to whether you NEED to sell or would like to sell if the price is right.

I am not sure what you are selling, but it is a good time to move up. Call me if you would like to chat more about the market please. 847 924-9639 Bonnie Larson Coldwell Banker Winnetka North

Bea, nobody can really answer that question for you... it largely depends on your motivation.

What I can do, is arm you with some fact, that might help make the decision easier to make.

In 2007, there were 2008 single-family houses sold in Winnetka
The average market time was 192 days, and the average list / sale price was 1,875,645 / 1,756,640 (93.6%)

In 2008, so far, there have been 51 single-family homes sold/pending in Winnetka
The average market time has been 197 days, and the average list / sale price is 1,735,133 / 1,562,234 (90%)
If you extrapolate that out, 2008 should provide sales of about 155 single family sales...

so fewer than 2007, and listing and selling for less than the prior year. We don't know if 2009 will bring higher returns, or lower returns. Winnetka has always been a highly desirable area, and we expect it to remain so.

I hope that helps.

keep the house
not a good time to sell