Know where sellers are coming from

Erin and Douglas Kennedy hope to sell their home so they can move to more affordable quarters with their two daughters. (Tom Herde for The Boston Globe)

Despite a cool real estate market, the economic downturn has prompted some folks to put their homes up for sale.

For instance, Ann Quilty of Braintree, a licensed attorney who works as a legal recruiter but has decided to become a nurse, is sacrificing to get her new career underway by putting her three-bedroom Colonial on the market.

"I agonized over the decision to sell the house," she said. "But I really feel that it will take a lot of pressure off of myself. I need to be able to focus on my new career. The economy is really, really bad. Who knows what's going to happen?"

A single mother of a 10-year-old girl, Quilty has been taking nursing prerequisite classes over the last year and will enter a clinical program full time in January. Once she sells her home, Quilty plans to rent a more affordable place nearby, to minimize the transition for her daughter and to keep her in the same school.

She admits to being a little emotional about selling her home. "I love the house. It means a lot to me. But I've been telling myself, sometimes you have to take a step back to go forward. I'll buy another house later, after I'm finished with school. Hopefully the economy will be in better shape by then, too."

Quilty, who bought her home seven years ago for $310,000, is listing it at $330,000. "I think it's priced to sell. It's a really cute house in a good school district," she said.

"I'm sure I would have gotten more money a few years ago, but I don't need to make a ton of money on the sale. For me it's about peace of mind."

While people choosing to - or being forced to - sell in a down market would have to be considered "motivated sellers," that doesn't mean they're desperate. And, said some agents, it would be a mistake on the part of buyers to assume they are.

"There seems to be less desperation in sellers' minds these days," said Quilty's broker, Todd Webster, vice president of the South Shore real estate company Success Real Estate. "People seem to understand the market more now, it's hard not to with all that's in the news about it. There's less anxiety. Sellers seem to realize that as long as they price their house right and don't get greedy, it will eventually sell."

Quilty's price is on par with similar homes in the area, Webster said. "It's priced aggressively as all houses in this market should be. While it would have been listed at $350,000 or $360,000 a few years ago, we're not giving it away. If that were the case it would be listed at $299,000."

The drop in prices, coupled with low interest rates, he added, has prompted a run of property sales. "I'm very busy right now. I'm surprised and delighted. It's very encouraging."

In North Falmouth, Erin and Douglas Kennedy are selling the home they share with their two daughters, ages 12 and 16, to cut living expenses, simplify, and downsize. "The economy is horrible. We're paying a huge mortgage and not really enjoying our house," said Erin Kennedy, 42.

With monthly payments of $3,300, "We're house poor. We're not enjoying life because of it. We can't afford to take vacations or the extras," said Kennedy who plans to close the hair salon she owns and focus solely on selling health and beauty products out of her house for Arbonne International. "In this economy, health and wellness seems to be the industry to be in," she said. Her husband is a physical therapist at Falmouth Hospital.

They've lived in their spacious four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath house near Megansett Beach for 11 years and have done significant renovations to it. It is listed at $549,000, which is in line with similar properties in the area.

After they sell, the Kennedys hope to move closer to their older daughter's private school in Hyannis; now Erin Kennedy makes a twice-a-day 90-minute commutes with her daughter. "We'll be able to spend more time as family together when I no longer have to spend three hours a day driving and that really appeals to us," she said.

Like Quilty, the Kennedys plan to rent. "We're looking to sign a long-term, six-year lease," Erin Kennedy said, at the end of which both daughters will be out of school. "It doesn't make sense to buy another house, to get into another mortgage. We don't know where the market is going, and I know we can rent an absolutely beautiful house for $1,800."

Like other areas, the Cape has seen an uptick in home sales as winter gave way to spring.

"The Cape will always have a different experience, so many people want a piece of it," said Annie Hart Cool, a broker with Century 21 in Falmouth. "Yes, it's a different market, but there's still a lot of optimism out there when it comes to real estate."

While it seems likely that Jessica Sullivan, 30, and her husband will also be renting their next home, unlike Quilty and Kennedy, it isn't a prospect they're very happy about. They would much rather buy a place of their own, but their plans for buying are on hold until they can sell their 400-square-foot one-bedroom condominium in Cambridge.

If they don't receive an offer by April, the couple has decided they'll take the home off the market and try to rent it out for a year. Then they'll look for a bigger place to rent themselves.

"We need to move into a baby-ready place," said Sullivan, who works for an international public health organization. "And we're just not comfortable with paying two mortgages. It's a scary prospect, and we really can't afford it."

While renting may be Sullivan's most viable option, she is nervous about finding a rental that meets her expectations. "We have a lot of requirements: We want in-unit laundry, a place that's pet-friendly and has been de-leaded. It's really tough to find all of these things in a Boston rental."

Sullivan's condominium, listed for $219,000, has been on the market since early January. She has already reduced the price by $2,500 and doesn't want to drop it again.

"It seems that there aren't many buyers out there who are interested in this type of a condo," said Sullivan. "I'm not psyched about being a landlord, but it might be the best thing to do. If we take it off the market and try to sell again next year, hopefully things will be better then."