Repeat home buyers aren't much different from rookies except, of course, in the amount of money they bring to the table.

Although they are more experienced than first-timers, research by the National Association of Realtors has found that move-up (or move-down) buyers take just as long as everyone else to find a house eight weeks, on average and look at just as many houses 10 before finding the place that's right for them.

But seasoned buyers, who account for nearly three of every five sales nationwide, are older and have greater incomes, $8,200 more than that for the typical buyer and $18,900 more than that of novices.

What really sets them apart, though, is that since they have owned their previous residence for seven years on average, they have plenty of cash from the sale of their old places for a downpayment and they meet with little difficulty qualifying for a new mortgage.

"The ability of home owners to cash in on capital gains from the sale of existing homes has played an important role in keeping the housing markets rolling," says NAR Economist Brian Carey.

Carey figures that a total of $188 billion in capital gains was realized from the sale of existing houses last year, an amount equal to 1.9 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. Since 1995, he says, the total capital gains taken by people who have sold their homes is more than $700 billion. Seven in ten sellers turn right around and buy another place.

The largest gains have been in the Midwest. There, the median profit was $30,600, or nearly 25 percent of the current median purchase price of existing house. (Of those sellers who buy again, about 75 percent buy another existing house. The rest purchase brand new digs.)

But the South and the West didn't do poorly. In the South, the median gain was $28,600; in the West, $40,400, both of which represent 22 percent of the current median existing home price.

Only the Northeast brought the U.S. average down. There the median gain was "a meager" $6,100, or just 4.2 percent of today's median price. "Home prices have only (just) started to recover from the extended period of flatness experienced through much of the 1990s," Carey explains.

It's no wonder, then, the median price paid by move-up buyers ($150,000) is $22,500 more than that paid by all buyers ($127,500) and $46,000 more than what rookies spend ($104,000).

Now you can see why it's important to get a toe on the first step of the home ownership ladder. Get there -- and for the last decade at least -- the rest tends to take care of itself.

For more articles by Lew Sichelman, please press here.

Published: July 9, 2001

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