Poll: Has the value of your house dropped?

[kyounge1956]

Has the value of your house dropped a lot? I know mine has! It was appraised at $306K in 2006 (cash-out refi to replace my car), again earlier this year (refi again, no cash this time) at $240K , and an identical unit on the other side of the driveway sold last month for $192K. I make that a 37% drop over the last four years . I'm nowhere near upside down on my mortgage, but I was counting on having enough equity in this house at retirement to replace it in my new location and have six figures left over in cash to add to my nest egg. Obviously that's not going to happen.

 

[Carnage]

No value drop where I'm at, but we're trying to sell our house next year and I'm skeptical that we'll get our asking price.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

Has the value of your house dropped a lot? I know mine has! It was appraised at $306K in 2006 (cash-out refi to replace my car), ....

Out of curiosity, what was the year, make, model, and miles on the car you replaced, and what did you replace it with?

 

[Nick59]

Down just north of 20% since 2006 high. Still up at > 2x of what I paid for it (1993). Primary mortgage paid off, low (~9%) HELOC outstanding. Plan to sell at retirement, put 1/2 in new home, 1/2 as a big 'ole cushion for "life happens" events (i.e., I'm not using it in my planning to fund my retirement income).

 

[kyounge1956]

Out of curiosity, what was the year, make, model, and miles on the car you replaced, and what did you replace it with?

Hi Birdie,
The late lamented was a 1980 Toyota Tercel 5-speed hatchback with approximately 227,000 original owner miles. I blame myself for "Bruce's" death. I procrastinated having his oil changed when he was about 20 years old, and ruined his original engine with a shot rod. By that time, the actual engine for the car wasn't available any more, and the replacement engine I had put in was nowhere near as good as the real thing. If not for this negligence on my part , I think he might quite possibly still be with me at just-turned-31, although even for some years before his demise it had become difficult to find parts for repairs. I expected that eventually, something would break that would be impossible to repair for lack of some essential part, but I had planned not to be parted from him until that unhappy day. When Brucie died, I donated his body to science (actually a local charity). When I got the tax receipt, I found out that he was sold for only $100, I assume for his value as scrap metal. He always gave 100%. When they came to take him away, I asked the tow truck driver if they needed the key. They didn't, so I still carry it with me for "auld lang syne".

Bruce's successor (nothing could possibly replace him) is "Peter", a blue 2006 Prius. I've had Peter for just four years, and so far he is worthily following in his predecessor's tire tracks, despite a bit of hoo-hah earlierr this year about floor mats.

King Bruce is dead. Long live King Peter!

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I bought my place in 2004 (a new spec house on the outskirts of a medium sized city close to major highways, nice but nothing luxurious...2000 square feet with a two car integral garage). I would say if I put it on the market tomorrow, I would get 20 percent less than my purchase price in the current environment. If I could sell it at all. I do not entertain any thoughts of selling for at least 5 years, and I have not put any appreciable money into the place since I bought it. I did not buy it thinking I would make a killing in real estate, but I would hope to break even at some point. No mortgage.

 

[kyounge1956]

Whose house went down more than 50%? Ouch!

 

[M Paquette]

Meh. It's down substantially from the peak, but still about three times what I payed for it. Invest for the long run.... ;-)

 

[Khan]

The house was bought for ~$35K in 1978.
Might not be worth more than that now.
In between? Don't know.
I live here.

 

[Moemg]

I bought my house in 2001 . At the top of the bubble it would have gone for at least twice what I paid . It is now appraised at $100,000 over my original price . I would like to down size someday but I'm not going to list in this market . The aggravation of having a house on the market for a year or so is so not worth it to me .

 

[RonBoyd]

The house was bought for ~$35K in 1978.
Might not be worth more than that now.
In between? Don't know.
I live here.

The house was bought for ~$22K in 1972.
Might not be worth more than that now.
In between? Don't know.
I live here.

 

[mickeyd]

I voted but my answer is "Don't know. Don't care." I do not plan on moving for many years and I gotta live some place, so here it is.

 

[kumquat]

I voted same, but here in the frozen north the bubble is still expanding. In our city, the high end of the market (>$550k) has levelled off but "entry level" homes are approaching $300K. Only the top 3% get above $1M.

DD bought in a northern community 6 months ago, paid $138K. She made the biggest down payment she could even though I suggested she keep some back in case of problems. She had one (see this thread) but it wasn't expensive in $, just dad's time. Now, NG is available and converting has a very fast payback, think January heating bills dropping from $600 (propane) to $200 (NG). She doesn't have $8k to replace furnace, water heater etc. so applied for a HELOC at a bank that doesn't hold the mortgage. They paid for an appraisal, came in at $165K while the repairs to above problem were being fixed (don't know if they included that). The bubble may still be expanding, although I hope not.

 

[LOL!]

OK, things look worse from the highwater mark, but if you measured from 2001 or pre-bubble, is it really so bad?

 

[dfdski]

I live in a rust-belt town, about 230,000 in the county. Bought my house in August 1998. Looks like the peak was 12/09. The chart, if you try to do amateur TA (like I always *try* with stocks) say it's rising in value and is cyclical.

Not looking to sell. Might look for more land when I finally pull the trigger on RE.

Right now I feel confident I'll pay cash as long I (1) sell this (more) small urban lot and (2) am willing to use another $40k cash - which I have - to get things up to my desired standards.

 

[73ss454]

According to the county property appraiser my house is dropping a lot but taxes keep going up. I think the value of a house is only important if you have more than one house. You have to live somewhere and as yours goes down so down most everybody elses.

 

[73ss454]

I have a friend in NJ that wants to retire. His problem for the last few years is that he doesn't want to sell his house cheaper than what it was worth 5 years ago. I tried to explain to him that since he want's to move to Florida that once he sells his house he can buy a home in Florida for a lot less than what they were worth 5 years ago also. He just doesn't get it so he continues to work 12 hour days at the age of 66 so he won't take this so called loss. He's been in the house for over 30 years so there's no loss.

 

[foxfirev5]

I don't really know where it was at the peak. Nor do I know what it would sell for today. I guess knowbody knows until they actually complete the sale transaction. Its only worth what one buyer will pay for it.

 

[mickeyd]

Its only worth what one buyer will pay for it.

In the end, that applies to all of us, like it or not.

 

[traineeinvestor]

Our home has gone up in value because of the financial crisis. The local currency is pegged to the US$ which has pushed interest rates (which were already low) to very low levels - close to zero on deposits and mortgages that cost less than 1% pa. Add in a number of other factors - tight supply (especially for medium and larger homes), an influx of overseas money wanting to invest in China, an influx of PRC money wanting to invest outside Hong Kong and a high domestic savings rate and the net result is a lot of money chasing property prices upwards.

 

[Nords]

Meh. It's down substantially from the peak, but still about three times what I payed for it. Invest for the long run.... ;-)

I voted but my answer is "Don't know. Don't care." I do not plan on moving for many years and I gotta live some place, so here it is.

Pretty much the same situation here. We bought at what turned out to be the trough of a decade-long housing slump (Aug 2000) and we subsequently couldn't afford to buy this place during most of the last decade, let alone today.

But it's mostly dead equity, and I think that's only moved down about 10% in the last few years. I think our rental property has held up better, and at today's assessment it tracks 20 years of inflation. Nice to see the drop in property taxes, but if the city council raises the millage rate then the next jump in real estate values will have a disproportionately higher jump in property taxes. At 3.65 mills, though, I'm not complaining.

Just filed for Hawaii's new photovoltaic property-tax exemption. We'll see how that pans out.

We've also been refinancing as fast as we can get the paybacks from the last refi. We're still mulling over whether to refi our current homeowner rate of 4.5%. We could jump on 4% at 1.5 points now, or 4.25% at 0.5 points, but rates still seem to be soft.

 

[donheff]

I don't know for sure. I selected > 10% since prices for similar houses near me seem about that far off what they were selling for at the peak. But it could be closer to 15%

 

[brewer12345]

We are down about a hundred grand from what it was allegedly worth at the peak. Even though I contemplate selling in a 3 or 4 years, I don't really care. Rapidly amortizing the mortgage and we will swap for another house of similar value when the time comes. Still worth about 20% more than what we paid 8 years ago. Of course, let's not fail to mention the bathroom and kitchen renovations, the need to insulate and vent the attic, the $3k plumbing repair we just did, etc. This is a place to live, that is it.

 

[Nords]

... the $3k plumbing repair we just did, etc. This is a place to live, that is it.

Ouch. Did I miss that post? What happened?

 

[brewer12345]

Ouch. Did I miss that post? What happened?

Its a 1951 vintage house. Generally well built, but it has been 60 years. So the main drain pipe that drains the upstairs bathroom and the kitchen into the sewer connection finally went. The good news is that they did not have to rip up the bathroom and kitchen to get to it. The bad news is that they had to pull off siding, insulation, and boards from the side of the house, replace the pipe, and put it al back together. Nature of the beast with a 60 YO house. At least we had competent contractors/plumbers we have used for other jobs.