Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Homeowner Perception Changing

Recently Zillow released an interesting article about homeowners and their changing perception of their home's value. The crux of the article is that most homeowners believe that their homes are increasing in value as other homes in their area are on the decline. According to the article Northeasterner's had the best grip on reality with the "point-spread" between reality and perception being the least...Southerner's were simply in denial, coming in dead last.

33% of Southerners believed that their homes were increasing in value, while 20% felt like the value was staying the same and over 47% believed that their home's value had decreased. The reality of the matter was that 70% of homes in the South decreased in value, not the meager 47% as thought by those being surveyed.

The upside is that all of these statistics are subject to their own "reality-check". Folks in the South typically did not see the major, double-digit increases in value that other "bubble" areas did...but some folks thought that their home did appreciate rapidly or that their community/city appreciated rapidly...when the REALITY is that homes in the South appreciated at about 2-3% a year...a really nice, steady appreciation...prices may have fallen a bit off of the peak of 2005-07 but if you are maintaining your home and keeping it in good/excellent condition and updating it with "the times" then you should be enjoying a healthy home value as a result of being in the South.

If you are curious about what you can do to your home to keep it up to date or if you would like to know the value of your home in today's ever-changing market, don't hesitate to email me, send a post or give me a call...336-817-3598.

Brooke

No comments: