Comments on: Determining home values

By: SEO SERVICES

SEO SERVICES — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:12:04 +0000

I think the practice of increasing home value through proper renovation
techniques has never been more important than it is today. We
constantly hear on the news about poor economy and poor real estate
market. Homeowners who plan to increase their home value through
renovations should be reminded that the margin for error is slim and a
small mistake could easily wipe off their profit or worse result in a
total loss.

By: ACHoffman

ACHoffman — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:36:28 +0000

Important Article for those who want to purches their own home, so it is important to build home from your guideliness now, price of home increase day by day and every body know about market also increasing day by days,

By: Phoenix Mortgage

Phoenix Mortgage — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:57:32 +0000

Although I agree that your home is only worth what someone will pay for it, the guidelines for an appraisal are based on many key factors that are determined by your home and all the surrounding like homes within a certain distance. Usually within 1 mile.

By: William J. Maschke

William J. Maschke — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:38:26 +0000

Its amazing to me that people will let the apparent value of thier home determine if they want to keep it. So what if the market value dropped the question should be do you enjoy your house and want to save it from foreclosure or not. If they do want to save the house I am there to help, or at least my site is

William J. Maschke
http://www.endproperty.com

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:51:00 +0000

Hi Tom – I absolutely agree with you regarding walking the neighborhood. If you read my whole post you’ll see that I said — “I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to get
out of your office and survey the area around the property you are
trying to value.”

Checking the Megan’s law site, crime stats, school districts, etc. are all valuable as well — though I’d argue those things have more to do with whether or not to buy, rather than value. Reason being is that those things should already be reflected in the other factors I mentioned (values, area incomes, rents, etc. are naturally lower in high crime areas for example).

By: Tom Stone

Tom Stone — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:20:04 +0000

I do not think you give enough importance to actually WALKING a neighborhood (If it is safe to do so) that you are considering buying in.I actually advise people to slowly drive or walk through an area on weekdays,weekday evenings,early afternoon on a weekend and a friday or saturday night to see who is out and about and what the noise level is.Several times all my other research made a property look good,but a personal inspection revealed a problem…checking the megan’s law site is not a bad idea either if you have kids.

By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:49:00 +0000

There is a factor of my "Area Income / Affordability" analysis that I didn't delve into much in my post that may explain some of this. I talk about the income analysis primarily in terms of affordability, but one can also consider in terms of investment... using the same "cap rate" analysis I suggest using on area rents.

The key here is to understand that whether buying to own or to rent there is a tradeoff to be made between return and quality. Specifically most people will take a smaller return for a really quality investment while expecting a higher return for a poor quality one.

For example, if I were to invest in Richmond, CA where drive by shootings seem to happen regularly, I'd want a far higher return then on a trophy ocean front property.

So people will sacrifice and commit more of their income to live in better areas. Those areas will also attract people from outside the area willing to do the same.

Still this has its limits. I personally expect that while desireable locations like Irvine, or to the north, Palo Alto, won't fall as far as Stockton or Riverside, they will significantly correct and return to far more affordable levels. They simply can't escape the reality that even in those areas many are living beyond their means and ultimately that is just isn't sustainable.

By: m

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 03:31:46 +0000

Hi Sean -

Just want to mention something I and others on a housing blog I frequent have seen in regards to house prices: I've been watching the market in Irvine for quite a while waiting for prices to drop. And while they have dropped somewhat, it seems that they have not dropped as much as other nearby areas that seem to be comparable. If one considers the median income for Irvine, asking prices for most homes are way, way above 4 or 5 times that figure. And they are not dropping particularly quickly. One theory I've seen on this housing blog about the high prices is that one shouldn't necessarily take the median income of the residents there as the median purchasing income, because it could be that individuals who live elsewhere but would like to move to Irvine may now be ready to buy because of the drop that has occurred. What do you make of this theory?