Pre-owned homes appreciated 27% in a year
 

The Daily Sun reports pre-owned homes have appreciated 27% since the first quarter of 2013 till the first quarter of 2014.

Thoughts or opinions on this number?

I stand corrected - the following explains where the 27% number came from.

•In Q1 2013 the pre-owned ave. selling price was $199,326.
•In Q1 2014 the pre-owned ave. selling price was $253,179

For us I think about 22 percent. I do like that number though!

I think it may depend on where the house is situated - Village, view, water, golf course, executive or championship. The home next door to me sold recently for 50% more than they paid, 9 years old, had upgrades to the kitchen and bathroom and a huge added sun room with wonderful views on championship golf course.

Prices of both new and resales have gone up. I think on a resale it depends on location and the condition of the house.

There certainly is exuberance on the part of Newbees to purchase new homes before "some" say there will be no more. Of course, the price of new homes have gone up because there is a demand. The sales people are doing a good job with the "final phase."

New homes have gone up about 25% but some resales in a good location have gone up even more. Could there be a "bubble" developing?

If you have been in your home a while go to Zillow.com and type in your address. You may be very pleasantly surprised at their "zestimate" of your current home value.

Yahooooooo! But I'm still not selling.

Grain of salt
 

If a resale home has "upgrades" and "additions," then the sale price minus the original purchase price doesn't really show the appreciation. To be accurate, you would need to subtract the cost of the upgrades/additions/replacements you have made and then see how much your home has appreciated.

I think that's why the numbers seem so high - most people have made significant improvements - but not all. A fairer number would be to compare original purchase prices with homes that have resold with little or no improvements. There are some of those around, particularly those that have been used lightly by snowbirds, or bought to be mainly rentals and then sold for various reasons without improvements having been made.

In hopes of all our resale prices going up, I keep hoping that the TV Sales and MLS agents would strongly focus their sellers on what the "new home" shoppers see which makes them want a new construction home instead of a resale.

Newcomers who are flocking in to get a new home are seeing (new) homes with new flooring, decorating that is modern and tasteful (not saved from the 1970s), or a home that is staged neatly and completely clutter free.

Looking at the resale listings, I often stop and rub my eyes at the photos of even million-dollar resale homes having 1970's china cabinets and dining sets, and other furniture brought from northern past homes of the owners.

For everyone's resale sake, it would be better if sellers were told by listing agents to either get professional staging done, or to empty the home completely and show it with fresh neutral paint colors that would make it look more like a new home.

I find the reported 27% a little hard to believe. I just randomly checked out 4 properties around TV at different Villages, different sized homes and with and without water and golf course views. Here are my one year findings:

Property 1 = 18% (our home w/o views)
Property 2 = 11% (with views)
Property 3 = 05% (with views)
Property 4 = 20% (Villa w/o views)

My general observations are that the larger the home with the best views had the lowest increase, whereas the villa without any special views had the greatest increase. Interestingly I though before hand that would be just the opposite I would have found.

For those who want to find out their increase and don't know how to do it, here's how:

• Enter your address in Google Search
• Chose the Zillow link if you find one for your home.
• Scroll down where you'll find a time graph of values
• Mouse over the end of the graph and using the solid line you'll find the current value in a small box on the left.
• Next move you mouse to the point that's at the one year back point to find the starting value, again in that small box. Currently that starting month would be March of 2013.
• Next calculate the change % using the following formula:
  
  Current Value {minus} Starting Value {divided by} Starting Value {equals} value change percentage.... or:
  
  Current Value {minus} Starting Value
  --------------------------------------- = increase/decrease %
  Starting Value

If you successfully carried out that formula, you should now know what your presumably increased value percentage is. :ho:

Nice increases, just not back to 2005, 2006, 2007 valuations.

Bought my CYV in 2010 for $168K and Zillow is saying it is valued at $208K. I am liking those numbers !!!

My experience with Zillow is that their estimates of home values are not always very accurate.

Agree. It's a calculated estimate. Difficult to value without a walk-thru.

Home prices
 

We purchased a Patio Villa in Lynnhaven during May 2013.Prices on similar Patio Villas are now 15 to 20% higher.Not a bad return for one year.I wish that we purchased in 2011.Our gain would have been 30 to 40%.
But folks who purchased Patio Villas at the market peak(2008?) are now able to sell at a small gain. The housing market goes up and down.In the long run purchasing a home is a good investment.

I believe the market peaked in 2006.