Maybe that has to do with the over-inflated numbers they got from zillow.com. My house appreciated 20% in the last 12 months according to their site. Yeah right.

I think the best way to find out would be to get it appraised, why guess?
Also in some areas housing has not gone down that much. I've watched a few "My house is worth What?" episodes and there seems to be quite a few people on there that also think their houses are worth more than they are, generally though it's because they've updated specifically to their taste instead of neutrally

I believe it... my husband's friends half-assedly "finished" their basement so they figured they could get about $10,000 more than what they paid for it.

Can you believe - it hasn't sold after 14 months in the market and no price reduction.

Overall though, our area hasn't depreciated as much as most so while I'm sure my home value has gone down, I don't think it's as much as many of the other cities in my home state (MI).

To find the depreciation in your home the best things would be to look up the most recent transactions data closest to your home and compare these to similar transactions X amount of time ago. The county auditor has these records publicly available, sometimes through their website.

until i get a free appraisal that says its worth less, ill continue to believe its worth more tyvm.

Hmmm, Zillow's estimate of my home is within a grand of what the bank appraised the house for when we bought it (slightly more than the sale price). Looking around my neighborhood it seems to be pretty close. I think where Zillow gets to be way off is in cities where real estate prices are ridiculously high. Here in Rochester housing is cheap and it seems to have pretty good estimates. What it gives for the 2 houses my parents own in Chicago, however, is laughable.

wow according to that my house is worth 30k more than what i paid lol.

I've been trying to convince the county tax assessor for several years in a row that my house is worth less.

And Zillow says my home went up .6% in the past year, despite the other homes in my zip code declining 12.1% during the same period.

I keep my house listed all the time, for sale by owner about $100K more than I paid, firm, no negotiating. I figure for an extra $100K, if someone wants my house, I'll move. You never know, sometimes eccentric rich people might need a place to stay.

Holy Zhit, zillows has my house listed at approximately $100K more than I paid for it in 2004! I might need to change my listing price.

Housing market aside - you'd get similar results in any sort of subjective survey like this.

Similar to how if you ask people whether they think they're better looking / taller / smarter than average...>50% will say they're above average.

My landlord is trying to sell our $210k house (Which he bought for $190k in 200) for $480k, but we just think it's because he's insane.

@Skiffer: Similarly, I've read over and over that people will often give a poor approval rating for Congress. When asked to rate their own Congress persons, invariably the rating is far higher.

My neighbor is trying to sell his house for exactly the same price he paid for it new, at the peak in the summer of 2005. Ours is virtually identical in floor plan, upgrades, etc. (they have hardwood in the bedrooms and we don't; we put in a sprinkler system and patio; I figure it comes out even.) I'll be curious to see if he gets anywhere close to the listing price. I'm doubting it will. It's been on the market for 7 weeks so far.

@timsgm1418: In my experience the appraiser will alter the value of your house to whatever you or the bank requires.

My area has been hit less than some, but that means fewer foreclosures, not continued appreciation. I'm seeing an increasing number of FSBOs with asking prices that simply won't appraise out with a mortgage lender, and an increasing number of places that just hang on the market for months. I'm glad I'm not planning to sell anytime soon.

I remember talking to some friends in 2005 and 2006. A friend in 2005 said, "Real Estate is the best investment. There's no way it can go wrong. Home values around here are on the up and up." It was too early to point out any warning signs, so I just let him enjoy his irrational exuberance.

Different friend in 2006 happened to be selling her house at the market peak. She was telling me how buying it would be a great investment. I bluntly said that home values are inflated and likely to go down soon. Response: "Nobody is predicting that."

Man it hurts being right all (most) of the time.

(Note: I'm not knocking investing in real estate. I'm just knocking foolishly investing in real estate.)

Yes my house is worth more, Zillow says so. I actually don't think Zillow is that far off on the zestimate.

@Michael Belisle: same here. Otherwise intelligent, rational people were explaining to me, like I was a moron, that this is CALIFORNIA and you know, there's no more land and housing prices will always go up.

People in denial? No way. Just like everyone thinks they are smarter than everyone else, drive better, are funnier, better looking, etc etc etc etc

In fact, only 19% of homes in the US increased in value, and 77% actually decreased in value. (5% stayed the same.)

My dad is like that, to some degree. He bought before prices shot up in this area (Northern AZ), Prices have come down about 20-25% from their peak, more for some of the McMansions that developers were rushing to get built.

Still, he's up 50% from what he paid for it, and he'll probably stay around there. (There has been a lot of legitimate growth.)

I definitely see it. Even foreclosed homes are going for about 25% more than they seem to be worth (in my area).

Looks like my neighborhood has declined around 10%, which is pretty much what I expected. As long as my home is worth more than I paid/owe, and I think it still is on both accounts.

It's really interesting how the older parts of my subdivision have a lot of recent sales and the newer ones don't. I bought in 2004, these people all get 3 to 5-year arms?

Thank god my lender convinced me 30-year fixed was the way to go.

In fact, only 19% of homes in the US increased in value, and 77% actually decreased in value. (5% stayed the same.)

hmmm, 101%

We just bought our first home less than a month ago. In our area (small town in MD, within 20 minutes of D.C.) there are very few (4 in the last few months) foreclosures. Go 5 miles into another city and another county and nearly every home under 400K is a bank owned property or a short sale.

I feel that we got a pretty good deal on our home but we also had great credit and we weren't stuck trying to sell a home either.

According to Zillow, our neighborhood is doing pretty well compared to others in our area.

Commercial real estate is seeing the same exact thing. Property owners got used to extremely low cap rates and huge amounts of foreign capital. Last RE bust, we saw lost of great deals for smart developers. Now, not so many.

We're just now starting to see reality sink in. Cap rates have been slowly going up, with Walgreen NNN deals edging closer to a 7% cap.

As someone who worked in the mortgage industry for a few years (and thankfully got out over a year ago now...), I find people's view of the value of their home a hilarious subject.

@selianth: I also noticed this when I was looking at homes. One place we looked at was a foreclosure with broken windows, graffiti on the walls, roof partially collapsing. We wanted to buy it, tear it down and use the land. But the Bank would not budge and refused to sell the home for less than 300K.

We looked at that home in late January and it is still sitting on the MLS for 300K.

I think the best way is to try to sell it at the appriased value. I recently protested my real estate taxes and the appraisal district told me that if I try to sell it at the appraised value it 'should' sell within two months. Because I wanted out of the neighborhood, I used a self-generated web page and no realtor and sold my house on a deadend street for the exact appraisal price in about a week. Moreover, I had web inquiries from a thousand miles away and I did no advertising at all except for the sign in the yard. Realtors told me I was stupid, but my neighbors can't sell their house for $15/sq. foot less than what I sold mine for. Bottom line: it's a case by case basis. Two very similar houses next door to each other--same builder, almost the same floor plan, one sells, one doesn't. Never listen completely to experts...there is always someone somewhere who will buy it. I think it's like collectibles...it's only worth what someone will pay for it--no matter what the neighbors house is worth.

Well that site States I have made 45k on my house this year. I only bought it back in November. So much for a meltdown.

Zillow says my condo is worth $400 less than I paid for it about a year ago (at the peak of the housing bubble). I guess I'm in denial because I thought my house stayed pretty stable in value...

Also, similar condos (minus the hardwood and ceramic tile floors, stainless steel (<7 year old) appliances, in-wall ethernet and speaker wiring) are going for about the same as what I paid... So I'm going to guess Zillow is a little low... But maybe that's just my denial speaking.

Anyway, I've only been there a year, I'm not moving anytime real soon. Why should I care what my house may be worth if I were to be dumb enough to sell it in the middle of a housing recession?

@Braff: Any good stories?

Zillow's information is WAY off base. My neighborhood consists of townhomes (updated "carraigehomes") and most of Zillow's information classifies many of the unit as having the same features, rooms, sq ft, baths, basements...
They are wrong, and ask you to "claim" your home (register...) and correct it for them (thus increasing their income of advertising and accuracy).

Going by latest MLS, my property assessment(s) from previous refinance or HELOC or equity appraisal, I've found their numbers incorrect. In fact, the location I live at, my property (as well as my neighbors) have appreciated average of 10% a year for last 10 years.

The problem I face is when to stop upgrades/remodel when the value appreciation limits the return on investment.
(some units never-updated sold for not much less than those move-in upgraded models)

Well Zillow estimates my mothers house, which we just sold, was worth around $50k less than it sold and appraised for, $699k vs $750k. The house is in SoCal and what we got for it was around the same as what it appraised for in 2006.

Zillow has my house for about $3,000 less than what I paid a year ago, which I suppose isn't that bad, given that I plan to stick around for a while.

Ha! My condo is apparently worth $30k more than what my neighbors are listing their condos at! Suckers!

According to zillow.... I'm down about 50k on the house, the area has depreciated 6% (but my house has depreciated 16%).

Meh...It wasa 30 year house anyway. I'll start worrying in 2025.

Ben, I don't know why you are disabling comments on the site redesign story (don't want user input?), but I find the icons at the top to be very annoying. I'd like a way to turn those off.

My $0.02.

19+77+5 = 101%

I knew there were more houses out there than needed to be because of the bubble, but damn. There's so many houses going down in value that 100% can't contain them all!

Zillow estimates my house's value at like $30k HIGHER than it really should be. Hopefully if I have to sell in the near future, prospective buyers will see that and up their offer prices.

According to Zillow, my house has gone up 72% since I bought 6 years ago. My next door neighbors just sold their house for $5K more than Zillow's estimate.

Interesting. Looks like the market in my neighborhood is not so soft after all...

Zillow is giving a pretty accurate representation of the housing bubble in the D.C. area. The house I'm in was bought for around 300K in 2004, was in the 520K's in 2006, and is now down to 403K. (Ouch!)

Mine was recently appraised, it is worth $25k more than listed on Zillow.com. The value actually dropped $20k within the last year... Thank you mortgage companies for ruining the housing market.

Zillow has my house listed at about $60K more than what I paid for it two years ago, which is ridiculous. They also have more bathrooms listed than I actually have. Not sure where they get this info.

I live next to a housing co-op, one of my friends says that they're not likely to go down as much in value because of the tighter standards to buy a house and based on past recessions. I should see if she's right. Maybe I will take a ride around the neighborhood tonight to see how many of the houses are for sale and if any are marked as foreclosures.

Mine is right about where it should be $185K. Which is up about 5K from a year or so ago. My area is still gaining equity - albeit slowly - this is validated by the real estate reports as well.. The husing bubble did not hit Baltimore like it did other areas thankfully - we gained a lot of momentum but lost little if anything as all... just a big slow down in sales. I remember the days when a listing in my neighborhood would be snapped up within a matter of days to 2 weeks... not anymore sadly.

@SkokieGuy: This is very true, the overall approval rating for Congress is like in the mid-teens. But, when people rate their individual state representatives it is like 60-80% approval.