Home values

[rieferman]

I don't trust all those stats and newspaper articles as far as I can throw them, so let's do our own little informal poll.

ASSUME this generic house type in good/move in condition (just trying to pick something standard/middle of the road):

- 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car attached garage, 2000 square feet, 1 acre level lot.
- Within 30-45 minutes of decent amount of jobs (I know, the economy *****, but work with me here)

I know it's a little vague and leaves room for interpretation, but simplicity is the key with this exercise.

Answer with the area and the expected selling price.

EDIT:
OK, here's a summary of the replies so far. I took some liberties to take an average number when a range was presented. And in a couple cases it was just too much to include. But it gives you an idea:

West of Philadelphia, PA - $350,000
Palmer AK - $350,000
Baton Rouge/New Orleans LA - $250,000
Battle Creek MI - $120,000
Minneapolis MN - $350,000
Northern fringe of the Motor City Suburbs - $250,000
Houston TX - $100,000
Chardron OH - $260,000
Shreveport / Bossier City LA - $225,000
Dallas GA - $200,000
CA – all over the map, but mostly much more expensive than all other areas
Kingston TN - $370,000
Las Vegas NV - $300,000
Binghamton NY - $175,000
Central FL - $145,000
Decatur GA - $150,000
Chicago area IL - $635,000
Seattle area WA - $450,000
Mobile AL - $150,000
Arlington VA (DC area) – over $1M
Manitoba Canada, rural area (I think this is north of MN and ND) - $65,000 USD
West Texas - $150,000
Virginia Beach VA (but not ocean view property) - $300,000
Central MO - $100,000

 

[rieferman]

I'll go first:

west of Philadelphia PA, this type of home would start at a minimum of $300,000 in most townships. Would go as high as $450-500,000 in nicer areas.

 

[nate379]

Place like that would be ~$350k around here.

 

[sprint7]

I'm in Louisiana between Baton Rouge and New Orleans and something like that is about $250,000. You could have new construction with granite, etc. for about $325K but it may not have the 1 acre

 

[Red Green]

A house like that on 2 acres with in 35 minutes of Battle Creek, MI is listed for 119,000 I would assume that it could be bought for under 100,000.

 

[Stuart in MN]

~350k would be a reasonable guess here, although that could go up or down depending on the exact neighborhood.

 

[logical]

Really depends on level of finish and the surrounding area. A vinyl sided box on unpaved road..$150,000. Brick and quality inside surrounded by similar homes on a paved road...$250,000 and up. Lookup recent sales...the only shenanigans to consider there are the occasional side bag of cash that is often used to keep the sale price recorded/tax down.

 

[bigdav160]

Around the Houston area, homes fitting your description will start about 100K

BTW, Our unemployment is approximately 7%

 

[Vicious_Cycle]

ASSUME this generic house type in good/move in condition (just trying to pick something standard/middle of the road):

- 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car attached garage, 2000 square feet, 1 acre level lot.
- Within 30-45 minutes of decent amount of jobs (I know, the economy *****, but work with me here)

You just pretty much described my house, except that I'm on a 3+ acre wooded lot. Funny you posted this today because I was just contemplating the value of my home last night. The county puts it at $260k, Zillow.com has it at $273k (which is about right if you don't consider the value of my shop... which they can't ascertain), and cyberhomes.com has it at $172k!

Cyberhomes is way off the mark, as I spent some time looking at their valuations of comps in the area including some with recent sales history, and they are all over the map.

 

[79BlackPearl]

Shreveport / Bossier City Louisiana area here.......

Avg, Mid range New construction would set you back about $250K

Avg, Mid range purchase of existing will set you back about $200K

Then again, or local housing market is somewhat sheltered from the economy here in our neighboorhood of the country.

 

[c5golfguy]

Ok.. I hate to bring real real estate appraising logic in here but for the sake of the OP...

In appraising, you need to use arms length transactions for your sales comparables. This is my HUGE problem I have with the current situation on the market conditions you read about across the US. Yes, its directly tied to unemployment b/c people lose jobs and growth comes to a halt, but people feel that just because there are an abundant amount of homes foreclosing that the values should automatically come down. The reason I say this.. foreclosure sales are non-arms length transactions. They are distressed sales and therefore is not a real indicator of sale price. Of course people will pay lower pricing on real estate...who wouldnt. Thank you to the media, new HVCC regulations that Congress enacted and the fact that the Sub-Prime market is no longer available for potential home financing, you have a housing crash. It's been a complete trickle down effect that snowballed faster then anyone ever fathomed.

Now I got that off my chest and if any of ya'll want to talk more about it, I would love to. ahahha But, back to the OP question.

I'll go off a normal 3/2 in my subdivision. I purchased my home for 196,000 in 2007. My neighbor purchased her home which is identical to mine for 178,000 2 years before I bought mine. My builder and I agreed upon a sales price with about 25k or so upgrades for the asking price and my neighbor has added on top about 35-40k in upgrades. She listed her house on the market a month ago. Realtor came by after doing her comparables and saw that a recent builder in our sub knocked 100k off 3 of his homes to sell for 127k. They were distressed sales, he was being foreclosed on all 3. So, my neighbors realtor said she needed to list her home for 149k and sell at 127k, mean while never mind that 4 years ago she bought the house for 178k and added 35k in upgrades which includes a finished basement that they did themselves. Neighbors realtor told her that her home would appraise out at 237k but no way could she sell it for that, so she must list and sell for lower b/c thats what the foreclosures sold for.

Why should she or anyone list their homes for the pricing that the builder took due to his inability to manage his finances and build homes when he shouldn't have built out? This is where my appraisal experience just makes me scratch my head.

We are in Dallas, Ga. 35 miles northwest of CBD (Central Business District) Atlanta. At one point was one of the fastest growing suburbs in the country, which is one of the problems in itself. I believe that the absurd amount of building permits issued nationwide contributed to the demise as well but that could be another convo.

 

[rsanter]

depends on where around here, but it would be from $350K to $700K

bob

 

[Eddie 70]

You just pretty much described my house, except that I'm on a 3+ acre wooded lot. Funny you posted this today because I was just contemplating the value of my home last night. The county puts it at $260k, Zillow.com has it at $273k (which is about right if you don't consider the value of my shop... which they can't ascertain), and cyberhomes.com has it at $172k!

Cyberhomes is way off the mark, as I spent some time looking at their valuations of comps in the area including some with recent sales history, and they are all over the map.

Wow!!! Cyberhomes really hurts to look at. If I were buying a house this is the website I would want to buy from. Zillow is much closer to what I would like to think my homes value is.
Cyberhomes has ours at $210k
Zillow has ours at $439K
That is one helluva difference. I guess that just goes to show how much creedence you can put into those two. BTW, we paid $370k last year at this time.

 

[porphyre]

The county puts it at $260k, Zillow.com has it at $273k (which is about right if you don't consider the value of my shop... which they can't ascertain), and cyberhomes.com has it at $172k!

Cyberhomes is way off the mark, as I spent some time looking at their valuations of comps in the area including some with recent sales history, and they are all over the map.

I can't figure out where on Zillow it'll show valuations of homes not for sale... I type in my address and nothing happens.

Cyberhomes is neat, though. I still have to dig into it some more, but it has a valuation from back in 2/07 showing my house as 15% more than what I just paid for it 3 months ago. Sure, the number could be wrong, but... whatever. I'm in the midwest and all the figures I've seen say we're depreciating at about 5-8% a year.

 

[N8]

Why should she or anyone list their homes for the pricing that the builder took due to his inability to manage his finances and build homes when he shouldn't have built out? This is where my appraisal experience just makes me scratch my head.

She shouln't.
Unless she want's to be competitive and sale her home quickly.
Trust me I was in the same boat with one of my homes.
Only I decided not to let the foreclosure market determine what my home value was worth. (25% rate in Ls Vegas)

So to kill two birds with one stone:
My rental house falls in the OP's scope.
I had it listed six months ago for $396,000 (Las Vegas).
It was physically appraised for $550,00 during the boom.
Stressed sales & bank owned homes, which are abundant in this middle to upper class development, are being listed now at $290,000 and below.

I also agree that the wed page estimators are all off (zillow etc.)
and although may be used as a starting point, have a very unrealistic guide price for sales. Their algorithms leave out so much of the equation that c5golfguy talks about its not even funny.

 

[neverenoughtools]

By checking the listings of compareable homes .....wow 3 acres is an impressive size, atleast you'd have a ballpark estimate to start with.

 

[mikester]

More important question...what are the property taxes on a house like that in your area ? And how old is the house ? My small house is 110 years old, 1 1/2 story. We made the old attic a third BR and put in a bath room for my teenage son. The downstairs has 2 BR, LR, full bath, kitchen. Its on 3/4 acre and I have a 22x30 detached garage. My taxes are just under 6K. My buddy had a house built a block over from me 14 years ago. Same size lot. 4 BR, LR, DR, Den, 2 1/2 baths, 2 car attached. His taxes are almost 9K.

 

[back2class]

About 150k here for new or under 5 years old. Was aout $259 3 years ago. We are 1 and 1/2 hours from the interstate and 2 hours from any city.

 

[gorilla]

In the Sonoma county area in California a house like that would be worth about $750,000. Two years ago it would have been worth about $900,000.

 

[c5golfguy]

Our taxes for 2009 were 2218 dollars. Little less then 2000sqft living, 792sqft 3 car garage and 1200sqft or so basement. I'm sitting on .92 of an acre.

My rental property taxes were 1665 for 2009 on the other side of our county. That house has 1800sqft with finished basement and 2 car garage sitting on a full acre.

 

[Trainman]

Just west of Binghamton, NY here, my house fits the description pretty well except for smaller lot and very depressed job picture. The area is heavily dependent on tech and defense jobs, and we took a big hit in the last year. We're in a nice subdivision of well-kept homes 25-30 years old, assessed for taxes at $150K ($5500 a year and climbing, thanks to New York State govenment, who thinks money grows on trees), and I might be able to sell on a good day for $175K. Two years ago many similar houses were selling the day they were listed for $225K and up. House next to me is empty (foreclosure), and two nearby neighbors have had their houses for sale on and off for well over a year...they're asking $225-250K, and they'll never sell for that in this economy.

 

[N8]

My rental "in the city" was built in 1980 - is on 1/4 acre, 3 car garage - 2268 sq. ft. and is taxed at $2600

Scenerio 2 - 9 miles out of the city - built in 1980 - is on 1 acre. 3 car attached - 5500 sq. ft. living - 3200 sq. ft. 10 car garage detached shop and is taxed at $4200.
(appraised for 1.2 million at forclosure - but I got it for $440,000)

I cant imagine paying $9000 for taxes..DAMN! where is that house located?
(sorry I got O/T)

 

[Worsedog]

My house is 2/1 900 sqft on .4 acres, the garage is 1420 with 3/4 bath 2 finished rooms and 3 ton central a/c. At the height of the boom I had a real estate agent cold approach me to sell for 145K. As I paid only 45K for it I started drooling, but common sense prevailed as I knew I couldn't replace it at the time for that amount. Local tax collector says its worth 60K. And the property taxes last year were $460 and that includes trash pick up and a new fire assessment.

 

[79BlackPearl]

My rental "in the city" was built in 1980 - is on 1/4 acre, 3 car garage - 2268 sq. ft. and is taxed at $2600

Scenerio 2 - 9 miles out of the city - built in 1980 - is on 1 acre. 3 car attached - 5500 sq. ft. living - 3200 sq. ft. 10 car garage detached shop and is taxed at $4200.
(appraised for 1.2 million at forclosure - but I got it for $440,000)

I cant imagine paying $9000 for taxes..DAMN! where is that house located?
(sorry I got O/T)

HOLY ****!!!!! I have a 2800 sq.ft, 3 bed / 2 bath house 5 miles from "the city" sitting on two acres and taxes are only $500 / yr.

 

[bigdav160]

Wow!!! Cyberhomes really hurts to look at.

I never heard of Cyberhomes but they have my home at double it's current county valuation and 2.5x what I paid for it 2 years ago.

 

[Daedalus]

You probably couldn't find an SFR on an acre of land within 10 miles of here. The home described might price in around $1M, but it will be on a 6-7000 square foot lot. Over in the beach cities, expensive homes are squeezed together so dense that I think most of them have lot sizes smaller than the living area. If I ever pay that much for a house I better not be able to hear my neighbor take a whiz every morning.

 

[sheslostcontrol]

foreclosure sales are non-arms length transactions. They are distressed sales and therefore is not a real indicator of sale price.

Somebody tell that to the bank appraisers. They are including foreclosures in comps, driving down the value of the home and decreasing the loan amount. That can be a good and a bad thing for home buyers.

 

[sheslostcontrol]

Oh a home like the OP described goes for 100-200k around here (Decatur). Almost bought a 3br/2ba with 4.5 acres for 100k a few months ago.

 

[TooTall]

Same here. There are no 1 acre residential lots nearby. The house 2 doors down from me sold last January for $720K. It was a 1950's tract house with a poorly thought out addition. about 2300 sq. ft. on a 8600 sq ft lot. New owners bulldozed the house are are building a very nice 2 story of about 3200 sq ft. So they paid $720K for the dirt. Closest 1 acre lot would be up in the Palos Verdes Peninsula and would easily run $1M. Double or triple that if it had an ocean view.
Still a lot of aerospace in the area, along with entertainment (mainly TV production). We bought 25 years ago. The proverbial worst house on the nice street. Best decision we ever made.

Kurt O.

 

[december45]

I would say that the house described above would go for about $230k to 270k in yuba county california... now having said that i will give you some comps, this isnt wishful thinking these are comps for the imediate area that i own property.
These comps are from the yuba foot hills north of sacramento, 5 acres 3/2 garage and shop nice property pretty flat and usable sold for $270k, 5 acres nice newer home 3/2, 3 car garage with metal building/barn water front (year round creek) very nice property set up for horses with corrals, fenced $304k (this house stayed onthe market for 1+ years)... 5acres, beautiful home, detached shop garage living space, set up for horses fences, corrals, riding ring, barn , water front with 1/2 acre pond sold for $525k ....5 acres pretty useable land 3/2 huge garage, fenced, for sale $279k.
Yuba and sutter counties have been hit hard with foreclosures, we recently met a guy who paid 395k for a house in yuba city ca in '07 houses in his neighborhood exact same home selling now for $250k.... when i met this guy he was having a garage sale and told me he was just walking away, taking the hit on his credit, we stood in his front yard talking and he introduced me to another guy same situation he was going to walk.... and they both pointed to 3 more houses that were going to walk away.
foreclosures do matter, the economy does matter.... at least here.
now the above is what i have observed.... and i have talked to realtors who tell me that banks are only releasing foreclosed home for sale 1 or 2 at a time, that investors are buying foreclosed homes faster than the banks can put them up for sale and the foreclosed homes are being "bid" up.... the realtor also says that a majority of their sales are cash sales to investors....

 

[tonydanzah]

......635k

 

[kwb]

Seattle suburbs...
The Acre lot size kills you around here - expect entry to that size lot to be in the 450K+ Range and not get you the full size/bed/bath requirements, you will be a ways out to get it too.

Many developments around here are 5000SF min lot size, you will get a 4bd/2.5ba 2500SF house with two car garage in the 300ish range.

Location location location....

Taxes for my place with 415K assessment are $5200/yr.

 

[brownbagg]

Mobile al, $125k to 150K

 

[tdkkart]

This one just came on the market up the street from me in the last month:
http://www.skogman.com/details.asp?mls=2907587

Based on what we paid for ours a year ago, $$$/sq/ft, and taxed values, IMO it is about $25k over priced. I'd like to think it's worth what their asking cuz that would make mine worth more also, but I doubt it's gonna sell at it's current price.
BTW, it's 19 miles from the largest employer in the area, one of the largest in the state, and in a well respected school district.

 

[kbs2244]

Real Estate is one of the few unregulated price control markets left in the US.
What that means is the value is what someone else is willing to pay.
(And congress can’t stand that.)

The local assessor is the best source of what local values are compared to each other.
Those records are all public info, so you should be able to go to the local office and check them out.
At the least they are required to publish them in a local paper every year.
(At least in Illinois.)
This will give you an idea where you stand in relation to your neighbors.

One thing they don’t allow to effect their evaluation is the winning bid amount on a foreclosure auction.
I have a buddy that is appealing his tax evaluation.
It is close to $1,000,000
One of his arguments was a winning bid at auction for a pretty comparable house 2 blocks away of $268,000
Their reply to that information?
“We don’t consider that a true indication of market value.”

Just as a FYI, my assessed evaluation, and my taxes, have gone down the last 2 years in a row.
Both in Illinois and Florida.
So some governments are honest about the market conditions.

 

[tonydanzah]

the taxes have went up and values went down in my area of illinois

 

[mikester]

I cant imagine paying $9000 for taxes..DAMN! where is that house located?
(sorry I got O/T)[/QUOTE]

I live on Long Island. 9K isnt that high. I know other people that bought 3000 Sq ft houses 5 years ago for over 600K and their taxes are 14-15K a year. A guy that I went to high school with got his grandfathers waterfront home and his tax bill is over 20K. How the hell can he ever retire ? Ive only got a little less than 5 years left on my mortgage. I would NEVER move at this point in my life.

 

[JMURiz]

IF you could find a lot that size around me (Arlington Va, just outside of DC) it'd be insanely expensive. If you had a 1/4 acre lot it'd probably be $1.25m...if it were a 1/2 acre it'd probably be $2m+.

Mine is on a friggin' 1/8 acre lot and is appraised at too much (now that I own my house I hope it appraises for little, so I have less property tax to pay!).

 

[Boyd Who]

I love where we live. It's a small farming community 45 miles from the nearest city, and there are great employment opportunities here.
Our house is 2000sq ft (including the basement) and while we only have a 240 sq ft garage the lot is a decent size at 8100 sq ft (1/5 acre). We paid less than $70K (Cdn) for it, and our yearly taxes are about $650. We bought just before a major business was bought out and expanded so house prices were low.
Once the business expansion was underway they needed to bring in foreign workers to fill all the new positions (not enough local people) and housing demands soared. Our house value has more than doubled in value in the past 2 years. Gotta love it!

 

[Falcon67]

About 120~180K in west Texas, depending on location. We gots lotsa space out hee-ya. Some of the counties out this way are pretty thin. We live in Taylor county, which is the "big" one with about 127K people in 915 sq/miles. Next door to the west is Nolan at 15K, 911 sq/miles and next again to the west is Mitchell with 9200 people in 910 sq miles. Buy right, no neighbors.