What is my home worth today?

If you listen to any news about the housing market, you know it has slowed. Is this a permanant thing? How is the price of my home affected? I have had several friends say to me, "I missed it, I know I should have sold last year".

Two things are going on in the market that have affected conditions. First, I think in many cases prices have reached a point where buyers are searching longer, harder and wiser for the property they want. This may in turn have caused the inventory levels to rise a bit, hence the increase in available properties. Properties are not selling anywhere near as fast and sellers are starting to get impatient. I am seeing two things because of this. Some sellers have recently withdrawn their properties from the market. They have told me that it will be better in the spring. Others have reduced pricing to a more realistic level. If you haven't seen it, there have been price adjustments in many markets. Sellers need to get a bit more real and that is their agents job, but a hard sell. If you want to sell your home in 30 days you have to price it competitively. You cannot check out the highest comparable sale and price your home a lot higher, it won't work. It may have worked when there was no inventory, but the competition has grown dramatically. My advice is be realistic, look at your home from a buyers eye not a sellers eye and then ask what would I pay for this property compared to others that are selling in my market area.

The second major cause of this little stall, may just be seasonal. This time of year is traditionally very slow,but the buyers that are in the market are usually not tire kickers.

The below link takes you to an interesting article from the National Association of Realtors. It talks about housing that is under contract but not yet settled.

http://www.realtor.org/publicaffairsweb.nsf/Pages/OctPHS2005

As always, feel free to contact me personally at 410-507-2909 if you have any real estate related questions.

Real Estate Tax Break or Broke?

According to the brief article below from the National Association of Realtors, it sounds like Washington is at it again. It is a little scary, knowing that the real estate market is cooling and the government is considering making home ownership less attractive. Real estate does drive a big portion of our economy, does it make sencse to make it less attractive?

NAR Position
Why We Can't Compromise on the Mortgage Interest Deduction

Housing is the engine that drives this economy, and to even mention reducing the tax benefits of homeownership could endanger property values. Home prices, particularly in high cost areas, could decline 15 percent if the recommendation to convert the mortgage interest deduction to a tax credit gets implemented. That means about a $20,000 to $30,000 reduction in housing equity for a typical homeowner.
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 proved that when the tax benefits associated with real estate ownership are curtailed, the value of real estate declines. In this case, the resulting loss of value in the commercial real estate sector was 30 percent.
The current cap permitting deductions of the interest paid on mortgages of up to $1 million has not been modified or indexed since it was adopted in 1987. We are surprised that the panel would even consider reducing the cap. Basing the cap on complex regional loan limit calculations makes no sense. In California alone, more than a dozen Federal Housing Administration (FHA) limits are in effect in various parts of the state.
Eliminating the mortgage interest deduction would hurt middle-income families the most. According to IRS tax return data from 2003, 52 percent of the families who claim the mortgage interest deduction have household incomes between $60,000 and $200,000.
NAR is waiting to take an official position until the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform makes an official recommendation. However, we're concerned that the commission is putting housing on the cutting block