Interesting facts
For instance, Maryland homeowners think their values fell last year. The typical value residents gave was about $341,000, down 5 percent ($19,000) from the year before. (As the Census Bureau points out, "Value is the respondent's estimate of how much the property ... would sell for if it were for sale." It's not necessarily what it would sell for.)
On the other hand, we're still No. 1! For income, that is. The median household in Maryland was bringing in about $70,500 last year, just topping New Jersey (almost $70,400). What? The difference is within the margin of error, you say? Shh, the New Jersey folks might be listening!
And finally, there's not a lot of living near your work going on. Maryland, Brent Jones reports in a story about the American Community Survey, "had the second longest commute time in the nation at 31.5 minutes, just behind New York with 31.6." I'm disappointed in you all. If only you'd taken a measly seven seconds longer on the daily commute last year, we'd be No. 1 on this measure, too. Come on, guys. Try harder next time.
Categories: Housing stats, We're No. 1! (Or thereabouts)
Comments
How do you think homeowners go about estimating what their property is worth? Of course we're not going to be able to put all the homes on the market and see what they'd go for (and that would lower the value anyway), but I'm really skeptical that the homeowners are the best guides for that stat.
Besides, haven't we been seeing more than 5 percent drops lately?
Posted by: Justine | September 23, 2009 9:06 AM
The median sales price drop in Maryland last year was 7.5 percent.
Some homeowners do a lot of research to figure out their home's value, comparing sales of like properties in the area. But some number of homeowners are probably guessing, or using their "Zestimate," or going with a three-year-old appraisal, etc.
Posted by: Jamie Smith Hopkins | September 23, 2009 9:14 AM
Zestimate? No!!! e.g. see my earlier post on this. Besides, Z has my street woefully misclassified, so its comps are useless.
I'll bet many homeoners are a pretty good judge of which of the houses in their neighborhood are the closest "comps" to their own. So with a bit of market watching, if one or two of them sells... presto! You've got a darn good idea of value of your own home. Ain't rocket science.
Posted by: lisa | September 23, 2009 10:36 AM