The Eternal Questions of Real Estate
#1 How much is my home worth?
#2 Should I refinance?
#3 Is now a good time buy?
#4 Will it pay me to do this _ _ _ _ _ Remodel Project?
My standard answers are it depends. What follows is both factual information and guidance to try and sort through the proper answers for the questions. I have prepared some graphs to show how the market and payments have changed since 2006. I choose 2006 since it was the peak in the number of homes sold in Yellowstone County.
#1 How much is my home worth?
If I have learned anything in the 32 years, this tends to be the number one question I am asked. People always want a “ball park” of what I think. If someone wants to know value there is a process to go through to determine the most probable market response. Notice the slight shift in focus, if “value” of home is desired an appraiser can be hired and they will determine a “fair market Value” which will be a “lendable” value closed sales will be the primary focus of the report. My work and determination is similar just a slightly different focus. I look at the “whole” market Closed, Pending, homes that did not sell, and active competition. Additionally I look at relationships with the market, the ratio of active properties to pending properties this shows the over strength of the market. The overall market trends in terms of pricing, number of sales, time it takes to receive an offer whether increasing or decreasing. Then I drill to the area of town asking those same questions. Then my answer about value will be, at this point and time the most probable market response to YOUR home is $000,000. It is important to know it changes and does change by time of year and what the demand cycle looks like at the point in time you ask the question.
#2 Should I refinance?
This question is slightly easier to answer; it can be as simple as doing some quick math, 2006 interest rate 6.41% today 2014 4.04%, yes refinance.
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