St. George Real Estate Market Update
For this month’s Real Estate Report, home sales both nationally and for Washington County are down from last year. To be specific, residential sales in Washington County were off by over 10% from the first quarter of 2013…but don’t panic just yet! There’s actually a silver lining here.
WHY are home sales down?
- One factor is the continuous decline of foreclosures and short sales and in turn, this has left fewer homes available for the long-term. That is good news!
- Washington County home values have COME UP nearly 20% since 2011…also great news! But because they’re up, some Buyers are getting priced out of the market, which in turn slows the total # of sales down. But it’s healthy for the market as it prevents another outlandish housing bubble like 2005. And Washington County cannot face another housing bubble – it’s unacceptable! The decline in home sales year-over-year is actually a sign of a healthy, self-balancing real estate market!
Are 4.2 million buyers about to purchase real estate?
However the big question is what’s next. After doing some research, I found the following:
- In 19 of the top 20 major metropolitan areas nationwide, more than 5% of all residents planned to buy within the next year.
- 10% of renters nationwide (yes that’s HUGE) said they would like to buy in the next 12 months.
- If every one of those people surveyed actually did purchase a home, it would represent 4.2 million first-time buyers. More than DOUBLE the 2.1 million first-time Home Buyers in 2013!
Yes, it’s crazy when you really think about the possibilities. Even MORE WILD? That 57% of Baby Boomers want to sell the home they currently own, which means they would replace it with another, and 25% say they’d like to purchase a 2nd home. There is going to be a lot of activity ahead for the market!
If you have any more questions, feel free to call or e-mail us with anything Also, don’t forget to utilize our FREE MLS home search and home value report links on our website. And our full, detailed St. George Real Estate report is always available 24/7 so you can be the smartest kid on the block! Check it out here: St. George, Utah Real Estate Report
Today, on GoStGeorgeTV, we’re going to answer the question: “Can I trust the Zillow home price estimate?”
Zillow has become a wildly popular online tool to get a quick estimated value of home values. We estimate that eight out of ten Sellers we work with first go to Zillow to get an initial estimate for their home. With so many users, so many millions of homes, and having those homes spread across the entire United States, is it possible that the site could have inaccurate estimates? We’ll take a look at the three traditional values for a home and compare them with the Zillow value.
1. The first value is the assessed value. This is the value that the Washington County assessor uses to determine how to tax your property. The assessed value typically falls on the low-side of a home’s market value. Not always, but most often. This value actually has little to do with your home’s true value.
2. The second value is the appraised value. This value is based on the opinion of a qualified appraiser who will come out to inspect your home and establish a very analytical and scientific estimation. This value is often established during the mortgage origination process, but may be updated as the home undergoes renovations. While this value may not reflect “true” market value, it’s still incredibly important as it has the potential to make, or break, a real estate transaction.
3. The third value is the market value. Definition: What a Buyer is actually willing to pay for your property! The market value is the most fluid value because it is dependent on the state of the current real estate market. The market value is what the buyer is willing to pay for your home. Everything else is, quite frankly, quite irrelevant.
These three traditional values are well established in the real estate realm. Recently, the “Zillow value”, or just about any other FREE online home value estimate, have emerged as a fourth value. Zillow, and these other systems, are what is called an “automated valuation model” that takes neighborhood statistics and tax data to determine a value of your home. Because Utah is a “non-disclosure state”, sales prices are NOT available to a company like Zillow.
And because they lack that actual sold data, it’s highly likely that using Zillow as your guide will cause you to either, A. Overprice your home and sit for MONTHS, or..B – underprice your home and leave money on the table…yikes! I encourage you NOT to trust it as a tool to estimate your home’s value. If you want to play around with it, go for it! As a matter of fact, here’s OUR “AVM” (automated valuation model) site, feel free to play around there! www.DixieHomeValue.com
Now, if you are looking for an accurate assessment of your home, I encourage you to reach out to credible real estate professional to receive the most accurate pricing of your home.
If you have any more questions, feel free to call or e-mail us with anything Also, don’t forget to utilize our FREE MLS home search and home value report links on our website. And our full, detailed St. George Real Estate report is always available 24/7 so you can be the smartest kid on the block! Check it out here: St. George, Utah Real Estate Report
