We are often asked this question by homeowners – those considering a sale as well as those curious about their neighborhood values.  The answer is … “It depends”.

If you live in a community with few to no foreclosure activity, the chances are you will be minimally affected by this situation.  Unless other sales in the neighborhood were distressed (such as short sales) the history of activity and pricing will be represented by transactions between traditional sellers and buyers and the values will mirror the overall market.  This does not necessarily mean your values have or will remain the same, it simply means the values will be in line with the overall market in the region.

If you live in a community where foreclosure activity is present, there could be an effect on values in your neighborhood.  Typically, appraisers (and buyers) will discount a single foreclosure in determining values for other active homes on the market.  However, if there are several recent foreclosures, the appraiser (and buyers) will typically use those sales as “comps” in the market.  Those comps are typically lower than traditional sales and will impact the prices accordingly.

To put this foreclosure matter into perspective, consider the following.  Nearly one-third of all homes in the U.S. carry no mortgage.  So, when you hear that the foreclosure rate is nearing five percent of all mortgages, that number excludes homes without mortgages and the actual rate of all homes is lower.  Also remember, more than 90% of all borrowers remain current on their mortgage payments.

Are you interested in knowing whether your neighborhood prices are affected by foreclosure activity, please call or e-mail us.  We will be happy to do an analysis of the market and report back with specific details.

Lastly, if you are interested in knowing about real estate activity in your neighborhood, we have a great new tool called, “Market Report” that summarizes all active, pending and sold properties with links to detail pages, mapping tools and other statistics.  This e-mail report can be sent monthly and the feedback from our clients has been awesome.  If you are interested in receiving this valuable tool, please give us a call or email.

 Sincerely, The Lee Ann Miller Team