Houses are worth what someone will pay for them… This isn’t news…

I got an IM from Patrick Beeson this morning with a link to a NY Times article about how the current housing drama has some prospective home sellers wanting to list their houses for more than the market will bear right now. There is reference to how this is some odd human trait in times of market downturn. Well, I m here to tell you, ain’t nothing new about it at all.

Home sellers very often want more for their homes than they re worth. They also think their houses have more square footage than they actually do, forgetting that the 1850 square place they bought cannot become 2100 square feet without a bunch of construction people hanging out at their home for weeks and weeks. Only our waist lines increase in size over time without us knowing. Our houses do not.

This brings up a common question: How much is a house worth if I paid “X” to purchase it, spent “Y” on remodeling the kitchen and “Z” on a state of the art irrigation system?

The quick answer is, it’s worth what someone will pay for it. Your total money invested is your issue, not the buyer’s.

Likewise, if you inherited the house and paid nothing for it, you wouldn’t expect to give it away.

So, pricing a house properly is key to having a happy outcome. This is the same whether the market is hot, ice-cold, or nicely temperate, as it is in the Greensboro area.

And when buying, remember that one day you’ll most likely be selling. Make a mental note of the square footage. It won’t be changing unless you make it happen. (But keep an eye on your waist line!)