Reality TV?

I was watching 20/20 the other night and they had a show that revolved around Real Estate. At one point they talked about the avg. price increase a homeowner has realized in the past 3 years. These ranged from over 100% in Florida to 25-30% in what they gave as the lower range. This no doubt sounds great to many potential Sellers, unfortunately they are very off when it comes to our market. We stopped seeing major increases three years ago and in the last year Lenawee County actually saw a drop of 10% according to our Michigan Association or Realtors statistics. This drop is partly an adjustment to prices that rose too rapidly a few years ago, partly due to high gas prices that make our Washtenaw Buyers think twice about the savings they enjoy on home prices verses the added drivetime and costs. The other factor is we are in a Buyer's market and that is reflected in sales price.
Here is a tip to help safeguard your equity. The most important is to not fall prey to using your home equity to take out additional loans against the property. We have come across more and more Sellers who find they are unable to get out of their homes what they owe. When applying for the equity loan, an appraisal is run on the home to justify value, the problem we have seen are appraisals that are way out of whack with true market value The Sellers get the loan but when it's time to move, they are stuck. Promises of consolidating debt, lower monthly payments and extra cash in your pocket are tempting, be very careful before you jump in. You might even want to ask a Realtor to come out and give you their opinion of what a reasonable asking price would be.