"Valley home market 'extremely' overvalued" screamed one headline. This pronouncement came from a Cleveland based mortgage lender who, evidently, did no on the ground research to reach its conclusions. Reading down in the article, long-time local housing experts said that they don't expect home values to decline.
Less than a month before the headline read "Rush is on for land in Pinal (county)". Developers are evidently paying record prices for raw land in Pinal. Hardly a sign of declining prices or declining demand.
"Housing slump is forecast" read the early December headline. But the article reported that October new home permits were running about 5% ahead of last year's record pace. Go figure!
The key to reading newspaper articles about real estate is to ignore the headline - good or bad. It is there to sell newspapers and is usually sensational, not accurate. Read the entire article as reporters usually feel honor bound to at least ask someone for a contrary view to the one contained in the headline.
Our real estate market is cooling off but cooling off from a white-hot year. So, the predictions of increases in home values of 1 to 1.5% per month in 2006 look pretty accurate now.
Also, remember to check with your insurance agent to be sure your policy limits cover the increased value of your home. If you are unsure of your home's current value, I can get you a pretty accurate figure from recent sales.
Richard
Thursday, December 15, 2005
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