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Old 12-16-2013, 11:49 AM
 
Location: High Bridge, NJ
3,859 posts, read 9,933,627 times
Reputation: 3399

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My wife and I bought our home in June 2008 just as things were starting to go bad. We were young, needed a place to live, and it was the right house at the right time, in the right place, etc... We paid $250K. Since then we have made mostly small improvements, but we did finish the basement into a family room, adding about 400SF of living space. Now going on six years later our mortgage balance is about $227K and by using the online real estate sites (Trulia, Zillow, and others) we've gotten figures as high as $215K and as low as $185K. We're not planning on moving, in fact, if anything we'd like to add two bedrooms and a bathroom, but it would be nice to know exactly how much the house is worth first. Should we start looking for an appraiser, or should we just wait it out, make our improvements, and not worry about it?
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Old 12-16-2013, 11:57 AM
 
280 posts, read 348,703 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Badfish740 View Post
My wife and I bought our home in June 2008 just as things were starting to go bad. We were young, needed a place to live, and it was the right house at the right time, in the right place, etc... We paid $250K. Since then we have made mostly small improvements, but we did finish the basement into a family room, adding about 400SF of living space. Now going on six years later our mortgage balance is about $227K and by using the online real estate sites (Trulia, Zillow, and others) we've gotten figures as high as $215K and as low as $185K. We're not planning on moving, in fact, if anything we'd like to add two bedrooms and a bathroom, but it would be nice to know exactly how much the house is worth first. Should we start looking for an appraiser, or should we just wait it out, make our improvements, and not worry about it?
I would get in touch with realtors in my area and tell them I want to sell the house. give me appraisal. that is no charge. that ll give u some idea.
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Old 12-16-2013, 12:00 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
9,762 posts, read 15,692,799 times
Reputation: 10850
If when you breathe, you see bubbles, then yes, you are underwater. (Sorry, bad joke)

If your house is worth less than you owe on the mortgage then you are underwater. However, if you are not moving, then it shouldn't matter. I don't think I would pay for an appraiser just to find out. You can ask a Realtor to give you an idea of the net worth of your home. An experienced one in your neighborhood should have a good handle on the local market. I would be upfront and tell her that you are not ready to sell but are wondering what she thinks its worth is. And that you will consider using her when you do decide to sell.

I would also seriously consider whether it is worth it to improve the home. Will it just put you further in the hole or will it raise the value by equal or more than the improvements? Again, a talk with a neighborhood Realtor might help as they often know what improvements will help the value of a home in your area. An additional bedroom on a 2-BR house might help tremendously, while granite countertops in a working-class neighborhood might add nothing, for example.
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Old 12-16-2013, 12:09 PM
 
Location: High Bridge, NJ
3,859 posts, read 9,933,627 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by michgc View Post
I would also seriously consider whether it is worth it to improve the home. Will it just put you further in the hole or will it raise the value by equal or more than the improvements? Again, a talk with a neighborhood Realtor might help as they often know what improvements will help the value of a home in your area. An additional bedroom on a 2-BR house might help tremendously, while granite countertops in a working-class neighborhood might add nothing, for example.
That's really what we're getting at. It's a two bedroom one bath (this is NJ, so $250K was not an uncommon price for that back in 2008) with a full (half finished) basement and attached garage. We're considering converting the attached garage to two bedrooms and turning one of the existing bedrooms into a bathroom attached to the master bedroom. This would turn our two bedroom one bath ranch into a three bedroom two bath with a master suite. I would imagine that the net gain of one bedroom and one bathroom would help the value quite a bit, plus my FIL (he is a general contractor) and I will be doing most of the work, keeping costs low. The realtor who found the house for us just sent us her annual Christmas calendar, so perhaps its time to give her a call.
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Old 12-16-2013, 12:30 PM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,069,672 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Badfish740 View Post
That's really what we're getting at. It's a two bedroom one bath (this is NJ, so $250K was not an uncommon price for that back in 2008) with a full (half finished) basement and attached garage. We're considering converting the attached garage to two bedrooms and turning one of the existing bedrooms into a bathroom attached to the master bedroom. This would turn our two bedroom one bath ranch into a three bedroom two bath with a master suite. I would imagine that the net gain of one bedroom and one bathroom would help the value quite a bit, plus my FIL (he is a general contractor) and I will be doing most of the work, keeping costs low. The realtor who found the house for us just sent us her annual Christmas calendar, so perhaps its time to give her a call.
If you aren't planning on selling then it really doesn't matter but you can check around on realtor websites to see what similar houses have sold for in your area if you are just curious. That is pretty much what realtors do as well.
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Old 12-16-2013, 02:03 PM
 
Location: The Triad
34,091 posts, read 82,447,203 times
Reputation: 43642
Quote:
Originally Posted by Badfish740 View Post
My wife and I bought our home in June 2008...
...young, needed a place to live, right house at the right time, in the right place, etc...
We paid $250K. Now going on six years later our mortgage balance is about $227K...

...it would be nice to know exactly how much the house is worth
the online real estate sites... figures as high as $215K and as low as $185K.
Should we start looking for an appraiser...
Talk to the RE agent you bought with and get recent SOLD comps.
It'll be close enough for the conversation.

Quote:
We're not planning on moving, if anything we'd like to add two bedrooms and a bathroom...
So long as you are satisfied with the neighborhood and schools, and can afford the mortgage,
and have enough cash to cover the other common responsibilities (like retirement accounts)
then you should be fine until the market recovers more in your little corner of NJ.
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Old 12-16-2013, 02:54 PM
 
Location: 42°22'55.2"N 71°24'46.8"W
4,848 posts, read 11,745,434 times
Reputation: 2961
Sounds like you already know you're a little underwater, but want some confirmation. If you can make the payments and are living in a neighborhood that you like then I say who cares! But don't do anymore expensive renovations unless you really need to. For example don't add the 3rd bedroom until you have your 2nd kid.
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Old 12-16-2013, 02:59 PM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 13 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
49,969 posts, read 63,277,013 times
Reputation: 92419
I will only add that both Trulia and Zillow are not considered to be very good sources, but you can find out the actual sales prices of houses in your neighborhood that have sold recently on those sites and do your own research.
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Old 12-16-2013, 03:59 PM
 
Location: Florida -
10,213 posts, read 14,738,790 times
Reputation: 21845
You can check with your online County Tax Appraisers office ... and find out what other similar houses in your area have sold for. Otherwise, contact a Realtor.
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Old 12-17-2013, 06:48 AM
 
Location: NC
6,032 posts, read 9,167,188 times
Reputation: 6378
Does your local county have a polaris view system? You can view recent sales on there for comp's.
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