Dallas Home Appraisals News and Information

The National Association of Realtors has added their voice to the many who are urging the administration to abandon the idea of placing a cap on mortgage interest deductions.  The near unanimous chorus of those in and out of the industry, as well as homeowners, gives great hope that at least for the short term this plank of the program will be withdrawn.

An article in the Baltimore Sun this morning talks about the influx of foreign investors picking up foreclosures at truly bargain basement rates in Detroit. Houses formerly valued at $100,000 going for a tenth or less of that. Thankfully, Dallas/Fort Worth has not seen anything near the number of foreclosures hitting Detroit, a city that has been battered economically for years and whose population has shrunk to half the size it was in the 50's with no indication that anything will change for the better.  Houses in Detroit are going for prices so depressed that reading about them and thinking about the personal stories behind those numbers is, well, extremely depressing.

The Dallas Morning News was also pretty depressing this morning.  It quotes the Federal Revere's estimate that home prices could fall 18-29% before the end of 2010.  But the bright news for us could be in the next part of this prediction, that "declines will probably be less severe in cities with healthier economies that don't have a glut of unsold homes".  So far, with the exception of primarily the southern sector of Dallas County and isolated pockets of new-build suburban neighborhoods, supply/demand in our area remains in relative balance, albeit with lower values to be sure.

With some of the stories coming out of other areas of the country, maybe it helps us put a better perspective on our situation.  At a time when bad news is bombarding us from all directions and the 24-hour news cycle is impossible to avoid and filled with doom and gloom, it helps to think (and have some data to back it up) that things here aren't as bad.  Appraisals are holding steady and, though the number of refi's is down and sales are taking longer to close, a greater number homeowners this year are rightly ordering appraisals to protest their property tax assessments, add support for buyers to their listing price, and simply for the peace of mind of knowing the value of what is potentially their greatest liability and their greatest asset.