The White House according to Zillow

A Difficult House to Price

I had read about this a while ago, and I was reminded about it again when I was adding must-read blogs to my Google Reader. As recapped in The Boston Real Estate Blog, Zestimates point out that the White House lost value last year.
In January 2009, Zillow estimated that the White House was valued at $308 million- this was right when Obama took office.

Today, as President Obama prepares to mark his first anniversary in office, Zillow estimates put White House at a bit less: $292.5 million, a drop of $15.6 million, or 5.1 percent from last January.

- The Boston Real Estate Blog

In fact, its worth had been estimated even higher at one point- at $332 million in January of 2008, and today (January 21, 2010) it is actually estimated by Zillow to be worth $291 million. What does this really mean, though? Unless the White House were to be sold, not much.

And that is the way it is for many of us. A house, while it is secondarily an investment tool, is first and foremost a home. It’s that wall that is marked with the heights of our children and should be repainted, but isn’t. It’s the smell of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. It’s the backyard where you held that wedding, or the kitchen that you love. It is the keeper of memory and tradition and that is what makes it so hard to place a value on it when it is time to sell.

In real life for many of us the exact value of our homes is of no real consequence. We just keep living in them and ride out the ups and downs. For others of us- those who need to sell or refinance- the value at any specific point in time is serious business. The hardest part to bear is that this is determined not by your agent and not by how much the home next door sold for six months ago. It is determined by how much a buyer is willing to spend for your home today. Period. And it is so important- if you really need to sell- to price ahead of this market, because that can make the difference between your house selling in a reasonable period of time- or not.

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