Lexington Homes Values: Increasing or Decreasing?

The most recent predictions are out regarding the national real estate and homes values that are expected to happen this year in 2008. Nationally, things are looking pretty bleak. Fannie Mae ran up over $2 billion (yes, with a B) in losses for the quarter and is predicting a decrease in homes and housing values this year. Foreclosure rates appear to be increasing - which when added to the already excess inventory thats built up in most markets around the country, will further exacerbate the problem. This then causes many home owners that got into their existing property for little or no money - to cause their equity to be stripped out completely as the value of their home decreases. Fannie Mae is predicting a potential decline in values nationally ranging from 7-9% - which is significantly more than the 5-7% that they had predicted earlier this year.

That being said - what about Lexington homes values? While not as rosy as we may not like them to be, we are in a far better position than many other parts of the country. Yes, inventory is up. But at least some Lexington homes are selling. Pricing, staging, and knowing your competition are critical in today's market. Whatever price range you are in, you want to be at the lower end of that price range, be staged the nicest - and represent a good value for a potential buyer that may be considering making the move to purchase a home. Those will be critical factors that are musts to get a property moved in the current climate.

So, while its definitely not a sellers market at present - you can get a home sold. Again, touching on the national real estaet market perspective: We didn't see, in general, the huge gains of appreciation that a lot of other parts of the country enjoyed - and which are now being corrected by the softening real estate market overall. I mean, if you saw 300% appreciation in 3 years - who really cares if you lost 20% in this correction. So, lets get real. The only persons that are really stuck are the persons that put little to no money down, but if they can hang on and continue to make their payments, they should be able to hang on.

A significant portion of persons in the Lexington housing market aren't in that position. Quite a few made at least some contribution toward a down payment when purchasing their home. And we aren't seeing a "huge" decline as some other parts of the country are currently dealing with.

To get the most value out of your home - you need to ensure that you are getting the most exposure that you can. Anyone can take out an ad in the local newspaper, and throw it on the Lexington MLS. But to attract buyers from other areas, you need to be seen where they are looking. This is currently primarily through the internet. If you aren't able to be found quickly on a site thats in the first 5 or 10 positions for a particular search engine keyword - then you are missing out on a lot of eyeballs that may be interested in purchasing your home - but just can't find it. Get found!