Mine has appreciated by $15k since I bought it 4 years ago. I plan to stay in mine many, many years.

Ours went down 15% in two years. Found that out when we refinanced last August. We plan to stay here, too, so I'm not bothered by it. Not much I could do about it anyway. Guess I should be happy our property taxes went down over $200 last year.

Now if I wanted to be a landlord, which I don't, it'd be a great time to buy a few houses and rent them or remodel and wait for the market to go back up, which it will. But according to those who say they know, it will never be as out of control as it was from 2003-2006.

Linda, congratulations to you that yours appreciated!

Our home and our condo are still worth considerably more than we paid for them in 2001, but are down a lot from the boom years. Even our RE tax assessments are down this year -- down 25% (year over year) in both cases. I *think* the bottom has passed both here (north of Chicago) and on Maui. We'll see...

My scientific research into how the economy is doing shows a slight uptick. (I ask my hairdresser how business is doing.)

Yep, quite a bit.

Fortunately, though, I bought it 16.5 years ago, so what it is worth today is FAR more than what I paid for it.

ohhh linda...rub it in will ya...LOL...we bought ours in 2005 for 50K less then they were asking...now we know why...it's been a fixer upper...the women ran a "Handyman for Hire" company...too bad she never gave any TLC to this place...now it's probably 50K less then what we paid...so we're gonna stay for awhile...we only planned to stay for 5 years...it's 5 years this July...I'm still loving it though and want so bad to have a KT get together in Georgia before we leave this place!

Owned ours 19 years. It's tripled in value! Not planning on moving....little things that bother me, we'll put up with.

I wish I was better at decorating! My house could use a better decorator. ha ha

We bought our current bungalow in 2000 (Toronto) and yes its value has depreciated. What is worse is that our taxes keep on rising - to the levels of the boom years. Water rates have just gone up 9% and they are talking about a special levy to pay for infruscruture repairs. And another tax hike - in addition to the current planned real estate taxes. Then of course come July 1 our provincial taxes of 8% will be charged on just about everything - house sales included - that previously were only subject to our Federal Tax - GST. Nova Scotia is about to start this "harmonized" tax as well - and have it increased to 15% from 13%. The government keeps saying that businesses will lower their prices (funny, all of the places I frequent that currently do not charge provincial taxes have raised their prices) and that there will be tax breaks. The tax breaks though will not be for the average Middle Class Joe - they never are. There will be very long line-ups at the gas stations in Ontario on June 30, the day before our PST is added to the bill. It is funny though, many hairdressers and dog groomers are having their best years - people want to put on a good "front" during lean times.

We moved in here over 30 years ago. It has slipped in value over $200,000 in recent years, but still triple what we paid for it. Things will turn around eventually.

Mine has increased in value by about $60K since I built in 1997. At it's highest appraised value - summer of 2008 - I was going through a divorce - and had to pay out his share of the equity to keep it. That appraisal was about an additional 50k more than now...ouch! The recession could have saved me $25k ...

Ours is probably down at least $200,000, but it's still worth several times more than we paid for it 16 years ago.

I bought my house 3 years ago, just before the bottom fell out. But all in all I'm doing better than some. I figure my house has depreciated about 15,000.00 from when I purchased. Could be worse I guess. But since I plan to live here a very long time I figure it will all come out in the wash.

No, but I know we are lucky. We live in a pretty
good "pocket" of the economy. We are moving soon,
so feel lucky - but could end up paying at the
other end.

Strange time.

I bought a house in 1984, and sold it a year ago.
It appreciated and depreciated a few times in between...but I did sell it for over 3X what I paid for it.
In the past year, according to Zillow, it has appreciated slightly.

Certainly not according to the tax statements...

We bought our house in 1983 and it's value went down in the late 80's. This is in Texas. It has gradually gone up since then but it's still worth only about 50 thousand more then what we paid for it almost 27 years ago. Considering what we have put into it we would not break even. Texas did not get the run up in price that some areas did.

DH purchased our house in 1970. It is assessed at 4 times what he paid. Hopefully we will live here until they carry us out, and I hope that is not soon!!

Ours has gone down $250,000 in the last few years. Should have sold it when the selling was good. :(

Ours has gone done about $100,000 from the highest it's ever been valued, but is still worth well over what I paid in 1994.

As for advice, the way I think of it, it's all play money until you actually sell. It's exactly like a stock you own going up and down, only you have more emotional investment in the house.

I think you have to heed the advice that your primary residence is never really an investment, no matter how carefully you choose. You buy it, you live in it, and if you happen to make some money when you sell, that's gravy.

We built our home in 2002. Today we'd probably get $150,000 more than we paid for it. Yes, that's right.....housing prices here have skyrocketed and they're still going up. I live in Newfoundland, Canada.

I bought mine at the end of 1980 for $65,000. Similar homes were selling for over $250,000 a few years back but prices have receded a bit since then. I don't lose a wink of sleep about it because I don't intend to move anytime soon. Values will rebound eventually. I recall the payments being a strain even though with escrow they were under $700. DD#1 and husband bought a quarter mill home last year; a four figure mortgage payment boggles my mind!

Yes, like $200,000 down.

We bought our house in 1981 for $55,000. I know we could sell today for at least $100,000 so it's definitely worth staying here. We owe it free and clear, after paying down our mortgage with an inheiritance. Our taxes are about $6000 a year. Where else could we live for $500 a month plus utilities? We are NOT moving!

When I factored in inflation and RE taxes, I figured that the house we owned for almost 30 years and sold in 1999 'profited' us only about 4%/year. (Selling price was 8 1/2 times what we'd paid.)

You could make more by investing, but...you'd still have to LIVE somewhere.

We have lived here 40 years. Bought house, barn and 10 acreas for $25,000. Built another new barn 4 years ago. Houses are selling really well here. Especially small acreage. Our taxes here are only $500.00 a year. Should be able to get $175,00 to $200,000. Have another place down in the southern part of our state. Bought it 15 years ago for $25,000 with an old schoolhouse on the 34 acreas. Before we ever did anything to the schoolhouse we were offered $100,00. Taxes are only $300.00 a year. Realators are always calling us to sale down south. Hubby says no.

Susie

considering i was up 300% a few yrs ago, i'm happy to still be up 200% from when i bought my house in 2000. i'm in the orlando northeastern burbs and lucky that there have been no foreclosures or short sales in my subdivision and we are not as affected as some in orlando. for the last yr we've actually started to see prices going back up, we're in a very desireable school district, have neighborhood public amenities (pool, sports fields, trails etc) and close to every store you can imagine and every major road is nearby. i actually wish i had gone a little on a limb and bought something more expensive but i have done very well w/ what i got. i did the traditional 20+% cash down, kept my mortgage and all bills under the recommended 25% of your income and am very happy i did, i can happily say 'what downturn? not here!' lol ~ liz

we've been all hit...the hardest was dd2...bought the place for $360,000..then, the original builder sold the rest of the lots to another. they built and are selling the same houses for about $230,000+..ds1 can't get a loan to add on..i did a search on homes in their area, NONE are selling for what they paid, let alone what they wanted to borrow. (and they have excellent credit) ds2 house which dil bought before they were married,for over $100,000 is now valued at $50k...

I've never owned a home - have lived in employer-owned accomodation on several occasions ... and have lived in 22 places in my 81 years.

I was surprised at how little anxiety I felt when the value of my stocks, mutual funds (haven't bought any more of the latter in the last 20 years: they eat too much) went down over 25% rather precipitously a couple of years ago. [[They've since recovered a major percentage of the drop]].

But ... as I live within my pensions (and can, as long as I can take care of myself) ... those assets are sort of "play money" in terms of current need. I don't need to worry about how I'll pay the rent or buy food or gas, this year or next).

ole joyful