Minneapolis, MN: Since the real estate market collapse, many home owners found themselves owning much more than their home was worth on the fair market. This created many problems, from the inability to sell and move, foreclosure from the inability to sell, and a hard time refinancing because of the lower value.
The same report stated that the underwater rate is currently about 19.4% of all homes. This is an improvement of about 3.9 million homes going back above water in 2013. This is down from about 27.5% of all homes underwater in late 2012.
As values increase, millions of people who may have had a pent up demand to move, but couldn’t, now suddenly find themselves once again above water. More people are likely above water than actually realize, as many people rely on county tax statements for their value estimates. But tax value and fair market value, or what you could actually sell the home for, are many times two dramatically different numbers.
I advise anyone thinking of selling, to contact a local Real Estate Agent to get a fair market assessment of their home, and to contact a mortgage broker in their area to see what they would qualify for in a new home, or to see about refinancing.
The market is expected to slowly continue the climb towards a more balanced market, with the report estimating the negative equity of homes nationwide to drop even further, to just 17.2% by the end of 2014.