re: #1004 jcm

We bought about 13 years ago at the beginning of the boom. Even with the hit of the last couple years in good shape. Seattle’s housing market has taken the smallest hit in the country because the supply is so restricted. Two homes in my neighborhood are on the market asking $450,000. This are standard middle of road 3-4 bedroom suburban type homes, nothing fancy.

Atlanta didn’t have the big run-up in existing home values that other cities did because we had a construction boom instead. Being landlocked, the metro area just keeps growing in all directions. We considered a refinance in 2006 and the appraisal indicated about 25% appreciation from our purchase price in 2000. We decided not to go through with it, which is probably just as well because we’d be underwater if we had. I estimate our home’s value is about what we paid for it, and since we actually put down a down payment, we still owe less than it’s worth. I’m just thankful we have no need to move for the foreseeable future.