If a house sold for $700k in 2008, what should it sell for today?

[Anonymous]

Assuming nothing about the area or home has been changed, what would you expect to pay for a house that sold for $700k four years ago? Asking price of $740k back in 2008, same asking price today.

[Anonymous]

What it sold for in 2008 doesn't matter. What does matter? What similar homes have sold for in the past three months.

[Anonymous]

Agent says no good comps, and I tend to agree. It's a small pocket very close to the boundary of a different town and school system. There have only been about ten sales in the area in the past three years, most from 2009 or 2010, from houses that are pretty different. Agent says it is worth at least as much as in 2008, but it has been on market for 50 days. It was also listed at same price last year, but listing expired with no price cuts.

[Anonymous]

650

[Anonymous]

$680k

[Anonymous]

Where? The answer is very different if you say Burke or Logan Circle.

[Anonymous]

Did it sell early or late 2008. Basically, after lehman blew up in Sept., the steep price declines became apparent and continued until this year, really. Except for some very close in areas.

[Anonymous]

It's worth what someone's willing to pay. Make a low offer and see what happens.

[Anonymous]

I *bought* a house in the U Street area for $700k in 2008, comps have been selling for about $750k. Not as much growth as I would like, but we are not planning to sell for 5-6 more years.

[Anonymous]

what else is someone likely to buy if they can't get that house? Are you a potential buyer or seller?

I agree, there may not be good comps in the immediate area, but there are comps--whatever someone else would buy in the same situation.

[Anonymous]

really depends on where the home is located. In some areas homes prices have increased since 2008 and in some they have dropped drastically. there is no blanket amount than anyone can guess.

[Anonymous]

OP, give us the general area of the house and when the purchase was in 2008 (PP is right that pre- and post-Lehman were drastically different markets) and maybe we can give you some guidance. And, have your agent run whether prices have increased or decreased in the neighborhood since the purchase of that house.

[Anonymous]

get a new agent.

[Anonymous]

less.

unless they did major overhauls, but people here seem to pay the same whether the roof or A/C is 20 yo or 1 yo...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:get a new agent.

I agree with this. Comps or not your realtor should be able to give you an idea of what is a realistic price for an area. IF they can't then they are useless.