The savviest sellers? Homeowners who bought during the bubble
Ah, all those poor buyers who bought during the bubble years. It's hard to find a more maligned group out there. Basically, if you paid some sky-high price for your home back in 2004 or 2005, everyone assumes you are a fool who jumped on the bubble band wagon.
But it turns out that maybe those bubble years' buyers aren't so foolish after all, at least when it comes to figuring out what their homes are worth now. In fact, they may have a better grasp of current market reality than those who bought later during the bust, or for that matter homeowners like me who bought just before the big run up in prices began, according to a new report by Zillow.com.
The Zillow survey finds that post bubble buyers - basically anyone who bought from 2007 on - are in fact the worst at pricing their homes when it comes time to sell.
Post bubble buyers are pricing their homes on average 14 percent above their true market value. The same is true for pre-bubble buyers - they are typically off by 11.6 percent.
But what about all those bubble years' buyers? Well it turns out, after breaking the bank to buy homes during the boom, these homeowners are now the best judges of current market prices.
Homeowners who bought during the bubble years are still overpricing their homes, but by a comparatively modest 9 percent. While still off the mark, it is considerably closer to reality than the much bigger markups sought by their counterparts who bought before and after the housing bubble.
Having already been burned badly, maybe homeowners who bought during the bubble years are simply determined to avoid getting burned again.
What's your take?
