So, Mexico City is part of the U.S. now?
The more you know...I guess.

Cities are denoted with a small red square. There is no underwater data for Mexico City.

Wow. My county is one of the top 10% totals.. My specific zip is at 31% underwater. Nice to know that it ain't just me, but gotdamn.

I'm not sure the credibility of Zillow's data. My house has been shown as $130K for years. We bought it for 60K a few years ago and recently sold it at 90.

Anyone have a source saying Zillow is a valid place to find home worth? Do they get tax information from somewhere?

Starfly: I'm not sure the credibility of Zillow's data. My house has been shown as $130K for years. We bought it for 60K a few years ago and recently sold it at 90.

Anyone have a source saying Zillow is a valid place to find home worth? Do they get tax information from somewhere?

Nobody accepts Zillow home estimates as anywhere close to accurate...except idiot sellers trying to sell at an inflated price.

/I like how South Dakota is completely clear.

Well, that's ironic. According to the map, you seem to have lost most of Lake Michigan, indeed almost all of the American part of the Great Lakes.

My guess is the Great Lakes have slopped over into Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, etc, which is why there are so many homes underwater there.

Good bye, Great Lakes, and thanks for all the fish.

Droog8912: Nobody accepts Zillow home estimates as anywhere close to accurate...except idiot sellers trying to sell at an inflated price.

My loan officer seemed quite taken with it when we refinanced in January.

My ZIP is only 10% underwater. Yay!

Ya. My zip is at 48% underwater, but only top 20%. My parent's in the next zipcode over are in the top 10%, 51% underwater.

We bought in January 2007.

Droog8912:

/I like how South Dakota is completely clear.

I thought that, too, until I saw that blue didn't mean "clear", it just meant "no data".

Clark County Nevada is the top 1%! And according to Zillow, my ZIP Code is around $96K. According to the county, my taxable value is around $91K while according to the bank my current principle is $84K. Either way, I'm in the black. I'll count this as a success.

Whenever people claim there is all this pent up demand in housing, remember that, for most transactions, the buyer also has a house to sell. And if they are underwater they probably cannot sell that house and still have money for a down payment. Even if they do a short sale it's unlikely they've been able to save enough to buy.

Walk Away!

Looking at Houston it's interesting to see that the highest income areas aren't really underwater, some of the median high income level areas are sort of underwater but many of the lower income areas should learn to grow gills.

interesting, or very bad I'm not sure

Wireless Joe: Droog8912:

/I like how South Dakota is completely clear.

I thought that, too, until I saw that blue didn't mean "clear", it just meant "no data".

Or "no one cares"

is it just me or are they literally showing underwater mortgages in lake michigan?

AdamK: is it just me or are they literally showing underwater mortgages in lake michigan?

If they're in lake Michigan, they have to be underwater.

yep we're all taking a bath on this one

Starfly: I'm not sure the credibility of Zillow's data. My house has been shown as $130K for years. We bought it for 60K a few years ago and recently sold it at 90.

Anyone have a source saying Zillow is a valid place to find home worth? Do they get tax information from somewhere?

No idea where they get their data, but it isn't from the tax rolls. They carry my house at 3986 sf. That includes the crawlspaces! They say 5 bedrooms, it's really three and an office (no closet). One bath, it has three. Got the price wrong as well.

SharkTrager: Whenever people claim there is all this pent up demand in housing, remember that, for most transactions, the buyer also has a house to sell. And if they are underwater they probably cannot sell that house and still have money for a down payment. Even if they do a short sale it's unlikely they've been able to save enough to buy.

And then consider if you are buying a home while trying to sell. You need to expect the buyer of your home to give you occupancy, and that's usually only 60 days after close, unless you get very lucky. You cannot purchase a short sale.

In our situation, we couldn't purchase short sales, we already bought a foreclosure and worked hard to both put time and money in the house, we don't want another foreclosure.

In the end, we bought (hopefully, if things go well) a new construction. Before that I thought "why is anyone buying new homes when the market is flooded with cheap existing homes." Now I know. The selection of homes in a good school district without being over priced (underwater) and/or not needing a lot of work was so infinitesimally small. And we had 40 days to find one.

/ymmv

Starfly: I'm not sure the credibility of Zillow's data. My house has been shown as $130K for years. We bought it for 60K a few years ago and recently sold it at 90.

Anyone have a source saying Zillow is a valid place to find home worth? Do they get tax information from somewhere?

I believe they use the same method an appraiser does -- looking at recent sales in your area. However, since it is automated, it doesn't take a lot of stuff into effect, like the quality of your home and property, quality of the area, etc. Plus, if no or few homes have sold near you recently, their system stretches further out in space and further back in time to find comparables.

Wow, my Zip code is at 39% with a value of $86K. A couple of streets over it changes to 58% with $34K values.

Wait, this is Saginaw Michigan, that doesn't surprise me at all.

/planning on moving next year
//not underwater, but will 'lose' money
///it's not an investment

rolladuck: Clark County Nevada is the top 1%! And according to Zillow, my ZIP Code is around $96K. According to the county, my taxable value is around $91K while according to the bank my current principle is $84K. Either way, I'm in the black. I'll count this as a success.

Occupy rolladuck

stewbert: rolladuck: Clark County Nevada is the top 1%! And according to Zillow, my ZIP Code is around $96K. According to the county, my taxable value is around $91K while according to the bank my current principle is $84K. Either way, I'm in the black. I'll count this as a success.

Occupy rolladuck

Damn my frugal nature. I'm sorry, I don't need any patchouli in my house.

I do have a spare bedroom I can rent. Going by yesterday's article about the generational poor family, I can probably fit two parents and four kids in there. I wonder how much rent I can charge. That family was paying $800/month for an apartment in Compton. I don't pay that much for a HOUSE in North Las Vegas.

Rents are way out of line with buying. Our mortgage (including taxes) on 2700 sf is less than my wife's rent on 850 sf was before we bought.

loonatic112358: Looking at Houston it's interesting to see that the highest income areas aren't really underwater, some of the median high income level areas are sort of underwater but many of the lower income areas should learn to grow gills.

interesting, or very bad I'm not sure

Bear in mind underwater means they were once over-valued. McMansions probably hover around the million mark in a lot of places. If your market is people so rich they don't have to worry about the recession you may get a smaller pool to draw from but they might all be just as profligate with their money as they were 5 years ago.

It's the smaller, middle-class houses that were more likely to be built up insanely high and then took a nosedive.

This only matters if you're looking to sell soon.

downstairs: This only matters if you're looking to sell soon.

Or if you are looking to refinance. We are enough underwater that we can't refinance despite our original 20% down, we would have 30% positive equity if the prices had just stayed the same.

Keep in mind this is on the high side across the board. Zillow thinks I'm underwater because they estimate my value at what the house was assessed at fifteen years ago. For some reason they didn't update the estimate when I bought it, and they certainly don't know about the ceramic floor and marble tub surround and other stuff I've done since moving in.

downstairs: This only matters if you're looking to sell soon.

Or if you need to try to get a new job, or if you're not financially brain dead.

Coincidence?

LIEbuhrals spend more than they can afford? Unpossible!!

Dazrin: Or if you are looking to refinance. We are enough underwater that we can't refinance despite our original 20% down, we would have 30% positive equity if the prices had just stayed the same.

Why would you refinance something underwater? Durrrr.

Of course I just pay cash (actually ACH), so I never have that problem. Then again, I am not a dipshiat libtard.

Starfly: I'm not sure the credibility of Zillow's data. My house has been shown as $130K for years. We bought it for 60K a few years ago and recently sold it at 90.

Anyone have a source saying Zillow is a valid place to find home worth? Do they get tax information from somewhere?

As a Realtor I've never seen it match reality. More like reality + wishful thinking. If you want an accurate guestimate you should look up your local county appraiser's website and pull some comparisons in your area.

I was in Austin, TX last week (Round Rock, Pflugerville area). We couldn't believe the amount of house you could get for the money there. Turns out Hutto & Pflugerville are in the top 20% and the Manor area (just south) is in the top 1%.

Looks like most of these homes are just barely underwater though which means people can hold on instead of just burn it down & walk away. Vegas & Ft. Meyers, FL (where I have family) has a large amount of homes that are 200% underwater.

SevenizGud: Dazrin: Or if you are looking to refinance. We are enough underwater that we can't refinance despite our original 20% down, we would have 30% positive equity if the prices had just stayed the same.

Why would you refinance something underwater? Durrrr.

Of course I just pay cash (actually ACH), so I never have that problem. Then again, I am not a dipshiat libtard.

Because if we could refinance it now, we could get a 15 year loan instead of the current 30 year loan? And pay the same per month?

Starfly: I'm not sure the credibility of Zillow's data. My house has been shown as $130K for years. We bought it for 60K a few years ago and recently sold it at 90.

Anyone have a source saying Zillow is a valid place to find home worth? Do they get tax information from somewhere?

There is too much "no data" territory in that map. We can't draw significant conclusions about the data they do have.

I can't find any jurisdiction higher than Clark County on that map.

I bought in Vegas in 2006 for $650,000. House is now worth about $350,000. Still owe about $500,000 on it.

Love the house. Living in it but it's a mistake that will haunt me for my whole life.

I'd like to thank Wall St. for gambling with the economy and Washington, D.C. for bailing them out.

Somewhere someone is enjoying my $300,000.

Junzi Nicuzn: Starfly: I'm not sure the credibility of Zillow's data. My house has been shown as $130K for years. We bought it for 60K a few years ago and recently sold it at 90.

Anyone have a source saying Zillow is a valid place to find home worth? Do they get tax information from somewhere?

As a Realtor I've never seen it match reality. More like reality + wishful thinking. If you want an accurate guestimate you should look up your local county appraiser's website and pull some comparisons in your area.

for NYC metro area farkers, propertyshark and streeteasy are great for this sort of thing.

as for the map, holy shiat I had no idea that the housing markets in Altanta and Chicago were that screwed up.

Dazrin: Because if we could refinance it now, we could get a 15 year loan instead of the current 30 year loan? And pay the same per month?

Or you could just walk, and not lose that money at all. Durrr.

Starfly: I'm not sure the credibility of Zillow's data. My house has been shown as $130K for years. We bought it for 60K a few years ago and recently sold it at 90.

Anyone have a source saying Zillow is a valid place to find home worth? Do they get tax information from somewhere?

Tax information is publicly available, at least in Florida. Zillow values can be all over the map in my experience. The Z-value on the house we're buying is probably about right. Most houses I've seen it's been a decent guess compared with my own valuations. Elsewhere they're way too low, and in other places way too high.

You need to do your own research to figure out the value. Find out what similar homes are selling for in the area. Check rents and google around to figure out value based on that. Valuing homes is not difficult at all. A little bit of basic math, and you'll do fine.

I will say this: While there are properties where Zillow gets it spectacularly wrong, don't believe a word realtors say about it. Knowledge is power, and realtors hate it when you have it. Zillow should be seen as one potentially useful source of knowledge among many others.