OPEN SPACE: Priceless

Home sales prices in the United States fell last month for the
first time in 11 years, according to the National Association of
Realtors. The August 2006 national median sales price was $225,000,
down 2.2 percent from the July 2006 median price of $230,000, and
down 1.7 percent from the July 2005 median price of $229,000.
As we all remember from junior high math, a ³median² is not an
average number, but a middle number. In the world of residential
real estate, a median sales price of $225,000 means an equal number
of homes priced above and below that figure.
So somewhere in America, there is a recently purchased $225,000
home representing the exact middle point along the continuum of
home sales prices. We don¹t know much about this median home, other
than the fact it is not in Sebastopol.  
The median home sales price in Sebastopol in August 2006 was
$740,000, according to Data Quick Real Estate News. While that¹s
more than a half million dollars above the national median sales
price, it is also thirty thousand dollars less than the August 2005
median price of $770,000.
So, depending on how one views the numbers, local homeowners are
either sitting pretty and can cash out and buy three houses
elsewhere ­ or are on the precipice of that dangerous, long-dreaded
slippery slope which will plunge prices to levels comparable to
those found in Sebastopol, Russia.  
Of course, nothing is ever ³real² when it comes to real estate,
especially in our precious local market. We should take heart that
last month¹s lower median figures are not necessarily indicative of
a lasting trend, and are based on a total of only 21 sales. For all
we know, a lot of low-end fixer-uppers may have skewed the August
median downward. But even if that is true, we still don¹t know if
the bubble is about to burst, expand some more, or continue to
torture us with uncertainty.
No one wants to admit it, but we are all secretly obsessed with
the value of our homes. One can go to Zillow.com and look up the
current value of one¹s home. I don¹t recommend this. It¹s better to
look up the value of your neighbor¹s home. This is vaguely
voyeuristic, but in a declining market at least the bad news
belongs to someone else.
According to the latest data in Zillow, the value of my home
went down $18,477 in the week ending September 15. Ironically, this
was the week when I finally got around to weeding my front yard and
trimming the walkway. It¹s a good thing I held off on clearing my
roof gutters.
As an aside, I¹ve always felt a little uncomfortable about the
unhealthy ratio of realtors to residents in Sebastopol. True, the
thriving realtor population should reassure us that we have a
vibrant housing market, and our soccer teams and shopping carts do
need sponsors.
But after a while all those glossy postcards in the mail
featuring realtors with gleaming white teeth offering free market
analyses begin to feel like so many invitations to a party hosted
by cannibals. When the time comes to sell my house, I¹m going to
choose the realtor who offers me the best protection from all the
other realtors who did not get the listing.
In the meantime, it¹s hard not to miss the younger days when
home was the place where one¹s kids were growing up, and there was
seemingly no downside in life.
In those golden days, my home was worth little more than I paid
for it, but felt priceless all the same.
– Guy Wilson is a Sonoma West Times & News columnist