HomeGain Poll Shows Value Disconnect

Emeryville, California-based ""HomeGain"":http://www.homegain.com, the first website to provide free instant home values, today announced the results of a ""nationwide survey"":http://blog.homegain.com/polls/results-of-realtor-home-values-survey analyzing homeowners' and homebuyers' views on home prices. The study, which was based on responses from nearly 700 Realtors, showed that both groups' opinions on property values are still disparate from reality.
The poll shows that 45 percent of homeowners think their homes should be listed 10 to 20 percent higher than what their Realtors recommend, and nearly 20 percent of homeowners think their homes are worth 20 percent more than their Realtors’ recommended listing price.
Fourteen percent of homeowners think that the listing prices recommended by their Realtors properly valued their homes, HomeGain said, while 63 percent of homeowners believe their Realtors undervalued their homes.
Homebuyers are experiencing a similar disconnect on price. According to the Realtors surveyed by HomeGain, only 18 percent of their home buying clients think homes are fairly priced.
Even with the precipitous decrease in home values over the past year, HomeGain found that nearly 60 percent of potential buyers think home prices are too steep, with 32 percent of buyers indicating that homes are overpriced by 10 to 20 percent.
Only 25 percent of buyers think home prices are undervalued, HomeGain said, with 14 percent saying residential real estate properties are undervalued by 10 to 20 percent.
HomeGain referenced a recent ""Zillow poll"":http://zillow.mediaroom.com/index.phpxs=159&item=106, which showed that sellers were no longer in denial regarding the U.S. housing slide, but HomeGain's survey, the company says, demonstrates a different result. The latest ""HomeGain survey"":http://blog.homegain.com/polls/results-of-realtor-home-values-survey underscores that while homeowners may be aware of falling home prices around the country, many believe that the slide doesn't apply to their homes.
Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain, said, ""Our survey shows that the market and Realtors are telling homeowners their homes are worth considerably less than homeowners think they are.""
Pamela Frey-Primiani of Keller Williams Realty in Sicklerville, New Jersey, agrees. ""Homeowners know that prices have fallen, but that somehow doesn't apply to them because they have ‘upgraded vinyl’ or some such nonsense,"" Frey-Primiani said. ""In other words, their house has the golden doorknob.""
Fifty-three percent of Realtors surveyed by HomeGain said they think home prices will fall in the next six months. Only 11 percent responded that they think home prices will rise.
In addition, HomeGain said that the Obama stimulus package was not viewed favorably by a majority of Realtors the company surveyed. Nearly 60 percent stated that it will have no impact on home prices or actually cause home prices to fall. Thirty-eight percent think the stimulus package will stabilize home prices and just three percent believe it will help increase prices, HomeGain reported.