East Bay Area Real Estate

An article on sfgate.com has some interesting discussion around the topic of how homeowners feel like they are “drowning” from the declining home values.

“The people most affected are those who bought recently with little or no money down. When home values decline, many such homeowners end up “underwater” - owing more than their house is worth. The negative equity regions closely track to the places where prices have fallen most steeply, such as eastern Contra Costa County, Oakland, Richmond and Solano County. But even in upscale areas like the Peninsula, Marin and Walnut Creek, … analysis shows that a significant percentage of people who purchased in 2006 now owe more on their house than it is worth.” (see graphic below)

Data provided by Zillow

Read more of the article and the comments at Homeowners get that drowning feeling

It is also important to note that the data for this graphic is provided by Zillow and Zillow’s accuracy has been questioned.

Is Zillow.com Accurate?
Here is an interesting video that discusses just that - “Is Zillow.com Accurate?”