Home Values: Why You Should Stop Worrying About Yours

Checking your home's value on websites has become an almost weekly obsession with many. That obsession is being fed by stories like one from The New York Times declaring that owning a home is no longer a way to build wealth.

As long as you're not planning to move, you should stop worrying about the long-term value for your home. Yes, prices are down and may even go down a little bit further, but all signs seem to indicate that we're the near the bottom -- if not at the bottom. So let's look at five reasons to stop worrying about whether or not you should have bought your home and where it's price might be going.


Reason 1: Your House Is Your Home

As long as you plan to live in that house for 10 or 20 or more years, think of your house as a place to build family memories, not as an asset that you have to worry about selling. One thing is certain about the housing market: Prices will go up and down many times when you own a house for the long term. This current market may be more volatile than we've ever seen, but the worst is over. Instead of thinking about it as a housing asset, think about it as your family's home -- a place to live, not an asset to be sold.