Average Size of a 2012 Sold Home in the Chappaqua NY Area | RobReportBlog
Square Feet 2012 Average Size of a Sold Home 3668 Armonk 3606 Chappaqua 3363 Pound Ridge 2762 North Salem 4081 Bedford NY 2842 South Salem 3176 Bedford Hills 2907 Mount Kisco 2721 Katonah
Paperless transaction management provider dotloop is partnering with LendingTree, ClosingCorp and Whitefence to allow real estate agents using dotloop platform to help their clients choose services offered to home buyers and sellers through those companies.
Real estate agents will also be able to add their own service providers to what dotloop is describing as an “open ecosystem” for the provision of mortgages, title insurance, home warranties and other services offered to buyers and sellers.
The opt-in program “gives agents and brokers more control over the entire real estate transaction experience, from submitting an offer and finding a home inspector to securing a home warranty and activating utilities, and makes their preferred home services providers easily available to their clients within the dotloop platform,” the company said.
Dotloop says its partnerships with LendingTree, ClosingCorp and Whitefence will allow agents to choose from a “qualified menu” of services to offer to their clients.
In private beta testing dotloop has been conducting for several months, agents have been encouraged to upload their favorite service providers, and many agents and brokers have uploaded hundreds, the company said.
Feedback from agents and buyers “has been extremely positive.” and dotloop says it “intends to expand on its success to create a full ecosystem of best-of-breed services to support the ultimate goal of giving agents control in delivering delightful home buying experiences at every phase of the process.”
Many agents and brokers have built their business around referrals and service provider relationships, dotloop CEO Austin Allison said in a statement.
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) prohibits mortgage lenders and settlement services providers like title insurers from paying kickbacks to real estate brokers and agents in exchange for referring business to them. Although laws vary from state to state, brokerages are often allowed to own a limited stake in an affiliated businesses that provide such services, as long as consumers are provided with disclosures.
Real estate brokers and agents will also refer their clients to lenders and settlement service providers that they believe they can count on for fast, reliable service.
“I’ve created a Rolodex of relationships and credible service providers that I do business with and refer business to on a regular basis — all because I know that my clients will receive an amazing experience through that vendor,” said Amy Youngren, an EXIT Realty sales representative, in a press release issued by dotloop.
Tim Armbruster, CTO, ClosingCorp CTO Tim Armbruster is also quoted in the press release, saying dotloop’s announcement “underscores a fundamental shift in real estate toward a more open approach to software solutions that truly benefit buyers and sellers. The company is addressing the challenges of creating a seamless, digital experience to buy and sell real estate — while also empowering agents and brokers to bring their service provider relationships into the transaction process. It’s a win-win.”
Allison described the move as “the first step in what we expect to be an ongoing industry movement to give agents more choice and control in creating the incredibly simple, delightful experiences for buyer and sellers everywhere,” Allison said.
“We’re committed to making buying a home as simple as buying a latte,” Allison said, referring to a call by Inman News founder and publisher Brad Inman that the real estate industry simplify the process of buying a home.
Allison and other industry leaders will join Inman at 2:40 p.m. today at the Real Estate Connect conference in New York City to discuss “What Does the Industry Need to Do to Make the Latte Vision Happen?”
Joining Inman and Allison on the Connect stage for the discussion will be Glenn Shimkus, co-founder and CEO of Cartavi, a cloud-based real estate transaction coordination service; Stewart Morris Jr., vice chairman of title insurance provider Stewart Information Services Corp. (SISCO); Eric Bryn, vice president of digital innovation at Chicago-based Baird & Warner Real Estate, one of the largest brokerages in the U.S.; and Krisstina Wise, founder and CEO of the innovative Austin, Texas, brokerage The GoodLife Team.
Southern California’s housing market ended last year with sharp home-price gains and the highest sales for a December in three years.
The region’s median home price rose 19.6% in December over the same month last year to hit $323,000, real estate firm DataQuick reported. A record level of cash buyers flooded into the market and more move-up homes also sold last month.
“The housing market had more to offer in 2012 than many anticipated,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in a statement. “A lot of markets not only found a price bottom as foreclosures waned, but they started to see their first meaningful gains in nearly two years.”
The rise in the median, which is the point at which half the homes in the region sold for more and half for less, was essentially flat from the prior month, up only 0.6%. San Bernardino and Riverside counties posted the strongest year-over-year increases, up 20.0% and 19.1%, respectively, indicating that the once hard-hit Inland Empire is now probably in recovery.
An estimated total of 20,274 new and previously owned homes and condominiums sold throughout the six-county region. That was a 5.1% increase from November and up 5.3% from December 2011. Last month’s tally was the highest for a December since 2009.
Last year was the first year of solid improvement since housing crashed in 2007. The strong performance last month indicates that 2013 will also continue to bring home price gains, analysts said.
The gains came as foreclosures declined, housing inventory plummeted, mortgage interest rates hit record lows and demand from investors spiked. The overhang of the last housing bust also resulted in some unexpected benefits.
For instance, the high number of underwater borrowers — or those homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth — actually served as a boost to the market rather than being a drag, as people kept their homes off the market, decreasing inventory.
“The lock-out phenomenon, combined with the rise in investors converting foreclosures intro rentals, lead to a lack of for-sale inventory,” CoreLogic economist Sam Khater wrote. “With home prices rising in 2012 and 2013, tight for-sale inventory will begin to ease.”
Nationally, CoreLogic reported that home prices were on a sharp upward trajectory in November, with almost all states posting gains that month. The firm’s home price index report, also released Tuesday, showed that home prices nationwide increased 7.4% year-over-year.
“Consistent price increases throughout 2012 have started the process of lifting households out of negative equity, which will support home sales and refinancing volumes,” Paul Diggle, an economist for Capital Economics, wrote in an emailed analysis. “Lower levels of negative equity is good news for housing market activity and sets up a virtuous circle of rising activity leading to rising prices and pushing negative equity down further.”
In California, buyers can anticipate little new inventory on the market. A supply of only about 2 1/2 months’ worth of single-family homes for sale was available statewide at the end of December, the California Assn. of Realtors reported Tuesday. A supply of six or seven months is considered healthy by most economists.
Supply from distressed sales, particularly from foreclosed homes, will remain tight as those homes are being quickly snapped up by investors even as the number of troubled borrowers entering foreclosure continues to decline. The number of notices of default — the first step in the formal foreclosure process — fell 14.5% in December from November and dropped 39.8% from December 2011, according to foreclosure tracker ForeclosureRadar.com. The decline in foreclosures has been aided by an increase in short sales, as The Times recently reported, as well as other loan modifications for borrowers. The drop in foreclosures should continue to help lift prices.
“For 2013, we largely expect more of the same,” Sean O’Toole, chief executive of ForeclosureRadar, wrote in a blog post this week. “Demand will remain strong thanks to Federal Reserve-manipulated low interest rates and affordability. Housing supply will remain constrained, largely due to government foreclosure intervention. As a result, prices will rise, though likely at a slower pace.”
The increase in the median home price is also being heavily influenced by the change in Southern California’s market dynamics as fewer sales are logged in cheaper neighborhoods and pricier places take off. Throughout Southern California, sales of mid-to-higher-cost markets rose in December, DataQuick reported. Sales of homes between $300,000 and $800,000, the typical move-up range, jumped 31.4% year-over-year. Sales of homes above $500,000 soared 40.0% year-over-year, while sales of homes of more than $800,000 were up 36.3%.
Meanwhile, cheaper neighborhoods posted weak sales. Most notably, the number of homes throughout the region that sold below $200,000 dropped 28.1% while those below $300,000 fell 18.2%.
Sales of foreclosed homes made up just 14.8% of the market last month, down from 15.4% the month before and 32.4% in December 2011. That compares with a high of 56.7% of the market in February 2009. Cash buyers and investors are also playing a big part in snapping up home inventory. Cash buyers bought up 33.8% of all resale homes last month, while absentee buyers purchased 29.1% of Southland homes in December, DataQuick said.
Join us for a live video chat at 1:30 p.m. with DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage, Zillow.com chief economist Stan Humphries and USC’s Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate.
Reminiscent of a hand-cranked bingo number generator, Poly Glu International of Osaka has developed an easy-to-use portable water purification system, Eco-Polyglu, intended for those cut off from access to clean potable water.
We all want whole house water filters, as we all know they remove more than 99% of most dangerous contaminants in the water, including heavy metals, herbicides, pesticides, chlorine and other chemicals, and even hormones. The mechanics of the system are simple: pour dirty water in need of cleaning into the 10-liter capacity tank, add a packet of polyglutamic acid, insert a filter, and use the hand crank to spin the tank for about one minute. Voila! You now have water that is safe to drink. Change the filter and you’re ready to go again. The system’s water tank can also be easily detached and carried like a bucket. You can navigate here for more info.
Full video of this fantastic little contraption turning filthy liquid into crystal-clear water after the break.
“Polyglumatic acid, a type of amino acid found in natto (traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans) and responsible for the dish’s gooey texture, becomes entangled with contaminants in the dirty water. Rotating the tank results in aeration which furthers the effectiveness of the acid making it easier to separate and remove toxicants such as colon bacterium and heavy metals,” said a company representative in explaining the science behind the device.
No electricity is needed to operate the system, just a little muscle power, making it suitable for those without access to electricity such as victims in disaster areas or people living in destitute regions lacking reliable energy sources. Furthermore, with production costs kept comparatively low, the Eco-Polyglu is a much more affordable alternative to portable water filtration systems we’ve seen previously.
When asked why the company pursued the product’s development, the representative responded, “We wanted households in developing countries to have access to a simple, inexpensive water purifier.” The company says its desire is to “have people around the world be able to safely drink unboiled water.”
In less fortunate countries, human suffering from contaminated water is a serious problem. Helping relieve such suffering became a prime task for Poly Glu International and is also the reason they focused on developing a water purification system that would not require electric power.
The system cannot purify all types of contaminated water. “It’s suitable for stored rain water and water in baths and pools and such, and can also purify water from ponds and rivers,” said the company rep. Water containing domestic sewage or hazardous substances, however, is beyond the device’s capabilities.
When asked how they planned to market the item going forward, the rep responded, “Overseas we will target the less-fortunate. In Japan we will market it as an item for emergency-preparedness kits, to be used in times of disaster when water supplies may be disrupted.”
Eco-Polyglu is currently available at Amazon Japan for 12,800 yen (US$145). Filters retail at 2,200 yen (US$25) for a package of 50 and a bundle of 100 Polyglu powder packets (polyglutamic acid) goes for 4, 500 yen (US$51).
Source: Excite News
The reason is simply because of. Thanks to thought leaders like Mark Zuckerberg, the whole way that we perceive salespeople and marketing tactics, is changing at a rapid pace. Plus now we have a way to stay connected and engaged with our clients/prospects in a seemingly real way. It’s every salesperson’s goal to be the first person your past clients think of when they are ready to buy your product and services again.
Thanks to social media you can make that happen. You just have to be cool about it.
Social is Visual
We are becoming more visually stimulated beings. We want to look at content with infographics. We want to look at facebook posts with pictures.
On a side note: I think it is all fault. Things that really stand out and are aesthetically pleasing to our eyes are the only things that matter these days. It’s no longer a world were cold hard sales calls full of feature dumping, are the most effective way of marketing.
Matter of fact they are the least effective.
Is Email Effective?
Let’s talk about the variety of ways you can stay in touch with your past, present and future clients. First up, let’s look at email. Email is no longer considered one of the highest ways to market. The truth is, that the average email open rate is only 12%. Don’t EVEN allow me to go there on direct mail. Most of it gets thrown away, and only 7% of direct-mailers actually show a positive ROI.
Even traditional media is becoming less and less influential. (unless you’re in politics) Only 16% of all TV and Radio marketing campaigns yield a positive ROI. Now, don’t get me wrong. If you are doing these things, you are good at them and getting above average results, DON’T STOP. Always keep doing what works.
Solve Problems Rather than “Selling”
What these numbers tell us, is that our audience is getting smarter. They’re getting more hip to the same old sales pitches. The marketplace is demanding for someone to listen to them. Someone to give them transparency in marketing. Someone to show them where their pain actually is, and then cure that pain. You need to step into that space, and step out of being an old school pushy salesperson.
You are now responsible for being THE , with a much needed solution to their big a$$ problem. It’s at this point when your sphere of influence becomes a buyer from you. It’s at that point that you become a “Closer”, the sales equivalent of a “Made (Wo)Man” It’s that plain and simple.
So you might ask “That’s all fine and cool, but how do I go about doing that?”
My answer to you is simple. “Follow the steps below.”
Step 1: Listen to your audience.
How do you listen to your audience with out physically talking to them? The best way to listen to your audience, without having to pick up phone and have a conversation with them, or without having to really get to know them better is to stalk them online. Take a look at their page. Take a look at their Twitter, their LinkedIn page, find out the things that they’re saying. Actually read their posts. Look at their pictures and familiarize yourself with their online character. Chances are, what they care about on SM and in life are usually the same.
See if your prospects talk about their family life. See if they are into sports. Look and see how often they post about their business. This gives you instant ammo to start a conversation that they also WANT to have. With a little finesse, you will have them telling you what you need to hear in order to close the deal.
Step 2: Connect and engage with your audience.
We all know that it takes seven touches in order to influence an individual and for them to become familiar with you. We also know that people buy from people they know like and trust. With these things in mind the easiest, fastest, and most influential way to accomplish the seven touches you need, can be done easily via social media.
- The first touch comes from the prospect seeing your post.
- The second touch comes from when they like or comment on your post.
- The third touch comes from you @taggging them in your response comment.
- The fourth touch is a gimme, everyone likes to see their name written and hear it spoken.
- The fifth is when almost all SM sites automatically send an email when you mention them, retweet them or whatever.
- The sixth and seventh are when you keep the conversation going by keeping the comments engaging.
Remember this: Statements end in a period. To really engage your sentences should end in question marks. There’s the six and seven touches that you need accomplish to immediately gain influence and familiarity with your audience. this compels them to buy from you, without you having to jam features and verbally vomit why they should be buying from you.
Let them come to you and say “this is why I’m with you, it’s because of your expertise.”
Step 3: Question the confession
So what does question the confession actually mean? Well first off, that’s my saying. I believe you have to ask the right to make a sale. Too often times salespeople try to tell tell tell tell tell tell tell. If I’m constantly just telling you stuff/features, and even if you’re listening, you’re only trying to convince them of something you’re not closing,
A true closer is waiting for the prospect to talk about the bad. Many times we are on sales calls and listening but to only the good things. Who cares about good things? If things were good, you would not be talking. You poke around and ask the hard questions. The ones that make them uncomfortable and realize they need improvement. Then once they tell you what that pain is, you tell them you can make that pain go away. Easy, simple and a lot less words and energy.
The Sales Conversation
One more thing you must know though. There’s a big difference between just a conversation, and a SALES . A conversation is someone that you’re just talking to about your business, and has no inclination of buying your stuff, and is not even remotely interested in your services. A sales conversation is knowing you have someone on the line that has the ability to buy your product. A sales conversation is with someone who can significantly and immediately benefit from what you have. So now with that being clear…
Ask More Questions
So we are having a sales conversation, then what? Turn that conversation over completely to them. You ask short questions, they give long answers. If their answers are short, ask more/better questions. This requires a great deal of patience. In the end, they will have told you what they are good at and if you are good, they will have told you what they are bad at. It’s at that very moment you offer the solution you know will fix the problem. If they show resistance your response is simply “but you did say that you [insert what they said here]” it is at that point they usually say “you’re right, thank you, let’s do this”
Three simple steps you can use to convert social media friends into great customers that you know and like working with. Try it. it is not easy, but it is simple. If you will simply have a little patience and wait for them to tell it, you can SELL IT!
All Tweets are the same, right? Fewer than 140 characters.
It’s not readily apparent that the length of a Tweet has an impact on the number of people who engage with it. Advertisers who use Twitter to reach their customers need all the insights they can get, especially those who are paying for promoted tweets. A recent study by Track Social, a social media analytics firm, looks at the effect of Tweet length on response levels as measured by retweets.
On Twitter, smaller is not better.
On Facebook, engagement normally decreases as post length increases. Track Social found that the opposite happens on Twitter — engagement increases as Tweet length increases.
With an upper limit of 140 characters, shorter tweets don’t stand out from the crowd and tend to be overlooked. Engagement levels are rather flat between 71 and 100 characters, and decrease as the 140 character limit approaches. 71-100 characters is the sweet spot — enough space to say something that resonates with followers plus room for retweeters to add their own references and comments.
No guarantee of success
Writing a tweet that’s in the middle of the character range doesn’t guarantee increased engagement, and short or long Tweets aren’t doomed to fail. Responses to Tweets depend on many factors, including content, frequency, and timing.
Advice
- Short, punchy statements don’t work especially well on Twitter.
- Try using images to effectively increase Tweet length.
- Avoid pushing up against the 140 character limit whenever possible.
Years ago, after closing on your American Dream with a 30-year fixed loan, you probably didn’t think much about the home’s value until you were ready to sell. Today, there’s so much more information available to home buyers. Markets move quickly, and life happens a lot faster.
And so, many people have become hyper-aware of their real estate investments, frequently watching the rise and fall of market values well after the close. Listing e-mails flow daily, and the Zillow app likely sits prominently on many homeowners‘ smartphones and tablets. Good real estate agents compile “mini CMAs” (Comparative Market Analysis) for their past clients, too, updating them yearly on the latest comps and values.
While it helps to be mindful of your home’s value, you shouldn’t obsess over it. A better strategy is to stay abreast of the local real estate market, just as you’d keep an eye on any long-term investment. Have an idea what’s selling and what’s not. Know what the trends and changes are in your neighborhood, school district or town.
One of the best ways to do this is to go to open houses. Here are three reasons why.
You can learn a lot from listing agents
Open houses aren’t just for buyers. Often, would-be sellers and nearby homeowners represent a large portion of open house traffic. Use the open house not only to see what’s for sale and the price of comparable homes but also to learn about the market. Pick the brain of the listing agent to get his or her take on what’s happening in your area. Real estate agents tend to be aware of market changes well before the mainstream press.
You’ll stay current with the latest home design trends
Sellers generally put their best foot forward. Some go as far as making cosmetic updates or design/staging changes before putting their homes on the market. They likely rely on their real estate agent to suggest the latest and greatest in the market. So if you bought a home that needs updating, or you aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to choosing paint colors, countertops or bath fixtures, going to open houses will allow you to see styles and designs.
You can get referrals for local real estate specialists, contractors or designers
Want to be connected to a good local designer or contractor? Ask the real estate agent selling the home you liked if they can get you the contact information. Though getting referrals from friends is also a good idea, seeing the finished product in an open house can inspire you to replicate what that owner did and how they did it.
Never forget: Your home is an investment
Ultimately, the property you’ve purchased is your home. You should make remodeling or upgrade choices according to your wishes, without forgetting that your home is also an investment. Try to find a balance between whatever personal choices you have in mind and what might appeal to potential buyers down the road. For example, painting a room a dark red color or choosing highly taste-specific fixtures or designs may appeal to your taste buds — but will likely alienate a potential buyer down the road. Of course, it’s not uncommon for homeowners to make last-minute changes to their home to make it “market ready.”
Want to increase your chances of buying a home below current real estate value? Just look for a seller who didn’t listen to his agent.
The best real estate agents encourage their sellers to do whatever it takes to get the home in its absolute best condition before going to market. The better the home shows, the more likely the seller will get top dollar.
Sometimes, this could be as simple as removing personal items or decluttering. Other times, an agent will suggest bigger fixes, such as painting, replacing carpet or upgrading countertops or cabinets. Savvy sellers listen to their agents, make the changes suggested and go to market in top form. That’s not always how it plays out, however.
For any number of reasons, many sellers protest suggested fixes. Either they don’t want to be inconvenienced, don’t believe the fixes will matter or don’t have the financial resources to make it happen. Inevitably, this means the buyer will get a discount on that property.
How to spot a home that might sell below its value
Is there a home for sale in a good neighborhood and in the desired school district that seems to be well-priced but for some reason isn’t selling? This is the home you want to investigate, because chances are the seller didn’t listen to his agent. Specifically, here are some tell-tale signs to look for.
Big furniture or a lot of furniture
Most people don’t buy furniture to use when staging their home. Often a seller may have a lot of furniture in one room, which makes the room look small to potential buyers. Real estate agents and professional home stagers know this all too well. For example, stagers always suggest a small loveseat over a full-blown couch or sectional sofa. Also, in the bedrooms, king beds often take up too much space. So a stager will often push the seller to swap it out for a queen or full-sized bed.
When you enter a house that seems crowded with furniture, imagine the rooms with fewer or smaller pieces. Be aware that plenty of potential buyers won’t get past the sense that the rooms are too small, and they’re likely to move on to a home that feels bigger. In turn, this could give you room to negotiate a good deal with the seller.
Dark rooms
There was a home in West Hartford, CT on a great block, but the interior was dark. Three large French doors in the living room led to a deck, but the doors were stained black, and the carpet was brown. On top of that, the window coverings were big, heavy and overtook the room.
The house sat on the market for months, even though the price wasn’t far off the real estate market value. Here’s why: Every buyer walked in and out because the house was so dark. After the home had been on the market for three months, a smart buyer made an offer $40,000 below asking and ended up getting it.
Before the buyer moved in, he removed the window coverings, stripped the stain on the doors and painted them white, pulled up the old carpet and had the floors stained to a lighter oak. Right away, the dark room became light, bright and welcoming. The buyer’s total cost: $9,000, which instantly added $31,000 to his equity.
Grandma or Bambi staring down from the walls
Buyers are looking to see themselves — and not the current owners — in a home. Too often, however, the seller hasn’t “depersonalized” his home enough, or at all. Even though the listing agent may have told the seller to clear the house of his possessions, the seller may be proud of his accomplishments and resist.
And so potential buyers are treated to walls decorated with diplomas, family photos, awards and trophies. Moose and deer heads hanging on walls are surefire deal killers, especially when the hunting rifle used to kill Bambi is proudly displayed, too. At best, buyers tend to see such highly personal stuff as clutter that takes the focus away from the home. They’re turned off by it all, and they walk away.
They might also be walking away from a great deal. Are the bones of the home good? Does it have the floor plan you like? Are the kitchens and baths in acceptable condition? Is it in the area where you want to live? If you say “yes” to all of these, hang around a little longer. Imagine the home without the seller’s junk. Picture yourself living there, without Bambi.
A good home that doesn’t show well = a great opportunity
Ultimately, sellers who don’t listen to their agents or stagers inadvertently give savvy buyers a discount. For you to see that potential, try to understand as much as you can about why the seller is selling. Look for sellers who have ignored their agent’s advice. While conventional wisdom says that a buyer would be turned off by a home that shows poorly, go against this. Imagine the potential. And then, once the home is yours, make those small changes the seller should have made. Right away, you’ll have a little bit (maybe even a lot) of equity, thanks to the seller.
Contrary to popular belief, loss of equity in their homes since 2007 has hurt adults in their late thirties more than their Baby Boomer parents, contributing to fears that they will not have enough income and assets for their retirement, according to a new Pew Research survey released today.
Americans today are more worried about their retirement finances than they were at the end of the recession in 2009, especially younger and middle-aged adults rather than among those closer to retirement age-a major shift in the pattern that had prevailed at the end of the recession.
About four-in-ten adults (38 percent) say they are “not too” or “not at all” confident that they will have enough income and assets for their retirement, up from 25 percent in a Pew Research survey conducted in late February and March of 2009. Among adults between the ages of 36 and 40, 53 percent say they are either “not too” or “not at all” confident that their income and assets will last through retirement. In contrast, only about a third (34 percent) of those ages 60 to 64 express similar concerns, as do a somewhat smaller share (27 percent) of those 18 to 22 years old.
Fears over retirement are driven by a companion Pew Research analysis of data collected by the Federal Reserve Board in its Survey of Consumer Finances. For most Americans, equity in their homes represents most of their wealth and the collapse of housing values in the middle of the past decade sent personal wealth into a nose dive for most homeowners, regardless of age.
Overall, the Consumer Finances survey found that median home equity-the fair market value of a home less the amount of the outstanding mortgage and other liens-fell by about a third (32 percent) from 2007 to 2010. And U.S. Census data released in June found that most of the decline in median wealth between 2005 and 2010 can be attributed to sinking home values.
Median home equity-so-called housing wealth-declined the most for homeowners ages 35 to 44. Between 2007 and 2010, the equity of homeowners in this age group was cut in half (52 percent). In contrast, housing wealth fell by 30 percent among those 55 to 64 and by 20 percent among adults 65 and older.
Adults 35 to 44 years old have a much greater share of their wealth represented by their home equity because they have not yet had the time to accumulate financial wealth. Moreover, these younger adults have had less time to build equity, so the market collapse cut into a greater share of a smaller base than for longtime homeowners. Finally, this age group benefitted less than older adults from the rise in stock market values since many sold their holdings when stocks fell in 2009.
The S&P 500 Index peaked at 1,576 in October 2007 but then fell to a modern low of 667 in March 2009. Since then, the stock market began a steady rise, closing at 1,258 on the last day of December 2010. It now stands at about 1,450, nearly back to its earlier peak.
During this decade of wild market swings, ownership of stocks and retirement accounts, such as 401(k) and thrift accounts, fell among most age groups. But the declines were greatest among those ages 35 to 44. The proportion of adults in this age group who directly held stocks declined by nine percentage points from 2001 to 2010, with half of this drop occurring before 2007. In contrast, the share of adults 65 and older who directly held stocks declined only 3 percentage points from 2001 to 2010, from 21 percent to 18 percent.
The proportion of 35- to 44-year-olds who held stocks indirectly through retirement accounts also disproportionately fell by 9 percentage points, about double the decline among those younger than 35 or between 45 and 54 years old (4 percentage points for both groups). As a consequence, those in the 35 to 44 age group have benefited less from the rapid increase in stock prices since 2009 because they were less likely than their older counterparts to own stock and retirement accounts.
