I Don’t Care How Much My House Is Worth. Here’s Why

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Should you care about the value of your property? 

My husband and I own our own home. I have no idea what my house is worth. I don’t keep up with details on my local real estate market, I never check my online estimated value, and I wouldn’t be interested in learning what an appraiser has to say about my home’s market value.

It may seem odd not to care about what a home is worth, since a house is typically a very valuable asset. But there are a few very good reasons why focusing on my property’s value isn’t something I’m interested in.

I don’t view my home as an investment

The biggest reason why I don’t care what my house is worth is because I don’t see it as an investment — it’s a place where I live. I’m hoping to stay in my house for the rest of my life, so I won’t be cashing in on the property by selling it.

Since I’m not trying to make money from it, I’m not concerned about what I could sell it for now or in the future. I’m also making sure I have plenty of other more liquid investments by buying stocks in a brokerage firm so I won’t want or need to sell my house to support myself as a retiree (or to provide an inheritance for my kids).

I won’t be tapping into my home equity

I am also not interested in what my home is worth because I don’t plan to take any equity out of my home.

If I was thinking about taking a home equity loan to pay down debt or to cover big purchases, then I would be more concerned about how much my house was worth relative to what I owed. Knowing how much my home was worth would matter a lot in this situation because my home’s value would determine how much I would be allowed to borrow.

I wouldn’t even consider taking a home equity loan out, though, because I want to be able to keep living in my house forever. With a home equity loan, the house would act as collateral for the debt so if something went wrong, I could face a risk of foreclosure.

I would never take a chance on borrowing against my house — and potentially losing it if I couldn’t make payments. So, since a home equity loan is off the table, it really doesn’t matter to me if my home is worth a ton of money because there’s no way for me to access that cash.

I know I’m not underwater on my home

Finally, the last reason why I don’t care how much my house is worth is because I know I do not owe more on my mortgage than I could sell it for if I absolutely had to. I made a large down payment and have been paying steadily on my loan for years, so there’s no way I’m underwater.

If I was, I would be more concerned about finding out what my house was worth relative to what I owe because I could have trouble refinancing or selling in an emergency situation.

If you think you’ll sell or borrow against your home soon, then you may need to care a lot more about your home’s value than I do. But if you’re going to be staying put for the long term, then your home’s current value may not matter a whole lot to you either.

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