Our market never had the bottom fall out, so we continue to do well.

If I recall the recent release correctly, it is up 16.6 percent from twelve months ago, in Orange County, CA. There was an inventory shortage, resulting in bidding wars. That seems to be improving a little now, as the prices have allowed more homes to enter the market. We purchased three years ago, about 1-1.5 years before the very bottom here, but got the house for a good price. It is surprising to see like houses in the neighborhood on the market for 175,000-200,000 over what we paid.

The market here in Seattle never had the bottom fall out either. We just kind of flat-lined, with a little bit of a dip, as I understand it.

For the last 3 years, the market was pretty stagnant. Now all the sudden (in the last 4 months, really) things have taken off! Will be interesting to see if/how rising interest rates play into it all.

Same here (SF Bay Area). Our county and San Francisco County itself are both up about 30% over last year; a neighboring county that was really badly hit by the crash is up close to 40%. In our immediate area, we're now over peak prices for a number of homes that last sold at the top of the market and went for even more this spring, which is a little crazy. (Also crazy: offers way, WAY over asking prices, in part because sellers haven't quite caught up in their pricing, and largely because appraisals are lagging a lot, so people are listing at a price they know will appraise.) It's not exactly apples to apples, though--in our neighborhood, at least, the quality of houses on the market now is the best it's been since the crash. A lot of the homes that sold for lower prices in between were less desirable homes or distressed sales--people in the "good" homes stayed put or rented them out if they moved, by and large. So it's only now that the market is picking up that people are voluntarily selling, which I'm sure is part of the rise in prices. Some of it is also just market correction--from 2009 to 2011, for instance, values were so low in our neighborhood that it was significantly cheaper to buy than to rent provided you had 20% down. Rents are way up and rental inventory is also low, so that put pressure on prices too.

On the upside, just signed for a refinance to get rid of the PMI we picked up the last time around, now that we have equity again--wahoo! So hopefully the improving market will help a lot of folks who were underwater finally refinance, too.

Our market seems to be heating up as well, with homes selling quickly (often within days of being listed) and often for over the listing price.

One couple I know just sold their house and it surprised me because they just built it a few years ago. Turns out that someone just knocked on their door and asked if they'd be willing to sell; they did, for $1.25M. I thought that was an interesting kind of 'impulse buy.'

We're in a walk-to location for schools, town, and train line to city, so our market didn't dip as much as others in less desirable locations. Even so, I've been pleasantly surprised at how well the market seems to have rebounded. Let's just hope it doesn't lead to 'creative' lending that contributed to the earlier mess.

Well, the house we moved out of in 2005 in Mt. Clemens, Michigan was appraised at $165,000 by an irrationally optimistic assessor the spring of 2006. Now I am told I could list it for $95,000, but when I look at closed sales, I see houses in the neighborhood with similar size and amenities going for between $65,000 and $90,000. That is okay, since we have the second mortgage down to $23,000 from $42,000 and we cannot sell the house until it is paid off.

Houses in that neighborhood are selling slowly. Sellers seem unable to budge from their preconceived notions of what their houses are worth, with a couple of houses having sat on the market at the same very high price for two to three years. Houses that have sold are more likely to have been bank-owned or short sales, which is likely why prices are stagnant and why there is a $30,000 differential between selling prices of houses of similar size.

Over here in our new neighborhood, houses are selling better. People are choosing to move for the usual reasons, putting the house up for sale after having a big garage sale, and the house is selling within a few weeks or months. Two years ago the house across the street from us (same model) sold for $130,000 after being on market for a couple of years. Now I see that two houses similar to ours in our zip code have sold in the last 6 months. One for $148,000 (multiple offers and needed mold remediation) and the other for $141,000 (sold "as is" following installation of a new furnace and carpeting and new paint, but the RE ad said buyer was responsible for CO, if needed). Both had been foreclosed to lender in the last year or two, as well. Houses on the market currently that are similar in size and age to ours are asking for between $150, 000 and $175,000.