Net worth question with home equity

[cypher1]

I decided to track my net worth from the last 3-4 years in a spreadsheet for monitoring progress monthly. As for primary residence and home value, what number do you go based off of? The estimated value of property from your county?

For now I simply went off Zillow zestimate, which I realize is probably marked up too high. But it was also easier to track by each month. Otherwise open to other suggestions to track by.

[disneysteve]

I don't include our home's value in any financial tracking.

If I did for some reason, I guess I'd use the low end of its current market value to be conservative. We occasionally get the mailers from local realtors listing what homes in our neighborhood have recently sold for so I always have those comps as a judge.

[cypher1]

If I did for some reason, I guess I'd use the low end of its current market value to be conservative.

I agree with using a more conservative value, as I believe Zillow is still very high estimates, and probably not the most ideal tool for reference.

[Like2Plan]

I include home value in my Composition and Value of Estate worksheet. I update it with values I find on Zillow because it is easy to get. I could use the county assessments or comps of local sales, too. But, it is just a ball park figure.

[james.hendrickson]

I decided to track my net worth from the last 3-4 years in a spreadsheet for monitoring progress monthly. As for primary residence and home value, what number do you go based off of? The estimated value of property from your county?

For now I simply went off Zillow zestimate, which I realize is probably marked up too high. But it was also easier to track by each month. Otherwise open to other suggestions to track by.

I took the average of zillow and redfin. I'd use a third data point if one were easily available.

[kork13]

I do track my home value as a component of my NW, but you just have to understand that the equity in your home isn't available to live off of unless you're willing to sell & downsize. However, rental properties (as pure investments) are unquestionably a component of NW to support you.

I just use a reasonable market estimate of RE values. Typically, county estimates are grossly low, Zillow is somewhat high.... Shoot the middle, and judge what you'd be willing to pay for your house were you to buy it all over again today. Accuracy doesn't matter, it's only a rough estimate. Anything within 5-10% is just fine.

[srblanco7]

I do not track the value of our primary residence as part of our NW. We track solely our investments (retirement and brokerage accounts). I certainly understand those who do include the value of their primary residence. Do others track items beyond that (e.g., stamp or coin collections, jewelry, vehicles, etc)?

[Like2Plan]

Do others track items beyond that (e.g., stamp or coin collections, jewelry, vehicles, etc)?

Yes, under the category of "List all other valuable assets (cars, jewelry, coins and personal belongings)". This is all part of our estate for my Composition and Value of Estate worksheet.
These are things that will have to be located and liquidated after we are gone. I only list jewelry for which I have an estimate on value (honestly--only a couple of items as DH and I don't really like jewelry that much, so we really don't have much of anything that is worth anything in that category). Cars are a depreciating asset, but will have to accounted for in the estate.

[disneysteve]

Do others track items beyond that (e.g., stamp or coin collections, jewelry, vehicles, etc)?

Nope. I only care about our financial assets: cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs.

I suppose if we were ever in the situation where we needed to worry about what our belongings are worth, I'd be looking to sell whatever we could to put food on the table, but I hope to never be in that place.

[Like2Plan]

Nope. I only care about our financial assets: cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs.

I suppose if we were ever in the situation where we needed to worry about what our belongings are worth, I'd be looking to sell whatever we could to put food on the table, but I hope to never be in that place.

I think you are approaching the question in regards to money you can spend in retirement which may or may not correspond to net worth. But, if you were tracking the value of your estate for the benefit of your heirs, you would be listing the non-liquid type assets, too.

[disneysteve]

I think you are approaching the question in regards to money you can spend in retirement which may or may not correspond to net worth. But, if you were tracking the value of your estate for the benefit of your heirs, you would be listing the non-liquid type assets, too.

That's true. I've been dealing with my cousin who is terminally ill. We sat down and reviewed all of his assets including the house, cars, jewelry, and anything else of value so that when he dies, I know what I need to attend to. In his case, the house is also 35-40% of his net worth so it's more significant. For us, the house is only 10-15% of our net worth so when we both die, DD will need to decide what to do with the house but it isn't going to be a big chunk of her inheritance.

[rennigade]

I don't include home equity either in NW. Even if I wanted to, I'd just have to make up a low amount since zillow doesn't even have prices of homes where I live.

[cypher1]

Do others track items beyond that (e.g., stamp or coin collections, jewelry, vehicles, etc)?

As others mentioned, I don't include collectibles, vehicles, or even current checking account for bills. I simply wanted a rough estimate or quick snapshot for NW based savings accounts, 401K, taxable, Roths, rollover IRA, HSA, and home value.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I include home equity in my NW, but it's a tiny portion of our NW. probably because i bascially amjust tracking what I am paying off. So the value never changes it's what we paid for it. But the mortgage is decreasing increasing our equity and impacting our NW but very slowly. I think if I did count the increased value, it would add substantially more but i'm too lazy to figure out. The house in our neighborhood very similar to ours sold last year for a good amount of money. The house across the street from us literally sold last august as well for a honking piece of $$$. I think by either metric we've made money on our house and quite a bit at that but I don't want to figure that out.

[Jluke]

I go by the price I paid for the home.

jist checked Zillow and the house Zestimate is 125k more than I paid Dec 2017. Not bad.

but doesn’t matter. I’m not selling.