Vanessa,
Apparently everyone but me missed the fact that you are NOT in Alabama--you're in Florence County, South Carolina!!
Even though Barry and Deirdre had the right information about OUR area (Deirdre and I are in Florence, Al, Pell City, AL is about 150 miles away in the Birmingham area) --that doesn't really have anything to do with your area. If you're area is like our area, unless you are facing foreclosure, you shouldn't have to sell your home for less than you paid (or maybe you got a great deal on your house and it's worth more that you paid for it) but because of the short time you've owned it, you may not get very much over what you paid for it, maybe enough to move and pay closing costs. Your best bet is to do what Deirdre said--get a local CMA done by a realtor or an appraisor, or courthouse appraisals are sometimes accurate until it is sold. I am with Coldwell Banker Realty in Muscle Shoals, AL. Our company has offices all over the US and I can put you in touch with one that is close to you, if you like. Just let me know.

NOTE BILLY:

Lesson: Start listening to and watching news shows that give the REAL truth. They ARE out there..........
FOX, for one. They don't have an agenda except to expose untruths about the economy and lots of other news that other stations won't touch and to report the real truth.
Hint: Remember ACORN?

Billy, the agents where you are may not do "free" things for people and may have a hidden agenda for everything, but here in the south, we do like to help people, and as far as being amazed at our home values here, people come from all over the world to live and retire here because it's such a great place to live, the homes do hold their value, and you can get a lot more home here for the money than you can most other places.
Veronica, I hope you've had your question answered sufficiently. Please come to visit sometime, and good luck with selling your home.
Billy--I invite you to visit, too. You might like it so well you'd want to move here!
If you do, I know a good real estate agent ........................

It seems that I have two local real estate professionals correcting my statement that you are in one of the only parts of the USA seeing appriciation in price.

I stand corrected, based on your statements and you need to contact the news media to let them know of the continued price appriciation in your are.

We work nationwide as real estate auctioneers and every market we have worked in over the past two years has seen steady depriciation or equity erosion in housing values.

Congratulations on holding the line in values

Real estate is LOCAL. Just because it's bad in Maryland doesn't mean it's bad here...and just because the media says it's bad "everywhere" doesn't means it's true. See my blog here or referenced below please for local statistics.

Billy it is only 9% according to CNNMONEY
Home prices in record 9% decline
Foreclosures take heavy toll on home prices but bargain hunters are re-entering worst-hit markets.

See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close) By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: November 18, 2008: 1:09 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- National home prices, driven lower by a flood of foreclosures, plummeted in the third quarter by a record 9% year-over-year, according to a report issued Tuesday.

ALABAMA AS A WHOLE IS THIRD ON TOP MARKETS

10 fastest growing real estate markets
3 of 10 Birmingham, Alabama
• Housing bust: Share your story
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12-month forecast: 2.7%
Median home price: $156,000
One year price change: 2.9%
Five year price change: 29.4%
Change in foreclosure rate: 20%


SO BILLY YOU HAVE YOUR MARKET WE HAVE OURS SO GO CRY TO SOMBODY ELSE

and think before you speak (or type)

ALABAMA is still a Great place to buy or invest - so give me a call if you need any help

WOW:

Florence and the surrounding areas have seen a steady 4-5% increase in value over the last few years.

The entire USA has seen a 20% to 40% decrease in property values over the past two-years but two local "listing agents" are telling you the area is the only place in the USA where property values are going up 4% to 5% per year.

Its amazing that someone would give you answers like that in the worst real estate market since the great depression.

Take a look at this website, it has links to articles from major MSM news sources about the real estate crash:

http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html

These people sound like the same type who said "there is no housing bubble, real estate always goes up and never goes down..."

Alabama has lots of professional auctioneers who do nothing but sell real estate at auction. My suggestion would be to call one of them who can come and look at your property and give you a truthful analysis.

I agree with Barry. Florence and the surrounding areas have seen a steady 4-5% increase in value over the last few years. However, two years is not enough time to build much equity in your home. One way to find out what your house might bring on the market today is to have a real estate agent complete a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), or another option would be to have it appraised by a licensed appraiser.

I would be glad to take a look at your home and give you my opinion. The CMA is free and at no obligation. Give me a call or email anytime.

4.5% growth per year unless you bought under the market value at the time. You will be lucky to break even if you sale at this point but I would contact a local agent in the area for better numbers. Good luck and I hope everythig works out for you.

If you would like me to find a good agent in the area for youI will be glad to assist. Sorry to be so glum but thats the market the upside is that if you will be buying in a down market so you might come out alright.