Q: I'm worried about the value of my home.

I read all these stories about how real estate in the Seattle area has dropped so much. Is there any way to know when the decline in values will stop? I was hoping to sell in a couple of years and move closer to my children.
A: There's no way to really predict when we will hit "bottom" in this current financial crisis. Keep in mind that although this is a record setting recession and a truly global financial crisis, it isn't the first time we've seen values decline.
We had a stock market meltdown in the mid 1980's that lost many people their retirement money and saw a significant drop in real estate prices. We were hit with another big recession and the savings and loan disaster in the early 1990s. Prices froze and money was lost. Our current crisis is worse, of course, but our region is doing far better than most.
Let me go over some figures that may help you see the picture on Vashon. According to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, the average price for a Vashon home that sold in 2007 was $576,560. The average this year was $566,000; that's less than a $10,000 difference. The median price in 2007 was $549,000, and in 2008 was $523,750; a slightly greater difference.
The real change locally was in number of sales and length of time on the market. In 2007 it took an average of 71 days on the market to sell. In 2008 that shot up to an average of 133 days. The number of homes sold in 2007 was 139. The number this year (2008) was only 83. THAT is a huge change.
Another issue is that sellers have been pricing their homes higher than last year's prices. That won't work when prices are dropping. As for your concerns, your home is worth a great deal more than you paid for it, which is good, and will likely appreciate even more before you are ready to sell.