A FUNCTIONAL HOUSING MARKETA FUNCTIONAL HOUSING MARKET This webquest examines the Seward housing market.
Subjects:
Algebra I (linear equations)
Purpose: Students will access the Internet to search for housing prices in Seward, NE and compare the prices to the number of square feet found in the living area of a house. A linear equation will be derived from these data on a coordinate plane. Using information from the graph of the data and the equations of the function, students will answer questions about housing prices.
Materials: Internet connection, paper, writing utensil, graph paper, and straight edge.
Prior knowledge: Students should be able to plot points on a coordinate plane and write an equation in slope-intercept form from a linear graph.
Description: Often, actual data do not represent an actual linear function. Students will be asked to access data from the Internet and derive a linear regression from their set of data. These data will be used to answer questions on average cost per square foot, land values, and to predict the cost of various sized homes.
Procedure: Students will "search" for information on housing prices on the Internet.
Go to the following link and find 10 houses in the Seward area. For each house list it's address and the cost of the house and the square feet in the house on an Excel Spreadsheet.
Find 2 houses in the following price ranges
2- $80,000-$100,000
2- $100,000-$125,000
2- $125,000-$175,000
2- $175,000-$200,000
2- over $175,000
Example
| Address | Cost | Area in square feet |
| 711 E Pinewood | $279,000 | 2801 |
To find houses in Seward from the Woods Bros site just click where it says search towards the bottom.
Students should collect data from at least ten properties in the Seward (or other specified) area. The data should include the address, the price of the property and the square footage of the house. If the square footage is not given, then students should calculate the square footage from given room dimensions. Plot the data on a coordinate plane as a relation of price per square footage. Put square footage on the X axis and Price on the Y axis. After students have plotted their data, find a line of "best-fit" so most of the points are close to the ruler. There are several methods to do this, but for this lesson I recommend that a ruler be placed on the graph so that about half of the data points are above the ruler and about half are below. Draw the line, and then write an equation in slope-intercept form.
Questions: After completing your graph and writing your equation, answer the following questions.
1. How much does a 1,500, 2,000, 2,500, and 5,000 sq. ft. home sell for in Seward?
2. What does the slope m, of the equation represent?
3. What does the b value in the slope-intercept form of the equation represent?
4. What is the equation of your line and what does the line represented on the graph indicate about the cost of housing?
5. How would this graph vary if data were collected from other parts of the country?
6. How could this graph help you decide if you wanted to purchase a house?
7. If the graphs of new home prices vs. house size from two cites are compared, the cost of lots is about the same in the two cities. How will this fact affect the two graphs?
8. If the graphs of new home prices vs. house size for two cities is compared, the construction price per square foot for building a house is about the same in the two cities. How will this fact affect the two graphs?
9. If you could spend 120,000 - 150,000 on a house, what square footage would you need to consider?
10. What other factors affect the price of a house?