June 2009

A drive down New Mountain Road in Aldie, Virginia

A drive to see a piece of land on New Mountain Road just off Route 50 in Aldie, Virginia, and a nice look at the Virginia countryside. It’s 4.7 acres and they are asking $299,000 for it.

Figuring out the Vienna Home Market… May 2009

With all you read about the housing market, buying a Vienna home in 22182 appears to be a better bet right now. But if you are a seller with a home priced over $800,000 then you will be sobered. I just looked over resale data from MRIS of the Vienna zip codes ( 22180-22182)  for the month of May, and the biggest gains seem to be in the 22182 zip code again… looking at the number of sales. But please know that this information is reported from MRIS which is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate but should be considered pretty darn close.

Numbers for 22182:

• Total Units Sold in May 2009, 25 vs. 17 in 2008 (up 47%)
• Average Sold Price in May 2009, $672,560 vs. $846,776 in 2008 (down 20.57%)
• In the $500,000 to $599,999 range, 7 sold of 18 active listings
• In the $600,000 to $699,999 range, 6 sold of 31 active listings
• In the $700,000 to $799,999 range, 5 sold of 18 active listings
• In the $800,000 to $999,999 range, 0 sold of 23 active listings
• In the $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 range, 3 sold of 55 active listings
• Average days on market in April 2009 is 70 vs. 114 in 2008
• The average sold price in April 2009 was 93.91% of average list price

The statistics for the Town of Vienna, 22180, reflected sharply contrasting numbers.

Numbers for 22180:

• Total Units Sold in May 2009, 23 vs. 26 in 2008 (down 11.54%)
• Average Sold Price in May 2009, $520,835 vs. $566,265 in 2008 (down 8.02%)
• In the $400,000 to $449,999 range, 3 sold of 14 active listings
• In the $450,000 to $499,999 range, 7 sold of 11 active listings
• In the $500,000 to $599,999 range, 2 sold of 21 active listings
• In the $600,000 to $799,999 range, 0 sold of 16 active listings
• In the $800,000 to $899,999 range, 0 sold of 10 active listings
• In the $1,000,000 to $2,499,999 range, 2 sold of 43 active listings
• Average days on market in April 2009 is 134 vs. 68 in 2008 (up 97.06%)
• The average sold price in April 2009 was 92.90% of average list price

Town of Vienna real estate tax rate 2009-2010

The Vienna, Virginia Town Council adopted a new budget on June 15th for fiscal 09-10.

The town’s real estate tax rate will be 22.81 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Town of Vienna homeowners also pay Fairfax County real estate tax of $1.04 per $100 of assessed valuation.

The 2011 real estate tax rate is 24.48 per $100. Read more…

The Town of Vienna provides additional information on a web site, http://www.viennava.gov/

Yes, the buyers are out there… but move-in-ready homes aren’t

I was searching for a town home with a client last week in Centreville, Clifton and Fairfax and saw an interesting trend. The trend was in homes that were regular sales, not the foreclosures or short-sales which seemed to be about 50-60% of the market.

So, let’s consider the regular sales to be 40% of the market in the under $425k price range that we were walking through at a furious pace. At first we weren’t walking so quickly, but so many of the homes were in less than showing condition that we were both eager to get a move on. Things like piles of laundry, dirty dishes, food on counters, odd food aromas, smelly bathrooms, big dogs, well I consider real estate sales an adventure sometimes.

I noticed that the homes with the most updates were literally flying off the market with multiple offers and escalation clauses. These homes were the creme de le creme (top 1% of the 40%) of the market because they were priced low to compete, and then looked like bargains against the homes that needed fixing up. Hey, who has the cash to do that stuff anymore?

For all of you looking for a sign that the market has turned, well, this is not it. These homes were just selling quickly at 99-101% of asking price. The trend that I recognized was that updated homes in very good condition and priced well are selling at list price in less than a week. If these same homes had been priced higher, then they probably would still be sitting on the market.

Market trends are market trends.

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