Northern Virginia

The real estate market catches a hint of Spring 2010

We had a bright and sunny weekend here in Northern Virginia, and a surge of home buyers were out looking at the homes for sale that had popped up late Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. A little marketing tip is to put a home into the MLS database Thursday to feed all the IDX sites out there that send e-mails to registered home buyers.  Our MLS, actually the Metropolitan Regional Information System (MRIS), is the #1 source and they pump out the data you see on Trulia, Zillow, Frankly MLS, Roost, Redfin or Sawbuck. They have their own “ad-free” site for you called Homesdatabase.com which is excellent.

So I showed some townhomes in Fairfax around $350,000 and the newest listing was swamped with buyer agents and their eager clients. At one house there was a guy with an Alexander Ovechkin jersey who looked like he would fight us for it!

I tried to show a home in Vienna priced at $599,900 in my neighborhood but the agent, who I know well, told me she had two offers on Friday. One offer was so good that it was accepted by the home sellers… before the scheduled open house!

Vienna, VA Home Buyers can’t wait for the Sunday Open House

I also showed a home in Vienna around the corner priced at $699,900 and again I knew that agent well. She was holding an “open house” and there were three families there at the same instant, all looking quietly and wondering if they would be in a bidding war over this classic 1970’s colonial? It seemed like it was the house du jour…

Residential real estate is the ground floor barometer for the economy and, mark my words, the economists will be talking about this in five weeks. Again, I am seeing a frantic home buyer surge as they are trying to find a home, and get a contract accepted to get the $6,500 or $8,000 home buyer credit before the deadline… and lock in a low mortgage interest rate (currently below 5%).

Real estate in Vienna, VA is fueled by the location to employment centers like Tysons Corner or Reston  (some people like the W&OD Bike Trail) and Fairfax is fueled by price where many homes have dipped significantly but have great locations or neighborhoods.

This is the time, home buyers of Northern Virginia, to have a buyer agent or ABR working for you!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Have You Seen Your House Listing Lately? (rerockstar.com)
• Town of Vienna, Virginia (dougfrancis.com)
• Buying a home in Vienna over a million? (dougfrancis.com)

Northern Virginia

Vienna, Virginia | My Buyer’s Agent Advice of the Week

I had a home buyer Tweet me and ask if I had any words of wisdom to pass along. The funny thing is that I love giving advice, but 140 characters weren’t going to cut it because what I do really can’t be distilled down to a sound bite. It also raised an issue that many socialists have written dissertations on… the desire for a silver bullet or quick fix.

A picture and a paragraph won’t be enough

Buying real estate in Northern Virginia is going to be a complicated task that will require some planning and very hard work:

• You need to figure out how to pay for your home (and adjust if necessary)
• You need to figure out the best location (and adjust if necessary)
• You need to figure out what style of home you want (and adjust if necessary)
• You need to figure out a reasonable sales price (and adjust if necessary)
• You need to do some comparison shopping (and adjust if necessary)

Plus there really are distinct differences between living in Arlington, McLean, Vienna or Oakton, Virginia.

and now for Doug’s words of home buyer wisdom…

Right now, today, I can share some wisdom that is worth passing down and it will require you to do some serious soul searching. Did you ever read “What Color is My Parachute” when you were searching for a job or life purpose? In that book the author has his readers do some serious thinking to help them discover their individual strengths, and then organize and understand the importance of capitalizing on those strengths.

Where do you see yourself in five or ten years? Today you have opportunities to buy into a neighborhood for the long term, rather than starting with a first-timer home and then moving in five years to your “family” home. Today’s long-term mortgage interest rates are low and should be low for a while, and home prices have been knocked down too. I won’t bother you with equations, but as rates go up then your buying power goes down.

Right now, in Fairfax County, Virginia, I am not seeing builders building too many detached homes under $1,000,000. Understanding the basics of supply vs. demand proves that the supply of detached homes under $650,000 will remain unchanged (actually decrease) over the next ten years. And the population forecast is on the upswing too.

So, my buyer’s agent advice or words of a wisdom… this is the time to buy a home with the long-term in mind.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Your Maryland lockbox doesn’t work in Virginia (dougfrancis.com)
• Buying a home in Vienna over a million? (dougfrancis.com)

Northern Virginia

Stillfield Place in Centreville, Virginia | just bought!

This fantastic four bedroom colonial in the Virginia Run community in Centreville, VA that backs to true parkland, has an oversize screened-in porch and was a really good house to buy for my buyer clients. Turn key and not a short-sale. Doug was the “buyer’s agent” in this transaction.

The home was built in 1993 and featured the expanded floor plan.

Shameless Home Buyer Agent Plug

As my client’s “ buyer agent”, I was able to keep this transaction together even though my clients were in California. Understanding their limited time on the ground here in Northern Virginia, I discovered what they wanted and showed them their options on a few of their cross country house hunting trips. When we discussed mortgages, I was able to uncover a unique solution to dealing with stringent new mortgage lender requirements. And when they decided on this home, put together a strategic offer that beat out a competitive offer.

After all that, there was not an extra fee charged by my company, the Sellers paid the real estate commissions, and my clients bought a great house that they are thrilled with!

If you want to consult with me, then shoot me an e-mail right now…

Related articles by Zemanta

• It’s a Home Buyer’s Market, right? (dougfrancis.com)
• It’s time to re-connect… my resolution for 2010 (dougfrancis.com)

Northern Virginia

It’s a Home Buyer’s Market, right?

Well, not really in Northern Virginia!

In the grand scheme of things, we should see home buyers having the best of times with this real estate market. The available home buyer tax credits, home prices are the lowest in years, mortgage interest rates are still around 5%, spring is in the air… okay, that’s a stretch.

As I went over NVAR’s end of year statistics there was one glaring fact that directly impacts a buyer’s market.

Lack of Inventory

All the information available on web sites isn’t going to give you the strategies necessary to successfully buy a home in this market. Yep, it’s another reason to have a buyer agent working to make you the strongest, most competitive home buyer possible.

Let’s talk…

3SG7YU7ZKV59

Related articles by Zemanta

• It’s time to re-connect… my resolution for 2010 (dougfrancis.com)

Next Page »