Archive for the 'Buyers' Category
Shirlington Crest: What Housing Slump?
June 11th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Nauck, Neighborhoods, Shirlington
While buyers are out there sitting on their futures, there are people seem to be ignoring all the media stories and buying up Shirlington Crest.
The sales office opened the end of 2006– with what they called “pre-sales” and now the sales office is in full force. The first phase is already sold out and people are flocking to get one of the best deals in Arlington.
Stanley Martin was finally able to break ground a few weeks ago after getting all the needed permits from Arlington County– and the development is starting to take shape.
The prices for these townhomes are good. When first announced in late 2005, the townhomes were expected to be priced in the $700,000s. When the plans were finally released, they were expected to sell in the mid-$600,000s. But I have to applaud Stanley Martin for not ignoring market conditions and settling on a base price starting in the $560s—$580s for the first phase. That is a fabulous price for a new 2–car garage in Arlington– not one you will find anywhere else. I expect prices in start increasing as they continue to sell into the second and third phases.
Sure- there is no metro in walking distance- but there is a new bus station with a short ride to the Pentagon metro. And it is walk-able to Shirlington Village- which is proving to be one of Arlington’s more popular urban villages.
If you take a walk through the models that are now open– you will find that the townhomes themselves are not big– about 1800 sq ft of living space (not including the garage). But that’s consistent with the other homes in the area– only Windgate end unit townhomes are larger- but there aren’t garages in Windgate and they are townhome condos. (Still a great place to live– I know– I live there!) One unquie feature of these townhome is the roof terrace– not something you will find anywhere in the neighborhodd.
If you walk through the models– don’t fall in love with “the Barn”– an end unit that has a gambrel roof- they ditched that model in favor for a modified version on the other popular end unit model. And thank goodness for that! Another smart move by Stanley Martin. (That unit is for sale btw- for a steal!)
Do’s & Don’ts To Know BEFORE You Buy
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Time To Get Answers: Tuesday April 22, 2008 Buyer Seminar
April 20th, 2008 Categories: Around Arlington County, Buyers, Mortgages & Loans, Nauck, Neighborhoods, Real Estate News, Shirlington
Save the date– this coming Tuesday, April 22, 2008– AFTER WORK!
My office has gotten together to sponsor a buyer seminar– GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED!
Put down the Washington Post Real Estate Section for the night and talk to real estate people who are on the front line of today’s market.
* Learn why FHA is not your grandmother’s mortgage anymore
* Talk to a Loan Officer– no commitments
* Learn the state of the Arlington Market
* Is buying a Short Sale or Foreclosure property really for you?
* What happens AFTER I found the home of my dreams?
There is a reason why it’s called a BUYER’S MARKET! IT’s THE TIME TO BUY!!!
OK– that’s all the slogans I’m going to use.
This is a real seminar for people who have thinking of buying a home at sometime in their lives. We’re going to be there to answer your questions. There is no hard sell.
It’s an opportunity for you to speak with real professionals who are working in the front lines of this market.
Got a place to sell? Come by to find out what’s going on in the market. We’ll answer your questions. We won’t turn anyone away.
And– we’ll have snacks!
So come out on Tuesday night– make the time. There’s plenty of free parking. And when they ask you how you heard about this– tell them I sent you. Or meet me to see that I’m a real person!
WHERE:
North Fairlington Community Center
3005 S. Abingdon Street
Arlington, VA 22206
TIME:
6:30–8:30PM
Make the commitment: call (703–772–5555) or email to RSVP.
BUT– don’t let that stop you. Come anyway.
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Just When You Thought Ballston Was Complete: A New Project
February 28th, 2008 Categories: Around Arlington County, Ballston, Buyers, Neighborhoods
Arlington County announced a new development project on the corner of North Glebe & Wilson Blvd. Also known as old the Bob Peck site, the new project will include:
- 400,000 square feet of office space,
- 36,000 square feet of retail space,
- 90 units of affordable housing,
- 28 town homes.
I drove around there today and realized that it’s very big space– almost 5 acres. That’s pricey real estate across from the metro $26 Million to be exact when the Peck family sold it to JBG in 2006. That’s a little more than $5M/acre!
There were also two old homes boarded up on Wakefield and another small apartment building that appear to be part of the project as is the Staples, according to the press release.
These new buildings will compliment the Ballston Mall and the other new building that emerge in recent years. One-by-one Arlington has lost it’s old landmarks. The latest, Bob Peck, was a car dealership with its 1950s retro entrance, has been around even longer. The Washington Post had a nostalgic send off when the dealership closed in 2006.
It was a time when Arlington was almost a small town– part of the post WWII boom. If you ever get a chance to watch an Arlington Historical Society show on cable access- you will hear some of those residents talk about growing up in Arlington. It sounded like a real Leave It To Beaver neighborhood.
Today its a whole another Arlington. As I roam Arlington showing property I can see the many layers of Arlington. There are the farm houses that have been here since the early 1900s, the Sears Bungalows from the 1920s-30s, the colonial developments from post-WWII boom, 70s decay, 80s revitalization up until the high-tech buildings of today.
I guess when the Bob Peck Dealership went up in the 1950s, there was someone that said- gee, with all this development I’m going to have to ride my horses all the way out in Bailey’s Crossroads.
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5 Reasons Why Bankers Should Never Sell Real Estate
January 8th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Local Real Esate Sales Numbers & Things, Mortgages & Loans
The first week of 2008 has come and gone and I find myself busy with work. Which surprises me because it’s Janaury for gosh sakes. No one likes to buy real estate in January. But that’s really not what’s happening. There are people out there buying real estate. I think it’s smart to buy real estate in January in a cold state. Just like it’s good to buy real estate in August in Florida. Turns out there is little competition with other buyers.
Now, you might be thinking– what competition? There are no buyers out there anyway. Well– I have learned the secret rule of real estate: As soon as you want a property– so does someone else. If you are someone planning to buy real estate, don’t wait forever: there are other buyers out there.
I don’t know what is going to happen in the DC real estate market in 2008. I can only speculate. But as someone who works in the business everyday– I don’t see many changes in this market.
- Interest rates are still reasonably low: still around 6%
- Inventory of homes is good: there is a lot to chose from
- Sellers still want to sell their homes: people want to get on with their lives
So: what are your plans for your life in 2008? Is this the year you take that step to advance it? or is it just going to be more of the same. Come on, open the door to the rest of your life.
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It’s 2008: What Are Your Plans?
January 7th, 2008 Categories: Around Arlington County, Around the City of Alexandria, Buyers, Life in the District, Outside The Beltway, The Road Less Taken
The first week of 2008 has come and gone and I find myself busy with work. Which surprises me because it’s Janaury for gosh sakes. No one likes to buy real estate in January. But that’s really not what’s happening. There are people out there buying real estate. I think it’s smart to buy real estate in January in a cold state. Just like it’s good to buy real estate in August in Florida. Turns out there is little competition with other buyers.
Now, you might be thinking– what competition? There are no buyers out there anyway. Well– I have learned the secret rule of real estate: As soon as you want a property– so does someone else. If you are someone planning to buy real estate, don’t wait forever: there are other buyers out there.
I don’t know what is going to happen in the DC real estate market in 2008. I can only speculate. But as someone who works in the business everyday– I don’t see many changes in this market.
- Interest rates are still reasonably low: still around 6%
- Inventory of homes is good: there is a lot to chose from
- Sellers still want to sell their homes: people want to get on with their lives
So: what are your plans for your life in 2008? Is this the year you take that step to advance it? or is it just going to be more of the same. Come on, open the door to the rest of your life.
| Discussion: 7 Comments »
Shirlington Crest Continues to Emerge
December 23rd, 2007 Categories: Around Arlington County, Buyers, Nauck, Shirlington
While everyone is rushing around for the holidays, the construction at Shirlington Crest continues. It even looks like they have sold a few.
These townhouses aren’t what I expected. I’m a little disappoint in them so far. Maybe I can be convinced otherwise as I see the finished product.
Here are the first three townhouses. One looks like a barn. I really hope they have better curb appeal when the siding is installed.
I’ll admit, when you are driving in Shirlington– that end barn hits you. But when you drive into the complex and look at it up close– it’s not that bad. So I’m not commenting until I see the final product.
I had my doubts about West Village– and that turned into a nice project.
This picture below is a rear view of the garages.
We are in for some warm weather this next week, maybe there will be some more progress on the exterior.
| Discussion: 4 Comments »
Bush’s Rate Freeze: An Early Christmas Present or Coal in Your Stocking?
December 6th, 2007 Categories: Buyers, Mortgages & Loans, Real Estate News, Sellers
President Bush plans to announce, today, a compromise policy to freeze interest rates for some sub-prime mortgages for a period of 5 years.
Expect an afternoon joint press conference with the Treasury Department and members of the mortgage industry that negotiated this deal.
While the exact terms of the plans have not been officially announced, the Internet in buzzing with most of the plan’s details.
Here is what I could find:
- The plan is aimed at homeowners who are making payments on time at lower introductory mortgage rates but cannot afford a higher adjusted rate;
- The plan would apply to borrowers with loans made at the start of 2005 through July 30 2007 with rates that are scheduled to rise between Jan. 1, 2008, and July 31, 2010;
- The program would only be available for owner-occupied homes;
- Borrowers whose credit scores are below 660 out of a possible 850 and haven’t risen by 10 percent since the loan was sold will be given priority. Those with scores above 660 will be more closely scrutinized to determine whether they are eligible or must continue making payments under existing terms, said the person.
Why am I skeptical?
“Hi. I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
- It’s always tricky when the government gets involved with the natural free market. While there are many people in the mortgage industry that are begging for a bail-out program– it may be a bandaid for a hemorrhage;
- It’s going to lead to confusion out there in the short term, many new home buyers are going to wait, once again, to see what happens to the market;
- Many of these “short sale” properties are coming off the market;
- Housing prices may actually rise again in the spring. We may be back to a sellers market;
- People who are going to take advantage of this plan SHOULD BE negotiating with their mortgage lender a solid affordable rate for a 30 year mortgage– but will instead, do nothing, ride out this five-year waiting period and will be in the same position as they are now;
- People with good credit scores (i.e, above 660), but will still have problems meeting their newer mortgage payments are going to up in arms;
- It’s still uncertain what this will do to interest rates for new loans. They will have to stay low. Interest rates are the single most important thing regular people consider when deciding to buy. (They don’t realize that prices go up when this actually happens.)
I’m not an economist so I don’t really know the short-term or long-term impact this is going to have the real estate market in our area. I’m interested to see the reaction today after the plan is officially announced.
One thing is certain: There is a presidential election coming so anything is possible.
I’d like to hear from you, what do you think of this new plan?
| Discussion: 12 Comments »
3Q07 Arlington Sales: 1,831 Reasons Why Arlington Beats the National Trend
November 20th, 2007 Categories: Around Arlington County, Ballston, Buyers, Clarendon, Columbia Pike, Courthouse, Crystal City, East Falls Church, Local Real Esate Sales Numbers & Things, Nauck, Pentagon City, Real Estate News, Rossyln, Sellers, Shirlington, Virginia Square
I haven’t been known to publish much Arlington real estate sales data on this blog. Mostly because I’m still testing the best way to present it. So bear with me while I give you some numbers. Sooner or later I’ll find a format that I like.
And don’t worry– I’m not going to list 1,831 lines of data. But– you know what that number is? It’s a way to get your attention. NVAR released it’s 3Q07 sales data. They publish all sorts of interesting and not so interesting stuff. It depends on your point of view. If you want to see it all– by county for the metropolitan area, by zip code, I encourage you to visit their website to get your number fix.
But, if you don’t have the time and want to know the Arlington sales for 3Q07, stick around.
Note– these numbers does not discriminate between condos, townhomes and single family homes.
1,831 – the number of homes still on the market 9.30.07 – the last day of the quarter.
45 – the average number of days on the market for all Arlington homes sold in the third quarter of 2007.
$571,900 - the average sales price for homes sold in Arlington.
95.9% is the average amount of money a person got in their sold price when compared to their original list price.
11.1% – the average increase– yes, I said increase, in the sales prices for Arlington homes sold in 3Q07 when compared to the 3Q06.
Now, these numbers are put together by economists employed by the Realtors Association. So you would expect a certain spin. Well, the data doesn’t spin. Sometimes my head spins when I have to look at all this data- but the data, in itself, doesn’t spin.
What does have spin– after all, we are in Washington, DC, where everything has spin; where the term spin doctor originated; where people make a very good business out of being Spin Drs, but I digress. What does have spin: the economists’ opinion. And what is their spin? That on a scale of 1–5 where 1 is a total buyer’s market and 5 is a total seller’s market, Arlington is a 3. Yes - it’s right in the middle.
I don’t depend on an economist’s opinion to tell me how the Arlington real estate market is running. After all– I’m in the middle of the market everyday. I know how I feel about the market. So I look at the data– toss is around in my head. Then I agree or disagree.
This month I agree.
Here’s why:
- I’ve been busy all year with people interested in buying Arlington real estate;
- All my appraisals for my sales have come in OVER the sales price;
- I have competed– yes competed– with other buyer agents for the same listing;
- Arlington unemployment is still under 2% (1.9% to be exact). That’s considered a worker’s shortage. So people are moving here with new jobs.
I spend a good amount of time trying to make this chart look pretty and fancy and use colors that match my blog. I just have to post it here. It is all the Arlington zip codes and the percent change of sales of 3Q07 sales when compared to 3Q06 sales.
This chart says that all the zip codes in Arlington, except for Shirlington, have seen an increase in the average sales price when you compare 3Q07 to 3Q06. Why Shirlington? After all– I write about Shirlington all the time and what a great place it is to live. Well I don’t have the answer for that right now- but I’m going to look a little deeper into it. I suspect it may have something to do with Fairlington sales, which make up the largest part of the sales.
Just in case you can’t read the chart- here are the data points:
- 22201: 11.79%
- 22202: 2.9%
- 22203: 2.72%
- 22204: 2.39%
- 22205: 12.65%
- 22206: -4.23%
- 22207: 17.26%
- 22209: 50.76%
- 22213: 3.65%
So– if you are waiting for the prices to drop in Arlington, maybe Arlington isn’t for you. Maybe you aren’t ready to buy. Maybe it’s a lot of things.
But I can tell you this– it isn’t because the real estate market is bad in Arlington. The data doesn’t lie.
| Discussion: 8 Comments »
Welcome To the Neighborhood Stanley
November 18th, 2007 Categories: Around Arlington County, Buyers, Shirlington
I stopped by the sales office late this afternoon. Although they claim to be open, the office was severely under-staffed. With only one sales person working with previously scheduled appointments, anyone who walked in had to wait. There wasn’t even a receptionist. I don’t think they are writing contracts yet. It seems to be a meet and greet this week.
At least while I was there, any walk-in had to wait to get any information.
Three people walked out without talking to the sales person while I was waiting to introduce myself to the sales person and another couple was told they would be contacted for an appointment. I guess there was a high volume of people who registered on the Stanley Martin website. They are trying to met with all those people. Although the couple that was turned away did registered on their website.
I was there for a less than a half hour and and there were six groups that passed through the office. That’s pretty good traffic for a market that supposed to be slow.
But, for gosh sakes, people– HIRE A BUYER’s AGENT! Not one of the groups I saw had an agent. Tell me why you don’t want someone to represent you. I want to hear from you.
I guess Stanley Martin wasn’t expecting such a high turn out– especially the weekend before Thanksgiving. As we say in this business– it’s a good problem to have.
They are working quickly to put up the first models.
This was the first row of town homes last week.
This is that same row today.
At least I was able to pick up some floor plans today. I’ll post more once I can finally meet with the sales person. I wasn’t expecting to get her time today, we’ve been communicating through email and I knew she would be busy today.
Welcome to the neighborhood Stanley.
Related Posts:
Shirlington Crest Sales Office Opens Saturday November 17, 2007– Are You Ready?
Stanley Martin– A Builder With a New Approach
Five Reasons To Use A Buyer Agent When Purchasing New Construction
| Discussion: 4 Comments »
Let’s Take a Real Look At Interest Rates
November 13th, 2007 Categories: Buyers, Local Real Esate Sales Numbers & Things, Mortgages & Loans, Real Estate News
A few days ago I wrote a post on the history of interest rates over the last 30 years. I talked about trends and fluctuations. The chart from that post showed the trends in mortgage interest rates over the past 30 years have been in a steady decline and are now leveling of.
While it’s easy to look back over time to see that this is one of the best time to buy real estate, most people don’t realize that there is also a best time of YEAR to buy real estate.
To prove my point, I used Freddie Mac data from 2006 & 2007. I charted the monthly average for both years (Nov & Dec 07 are null points) and found that in 2007, interest rates have actually been lower for most of the year when compared to 2006.
What I found interesting is that in both years, interest rates peaked in July for that year and then decreased for the remaining year.
What does this all mean? If you are most concerned about the interest rate of your next mortgage- don’t wait to buy in the spring, buy now.
Take a browse through the MLS to see what’s on the market and email me with your questions. Even better- sign up for your own email alerts for new listings!
| Discussion: 3 Comments »