Archive for the 'Real Estate News' Category
Panda Friday!
May 9th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, The Road Less Taken
What better way to get back into my writing that starting out with something light! It’s cold and rainy here in DC- we had over 3 inches of rain over night- so everyone needs something to make then smile!
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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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I’m HERE- and Back Online
April 20th, 2008 Categories: Blue Plate Specials, Real Estate News
A few of us real estate bloggers where cyber attacked this past week.
Fortunately for me, most of my files was still in tact when these malicious attacks where stopped. But that doesn’t make it any less devastating for my fellow bloggers across the country who had at large part of their business shut down.
Our wonderful hosts have been doing a great job getting many large files of many bloggers back on line- but certain things are still not working properly and we are finding them as we go along.
If you have tried to reach me over the past week and have not heard back from me- please accept my apologizes and contact me again. CALL ME- 703-772-5555
My next few posts will also be picture-less. Until everything is back up and working.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
A Big WOW For Shirlington: US Patent Office Will Be Our Neighbors
February 21st, 2008 Categories: Around Arlington County, Real Estate News, Shirlington
The last office building planned for Shirlington is almost complete. Randolph Square will have over 200,000 square feet of office space, retail stores and a nice new parking garage to add some much needed parking.
The exciting news is that this shiny new building now has a bright new tenant: The US Patent Office.
The building is scheduled to open in April- just in time for the spring and bring with it the US Government.
Welcome to the neighborhood – you’re going to be here for the next 10 years. I hope you enjoy our little secret.
My last picture was taken when the weather was warmer– I’m such a whimp in this cold weather. It’s much further along now. I’m just too cold to stand outside to take some pictures.
And many thanks to one of my favorite local blogs: Shirlington Village Blog for being the first with the scoop.
Related Post:
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Don’t Spend It All In One Place
February 14th, 2008 Categories: Mortgages & Loans, Real Estate News
This president loves to tell Americians to go out and spend money. So now you can. Don’t spend it all in one spot.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
Freddie Mac Reaches Out
December 14th, 2007 Categories: Mortgages & Loans, Real Estate News, Sellers
It’s still too early to tell if the president’s compromise for the sub-prime mortgage “crisis” will have an impact on the recent increase of short sale properties. But I’m glad to see that Freddie Mac is starting to get the word out about mortgage fraud.
Thanks to Teresa Boardman and her great St. Paul Real Estate Blog for getting the word out. I’m adding it here as a public service announcement. I hope my other real estate blog buddies will add it to their sites to spread the word.
Before you sign anything– take the paperwork to a lawyer for review. Don’t be in a rush to sign anything. Don’t feel pressured into signing ANYTHING. Bring the paperwork to a lawyer. Maybe you think you can’t afford a lawyer– if you are in such a position, please contact a legal aid society. They may be able to help.
When we are in crisis and feel overwhelmed looking at foreclosure- we reach out to anyone who says they can help. Don’t be afraid to talk to your lender. Remember– they don’t want to own your home.
But, if you are behind on your mortgage and don’t know where to turn, call the National Foreclosure Hotline’s toll free number for help:
1–888–995–HOPE
Related Posts:
Bush’s Rate Freeze: An Early Christmas Present or Coal in Your Stocking?
| Discussion: 13 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 »
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 »
Shirlington Crest Sales Office Opens Saturday November 17, 2007- Are You Ready?
November 12th, 2007 Categories: Arlington Urban Villages, Around Arlington County, Buyers, Real Estate News, Shirlington
My first post on Shirlington Crest was one of my most popular posts on a new community. I’m glad to see that people are excited about the largest new town home community in the Shirlington area in 40 years. It’s going to put yet another new face on Shirlington as well as add to the rejuvenation of Nauck. It’s official name is Shirlington Crest at Nauck.
Since my last post, the sales trailer has landed, the landmark sign was installed and Stanley Martin has broken ground. When I went inside the sales trailer- it was still not ready for business- no one was there. But I did take a moment to take some pics. Their web site has been updated with prices (high $500s to the low $600s) and models. Well-priced for new construction in this area of Arlington. And they are still offering a “grand-opening” celebration of paying your closing costs.
In the meantime the sales person heading up this project for Stanley Martin read my post and contacted me. We’re going to meet later this week – I’ll be able to get more details on what’s going on. She did let me know that the sales office will be open for business this coming Saturday, November 17th. Be sure to sign up for my RSS feed so you can get my updated information on sales in this new town home community.
It does look like it will be a while before the models are up and ready for showing.
Are you thinking about buying one of these town homes?
Make sure you call me to represent you as your buyer agent. It’s most important in a pre-construction situation to have your own representation. It’s more than just picking out the color of your granite counter tops.
Do you need to sell your current place before you can buy this one?
I will make sure you are protected with a contingency in case your home doesn’t sell. I can also list your current home and help you get it sold in time.
What happens if interest rates rise before your town home is finished?
You don’t want to lose your deposit if interest rates rise to a point where you can’t afford to buy this new town home.
What happens if you need to cancel?
Anything can happen between now and then– so make sure you understand your rights.
These are just a few of the things that you should be concerned about when you are buying not only new construction- but pre-construction.
I’m excited about this new community and will be checking in on it often– so stay tuned.
Related Reading:
Stanley Martin: A Builder With A New Approach
Five Reasons to Use a Buyer’s Agent Purchasing New Construction
What is a Buyer’s Agent? And Why Should I Hire One?
Shirlington’s Face Lift is Almost Complete
For more posts on the other new construction in Shirlington, visit my Shirlington Category
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