Archive for January, 2009
Will I Know it When I See It?
January 14th, 2009 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, First Time Buyers Club, McLean Dirt, Reston Dirt
I get asked that question a lot from buyers, especially first time buyers, as we begin and move through the house hunting process. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer, no magic bullet to help sort that out. It’s one part analysis and one part gut feel…
I usually tell them that I’ve had clients that looked at 3 houses and bought one of the 3. I’ve also had clients that I’ve shown 50 houses to and they decided to take a break from looking only to end up renting indefinitely. Who’s to say what’s right or wrong?
Steps to follow to make the process a little easier:
1) Get your financial homework done ahead of time. If you know what you are qualified for and you KNOW what you are comfortable with, you will not have to wonder and shift gears as far as price range goes, mid way through the process. Of course there are exceptions – if you begin looking when interest rates are at 6% and there are significant drops, as I’ve written about before it can have a tremendous affect on your purchase power and it’s definitely worth re-visiting. Otherwise, do that homework first and STICK TO YOUR COMFORT ZONE!
2) Have a good list of what you do and don’t want – I would highly 
recommend AGAINST making anything firm. I was once told by a couple that they didn’t want to look at cape cod style homes because they felt the upstairs wouldn’t be large enough for the husband. Well, you can see where this is headed – they ended up purchasing a cape cod that had a great addition on the back that enabled them to have a nice master closet and bath with PLENTY of head room, storage, etc… But back to my point, have some general ideas of what you want and what you don’t – if you have any showstoppers (Cannot live in a particular school district, cannot live with steps, etc…) it’s a good idea to note those too.
3) PATIENCE – some weeks there will be MANY homes to look at and others, slim pickins… Just be patient. When you see something that you can mentally begin moving into, that’s a good first sign that we’re onto something. That’s when it’s time to analyze how the space would work with your lifestyle, the commute, the longevity (how long could you live in that house if you had to? – e.g., there’s no point buying a “cuter” 3–bedroom house than the 3–bedroom one you already have if you’re outgrowing it – right?).
4) Gut Feel – this is the hardest. But if you can imagine your life in this home, imagine being excited to come home every day, imagine inviting your friends over for a party or for dinner or just to hang out; if you can see your furniture here, or what color you’d like to paint the walls or where your dog will sleep – these are all good solid indicators that you might have just found your new home.
It’s a fun process – call me today to get started!
Happy Wednesday!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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Northern Virginia Welcomes SentriLock Lockboxes – why is this good?
January 9th, 2009 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Basics, Reston Dirt
Hello all!!
During the month of January, Northern Virginia real estate agents will be trading in ALL of our old lockboxes and upgrading to the NEW, FANTASTIC, AMAZING SentriLock system. These are super cool, easy to use new boxes that have great benefits to us and sellers. As for buyers, they don’t really care what kind of box you have just as long as you can get them into the house! LOL
These boxes are HUGE – but they have all sorts of great features that our old boxes didn’t have. To highlight a few:
1) Owners have a “Do Not Disturb” code – as a seller, have you ever worried when you step into the shower that you might find buyers in your bedroom when you step out? Well, never to worry again – you have a code that you can enter right into the lockbox that will allow you complete privacy whenever you need it.
2) Much better tracking to allow us to know who’s been inside your home
3) If you’re a condo owner, you should know the key compartment is SO large that no longer will prospective buyers’ agents have to deal with jammed boxes – there’s plenty of room for keys, fobs, card keys, etc…
4) We will be able to issue one day codes for contractors or appraisers to access the home.
5) Smart Card access – this is really just a better system for us as agents – easier to update, no battery life issues, etc… It’s a much more sophisticated system and that translates to better features all around.
So, look for these new lockboxes and think of them as a sign of the future.
Happy Friday – hope you had a great and productive week!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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2008 in Review – Arlington County Home Sales – Stats, Stats and more Stats…
January 8th, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Condos, Home Buying, Home Selling, Market Stats
As we sit her amidst possibly the greatest financial crisis in modern times, we do tend to think “how could this possibly be the best time to buy or sell real estate?” (I’m sure that’s the first thought you have – ok, well maybe not the first, but if it’s on the list at all – keep reading…)
I read a blog post of a colleague of mine a few days ago and a reader absolutely slammed the real estate agents/industry for the mess we’re in – as one colleague so nicely put it, most of us are not representing misguided investors who are looking (or WERE looking) for a quick buck in flipping 
and/or rehabbinb and reselling properties. Most of us were working with people who were looking for homes to live in. Most of us were making sure that they were working with reputable lenders and that they understood what they were getting into – what the tax benefits are of home ownership, and what the risks are. We were (and still are) educating our buyers and sellers about the times and hopefully setting correct expectations… OK, I digress a bit – but a word for the readers, people will always need to buy and sell homes when they outgrow them, or they need less space; when they change jobs, or a family situation changes. There are a multitude of reasons people need to move – but it happens every day – and I will be there to represent at least some of them and I am committed to doing my job well and giving my clients the best representation possible.
OK – on to why you’re here – STATS… first, let me start off with December numbers – some good, some not so good – here’s how the month looked:
In order to provide some perspective, I keep running tallies and here are the stats for the entire year for both Condos and Single Family Homes:
What I see from these is that the condo market seems off – active listings are holding, but contract writing was down – settlements were up from November, but I think that’s a trickle down of the rate and availability of money issues that we saw in the October/November time frame. After all, more condos settled in December than since August.
For the Single Family market, I see somewhat of a trail off in contract writing, but solds are holding – fewer than in the past few months, but not dramatically so…
In any event, I decided I wanted to look at some trending – 2008 as it compared with 2007 – so here are what I think are the most interesting tables of all: the Condo market and the Single Family market broken down by sales, Average Selling prices and Days on Market in 6 month chunks.
Look at the unit trail-off in 2008 – we had a total of 1700 units sell in 2007 and only 1,110 units in 2008. WOW – that’s a 53% decline in unit sales – however, I would say overall, prices are holding; up in the 2nd half of 2007, down in the 1st half of 2008 and back up again in the 2nd half of 2008 – Days on Market have also increased on average. This is interesting to me because being IN the market, it doesn’t feel this way. It could be a result of financing restrictions, fha restrictions on certain buildings/complexes, etc…
Now, for Single Family:
We see the same drop off in unit sales – down from a total of 1,034 in 2007 to just 851 in 2008 for a 21% decline. Average Selling Prices have declined as well – but days on the market have held pretty steady. These are very interesting numbers to look at.
I try not to get too bogged down with numbers and here’s the bottom line I see.
1) Houses are still SELLING – Buyers are still buying
2) FEWER houses and condos are selling this year than last – there are fewer buyers in the market
3) IF you decided you need to or would like to sell your home – you can still expect the marketing time to AVERAGE 60–80 days, depending on what and where you’re trying to sell
4) Interest rates are at record lows – this will begin to bring buyers into the market.
Have we reached bottom? Who knows – depends on who you listen to. We have some exciting changes in store for us and a sort of new beginning to look forward to when our new president takes office on January 20th.
If you’d like to discuss your options, whether buying or selling, I would be honored to receive your inquiry and look forward to working with you on a successful (and pleasant) real estate transaction!
Happy Thursday
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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It’s 2009 – And our thoughts turn to….
January 5th, 2009 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, Home Selling, McLean Dirt, Reston Dirt
selling our homes…. Yes, it’s true. As we move through the fall and into the holiday season, some people have already planned a spring home sale. After all, our spring selling season begins in about 5 weeks! I’ve already gotten calls from past clients and a few inquiries from new prospects who are planning a spring sale and purchase of a new home.
Really, it’s not too early, folks. This is a perfect time to begin the process of cleaning, purging, storing, tidying, etc… so it’s not such an overwhelming process once it is broken down into tiny tasks!
There are some great preliminary tools you can use to see what’s going on in your neighborhood. One of them is right here on my webiste. You can put your address into the sidebar where it says “MLS Market Snapshot” and a report will be generated JUST FOR YOU with local sales and other statistics such as days on market, etc… it’s a cool tool you can start with. It also runs an automatic update every 30 days or so.
Obviously your next move would be to give me a call to get a real pulse on the market – what’s going on? what can you expect? what sorts of things do you need to do in order to get the most out of your home sale? what type of marketing is important? etc…
Depending on who you listen to, we expect 2009 to be a vibrant real estate market. As you know from my recent posts, homes continue to sell, with those that are properly priced still moving rather quickly – certainly inside of 30 days.
So if you are one of those individuals, couples or families contemplating a move in 2009, I would welcome the opportunity to earn your business.
Happy Monday
Jennifer
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