Archive for February, 2009
Great Open House Feb 15th at 133 N Highland Street, Arlington VA 22201 – come on by
February 15th, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Northern Virginia Basics
I’ll be at this great Lyon Park colonial today meeting and greeting and showing off this great home priced at $735,000.
![GetMedia[2]](http://thearlingtondirt.com/files/2009/02/getmedia2-small1.jpg)
The owner of this home is the original owner and it features 3 bedrooms and 1 full bath on a 5,000 sq ft lot just blocks to the Clarendon metro. Come on by today from 1–4 to take a look.
Happy Sunday!
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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So it’s really a buyer’s market….. right?
February 12th, 2009 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, Home Buying, Home Selling, Market Stats, McLean Dirt, Reston Dirt
Last night I met with some new clients who were delightful (you know who you are if you’re reading this!)… a topic came up that comes up a lot and I felt was worthy of discussion today – The media is ALL over the idea that it’s a buyer’s market – but what I’d like to remind you is that real estate is local, it’s really hyper-local. What does that mean?
First, we need to define what IS a buyer’s market? The economic definition of a buyers market reads like this:
A buyer’s market is a market for a good where prices are falling and there are more parties interested in selling than buying.
OK – that makes sense. But how does it translate to real estate? Typically we look at absorption rates – or simply put, how long will it take to sell through our current inventory of homes. I found another definition which generally follows what I’ve always heard which is this:
A seller’s market is defined by absorption rates of 1–4 months
A normal market is defined by absorption rates of 5–6 months
A buyer’s market is defined by absorption rates of 7+ months
One very important factor to keep in mind is that numbers can swing wildly month by month because you are looking at 1 month in a bubble. I’m sure a learned economist might take exception to the quick and dirty, back of the napkin numbers we’re looking at here, but nonetheless I was fascinated by what I found.
So, when I sat down this morning to pull together some facts and figures to share, before I even got started, I figured I’d find that in the closer in markets where things haven’t been in a nose-dive decline, that I’d find lower rates and in markets that are saturated with inventory, I’d find that buyer’s market conditions really exist. Take a look at the chart below. I had ordered it loosely by geography – distance from the city.
At first glance I was surprised to see the LOWEST absorption rates in Manassas - now I don’t do a whole lot of business out in Prince William County – most of my business is done in the closer in areas of Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and the like… I was a little surprised by McLean’s super high rate of 16+ months of inventory, but then, it all made sense. Look at the chart below, re-ordered by average list price in that city.
Interesting, huh? With the ONE exception of Falls Church, it lines up EXACTLY with average selling prices. What this tells me is that in areas with reasonable prices, properties are selling – at a very good pace in most cases. This ALSO tells me that with a few exceptions, our metro area is largely within the “normal” ranges – it’s what I’ve been saying, but here are the numbers to show for it.
The other interesting thing I found while researching this morning is that it really doesn’t matter what you label things (e.g., market conditions, outside factors, etc…) – what matters are 3 things:
1) low asking prices
2) acceptable interest rates and
3) large inventories
So there you have it – as a buyer, please don’t think you are driving the boat – that you can get whatever you want and then some from today’s sellers. Likewise, as a seller, recognize a good deal when one comes along. Work with the buyers and their agent, be flexible and realistic. Hey, it sounds like I just described a “normal” market.
Give me a call if you’d like to discuss further – it’s truly a fascinating study.
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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January 2009 Sales Figures for Arlington County Virginia – the words “so-so” come to mind…
February 9th, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats
I’ve finally come down off of the nice weather “high” from yesterday – what a day, wasn’t it? I think we all needed a little dose of spring. I really like winter as a season, but yesterday was like a shot of energy! So now, we hunker back down for a little more cold and wait out the daffodils that are right around the corner…
But back to real estate – I just finished doing a little review of January – not so bad, but not great, my friends. In a lot of ways, we are right about where we were last year – Inventories are up in both condos and single family homes. Contract writing is down VERY slightly but solds are up –
We’re also seeing lower Average Selling Prices but fewer days on market, too. I’d call it pretty much a wash, truthfully. 22207 is not flourishing as it once did, but the “deals” are found in other parts of the county and believe me, buyers are looking for deals!
Anecdotally, I was out over the weekend and visited 3 open houses with clients yesterday – traffic was steady, one agent reporting that in the first 2 hours over 20 groups had already been through. These were, for the most part, priced to sell in entry level price points for their respective locations. I would bet that at least 2 of these homes will go under contract this week and the 3rd, maybe within another week or so.
Here are the absorption rates – in case you don’t remember what that means, it’s the length of time it will take to sell through our current inventory. The numbers are interesting, but are highly dependent on whether it was a good month, or not. For example: typically in 22207, we are averaging about 5–6 months of inventory. You will see from this table that we have almost 20 months of inventory at the current sales rates – we all know that’s not accurate – just had a VERY slow January. We’ll see if February brings us different results!
(I liked the serenity of this photo with the clouds reflecting in the water and the mesh lounge chair – maybe lingering thoughts of yesterday’s warm weather.)
Have a fantastic week – I’m always here to discuss the real estate market for you, your home, your neighborhood or your investment inquiries – I look forward to talking with you!
Happy Monday
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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