Archive for March, 2009
Have you seen this truck?
March 31st, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt
So yesterday I was meeting a fellow realtor for a bite to eat – it’s always nice to get together and share our ideas on the marketplace, what’s working, what’s not, and have a good laugh or two swapping war stories! I got there a little early (and by the way, for anyone who’s curious Ray’s Hell Burgers on Wilson Blvd in Arlington is NOT open, I repeat NOT OPEN for lunch on Mondays!) and while I was waiting, the writing on the truck caught my eye:
So I thought to myself – wow – interesting tag line indicating the developers are solid, building solid structures, and confident in their abilities.
Anyway, it was a sunny and windy day and I was wandering while I was waiting and I found myself on the other side of the truck and here’s what I saw:
Now I don’t know about you – but I had to read it twice. About this time my colleague joined me and we both said “does that say what I think it says?” Very interesting strategy and I’m still confused by it. And of course, the icing on the cake was the back:
Ok – so my pledge to you is:
99% of the time I’m early – to me on time is the new late
I’m a safe driver
I do at least what I promise and usually more
I don’t leave until the job is done
Call me today to discuss my business practices – I still can’t fathom what this guy was thinking, but it doesn’t set well with me.
Happy Tuesday!
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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Houses are a-selling around Arlington VA!
March 24th, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats
As you know, I am a big fan of numbers. Although I guess I should add that people can twist numbers and statistics sometimes to show what they want to show. However, there’s one set of numbers that just don’t lie - you know what they are… CONTRACTS RATIFIED! And last week we exceeded last year’s numbers for the same week. We ratified 51 contracts in Arlington county last week compared with 49 in 2008. Out of the 11 weeks reported so far in 2009, 3 of them had numbers higher than last year! YES – that’s big.
I’m not sure the story it tells, but one thing’s for sure – there are small indicators all around us that we might be heading for better times… Contract writing is stabilizing – of course, 4.5% interest rates don’t hurt a bit! The stock market is showing some glimmers of some gains (according to CNN, last week saw the 2nd consecutive week ending with a gain since May of 2008) and this week seems to be (so far) heading in the same direction! I’m not getting ahead of myself, a few good markers do not a turn-around make, but I’m optimistic.
I’m working with many buyers right now – after all, if you’re considering buying, why wouldn’t you drop what you’re doing and jump in NOW? Did you read what I said in the last paragraph? 4.5% interest rates? Of course you must have good credit, a job and some assets, but that’s not news. If you’d like to consider getting into the game and would like a friendly competent realtor to show you the way, drop me a line! I always have time for new clients and referrals!
Meanwhile, celebrate spring! The sky is blue the air is clean and crisp – flowers and trees are blooming (ahhh-chooo) and it’s a great time to be alive!
Happy Tuesday
Jennifer
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Listen UP Sellers – Prepare Your Home for 3 Sales… read on…
March 12th, 2009 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, Home Selling, McLean Dirt, Reston Dirt
Yes, I said 3 – THREE – When you’re contemplating selling your home in this market, you may feel that it’s an uphill battle – and for most, it is! The 
hardest hurdle (and single most important thing) is to price your home correctly. Remove emotions as best you can; don’t place extra value on your hand printed wall paper or your custom bathroom fixtures. Chances are the next buyer may not even notice those things, or they may be so personal that rather than placing extra value on them, the next buyer is factoring in money to REMOVE them! Then look at the comparable listings – and comparable solds – with your agent. Look as objectively as possible at the positive features of your home (think big here: location, curb appeal, updates, garage, etc..) as well as the negative aspects (small bedrooms, 1 fewer bath than most of your comparables, street parking, etc…). Remove all of the minutiae of custom this or custom that… look at the big picture.
So I’m sure you’re wondering why, after all this, you have to sell your home 3 times…
First you have to SELL YOUR HOME TO REALTORS – this is why we host broker’s open houses on Tuesdays – to give Realtors a chance to walk through your home and get a good look – they may not have a client for it, but they may talk it up at their office, or even write a blog post about it!
Second you have to actually SELL YOUR HOME TO POTENTIAL BUYERS – now this is the most obvious! You want them to walk in and imagine their lives in your home. Remember, it won’t be your home for much longer, but you want them to imagine their lives there and see the value.
Last you have to SELL IT TO THE APPRAISER – yes, the APPRAISER! This is primarily my job as the agent, but assuming we did the steps discussed in the first paragraph and actually priced off of valid comparables, we should be able to sail through appraisal process – but it is an often overlooked step that is as important as any of the others.
So, take the time to price and prepare your home up front for the best possible outcome and I’d be willing to bet the rest will fall into place!
Call me to discuss further – I’m EXCELLENT with the 3–sale approach with every base covered!
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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How’s the Market – February 2009 – Arlington Virginia – NUMBERS
March 11th, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats
Hello Folks!
Bet you thought I forgot about you? Not a chance. I have been busy – and had the pleasure of attending the annual Keller Williams conference in Orlando Florida a few weeks ago. Always an inspiring event but takes a while to internalize all of the input – it’s like drinking from a fire hose – so much helpful information to come back and implement in our businesses.
Anyway, that question that’s on everyone’s minds is back… how’s business? Well, I’d have to say February was a significant improvement over January by a long shot. We saw almost DOUBLE the contract writing activity – that’s EXCELLENT because without writing and ratifying contracts, there would be no sales – so that’s our biggest indication of trends, which is why I track that separately as well. I’m also noticing that the lower priced homes are what’s generally moving, with a few higher priced sprinkled in.
Here are February 2009 Numbers:
The low “sold units” number is due to the low contract writing in January of this year. We nearly doubled the contracts written on single family homes from 62 in January to 105 in February. Condos, we increased from 93 in January to 129 in February. This will continue to help those sold numbers push upwards and thus absorption rates continue to come back into line.
Here’s how the contract writing looks – it’s a pretty complicated looking chart, but I’m overlaying 2009 activity on 2008 activity. It’s definitely slightly behind, but trending similarly (which you’re really seeing the beginning of spring season here).
The green line is the 4 week moving average for 2008 and the blue line is the 4 week moving average for 2009. That’s where we can see trends – for the actual numbers, see below. I’ve tracked it in “week 1, week 2, etc” so I can compare 1 year against the next…
You can see that weeks 6–9 basically represent February and it’s very strong! In fact, week 7 showed more contracts written since week 33 last year which is the middle of August! So, are we on track? I’d say so – homes are selling and if you’d like to discuss it further, please don’t hesitate to call. I can perform in depth analyses for your neighborhood and you can evaluate from there.
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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