Scott MacDonald of RE/MAX Gateway offers valuable information and insight in his Northern Virginia Real Estate Market Minute as to why the Spring 2013 Northern Virginia Housing Market is slowing down just a little. Homes priced competitvely are selling fast! Home Buyers and Sellers will want to save money by closing before July 1, 2013 Grantor’s Tax increase. There’s still time to get your home listed for sale! Call Scott MacDonald (703) 652-5777
Chantilly
Prediction #1 Scott MacDonald TOP 10 Predictions 2013
Scott MacDonald counts down his 2013 Top 10 Predictions for Northern Virginia Real Estate PREDICTION #1 the Real Estate Market & exciting news for REMAX Gateway in 2013.
How low will it go?
It has finally happened. Inventory levels in Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, Arlington, Fauquier, Alexandria and all the cities in between have now dropped below 5,000 homes for sale. We have just 4,692 properties on the market. We have not been this low in nearly a year. This number is not an all time low – the first week of March in 2005 we had 1,652 houses for sale – this was the all time low for this region. If you are curious, the all time high was the third week of November 2006 when we had 22,898 houses for sale. So as you can see, we are approaching an extreme situation in housing – nothing for home shoppers to buy. A more balanced market would be in the 8,500 to 9,000 range –
we are at about 50% of where we need to be.
So what does all of this mean? If you are a seller, now is the time to put your house on the market because there is very little competition. If you are a buyer, you will more than likely be in a multiple contract situation so be ready to put your best offer on the table initially. Also, buyers will turn to new construction as an alternative to their housing needs as they can’t find suitable solutions in the resale market. Lastly, prices should continue to increase – just need the appraisers to agree this is the situation.
What else is low and going lower? Interest rates. It is amazing that virtually every week the news is rates continue to hit new all time lows. This makes now a great time to buy or refinance.
So, what is your opinion? How soon will it be before we see an increase in inventory? When will we see rates increase? I’d love to hear your opinion so give me a call.
Staff Sergeant Reminds Us
Yesterday I was at a meeting for Homes for Heroes and I heard a young Marine speak about his life and how it had changed after being injured in Afghanistan. His name is Staff Sergeant Joey Jones
Here are some notes I took and wanted to share with others – enjoy:
- Build a life on purpose – decide what you want and go get it…
Determine what your personality is and what serves you best for your skills- No “one” is better than the whole
- Make a decision to make a difference in someone’s life
- Decide – what are you gonna do now
- You control yourself and your destiny
- You hold the keys to drive your life – don’t give the keys to anyone else.
- Work hard
- Care about others
- Give back
- Make it happen
- What makes you happy? Figure it out and do it more…
- How can you be a hero to someone else today
- Determine your goals and aspirations and achieve them
- If you do anything – do it right
- Nothing worth doing is ever easy
- Be respectful to others at all times
- Read the book – Lone Survivor
- Check out the campaign www.bootcampaign.com and contribute
- Take time and practice then make the appropriate adjustments
- Commit to giving 100% at all times
These are things we have heard in the past at one time or another but it never hurts to be reminded of them to keep you focused.
Coast to Coast “Buzz” – Market Rebound!
As we enter the 4thquarter of the year, we continue to see strong sales in real estate, low inventory levels of existing homes on the market and phenomenally low interest rates. I just got back from the RE/MAX California-Hawaii Regional meetings and all the buzz was how the market is on the rebound and how there has never been a better time to buy a home.
It was funny, as I was headed to the airport back home yesterday, the taxi driver overheard my phone conversations. When I was finally off the phone, he asked if I was in real estate. When I confirmed his suspicion, even he commented – unsolicited – that more people should be buying a home today. He had no real estate experience and he couldn’t understand why people were paying more in rent than if they were to buy under the current conditions. He even made the comment that workers at 7-11 could really buy a house today because they could actually qualify for a mortgage -not like wat was happening in the past.
West Coast to East Coast – the “Buzz” is Market Rebound!
We are at historically high affordability rates for home ownership which makes today a great time to be a home owner or investor. From the investor’s side of the equation, there are many people who cannot buy because of past history, some are only relocating temporarily to the area, and some are just plain old gun shy to buy because of the negative housing market over the last 5 years. Therefore, with prices down from the all-time highs but making their way up the ladder, a good renter pool, great financing options for investors – now is the time to get in the game! Home ownership is a long term investment strategy that can pay big dividends later. To learn more about becoming an investor, call us today. We would be happy to speak with you about your financial goals and objectives.
The Market is Hot, Hot, Hot!
The spring market is in full swing. This past weekend I was with an agent and they had 3 contracts on 3 different listings that went on the market the previous Thursday. One of them had multiple offers. In addition, we put a house back on the market last week that was on the market previously for about five months with no activity and got a contract on it over the weekend. So there are a lot of buyers out their looking, inventory levels seemed to have increased, but only slightly, interest rates remain low, days on market and months’ supply continue to stay relatively low as well. So if you are looking to sell, now is a great time. The trees are in bloom and the market is hot just like the weather! Let us know what we can do for you this Spring!
Is the spring market coming?
In Northern Virginia our inventory levels of active resale homes for sale continues to decline. We are down to just over 4,600 homes on the market and we have a 1.8 month supply of homes. Houses that went under contract the last 7 days hit a 6 month high this past week. In a nutshell, houses are selling. Why is this happening? Interest rates hit another record low, we are creating jobs here, rental rates are increasing and our population is growing putting more demand on housing.
Last week I was asked when will we see the spring market or in other words, when will more houses be coming on the market? Some people say when the banks start releasing foreclosures, some say mid-March, and some say when their price rise. Let’s analyze each of these responses.
So far we have not seen the foreclosures hit the market and as a matter of record, the inventory has actually decreased to a 6 month low with only 311 currently for sale. In addition, “Notice of Trustee sales” published have actually remained very low as well averaging only 3 pages per day versus substantially higher numbers in 2008-2010. Lastly, I started tracking short sale inventory just over 2 years ago and we are at an all-time low in this area as well – only 651 are for sale in Northern Virginia.
As far as the inventory levels increasing in mid-March, only time will tell but several agents have indicated they have houses in the process of being prepared to go on the market around this timeframe. If they are not only preparing them for sale but are going to price them accordingly, they will sell. Two properties we listed on Friday received multiple offers because they were price properly and in the right condition. And now for the statement, “when my price increases, I will sell” is a tougher one to answer for many people. Rise compared to what? When they were purchased? Compared to 2004-2007 prices? Compared with the last sale in their neighborhood? Until these questions can be answered, we can’t help them.
We continue to have one of the best real estate markets in the country and it will be this way for the foreseeable future. Please feel free to contact us to learn more about how this market affects you and your situation.
Scott's Motivation and Real Estate Market Updates 