local market

March Market Update

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The real estate market in Northern Virginia continues its roll into the Spring selling  season. Inventory on resale homes has risen slightly, but so have sales. The slight rise in interest rates have not slowed things down and we don’t expect anything to change. The nice thing if you are looking to buy, you now have more selection – but if the house is in great condition, you will be in a competitive situation. You will definitely want to put your best foot forward in this type of buying scenario.

Here are a few tips to consider when looking to buy a home:

  • Offer at least full price with an escalation clause or go REMAX FOR SALE SIGN SOLD
    in with your highest and best – usually above list price to secure the home.
  • Put down a large Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) – if you are putting a down payment of 5%, make your EMD 5%.
  • Have a very short finance contingency timeframe and have your lender call the listing agent to discuss your qualifications.
  • Waive the appraisal if and only if you are confident in the value, you have the cash available to make up the difference and it is a home you absolutely cannot live without.
  • Conduct a home inspection for informational purposes only with the right to void if you discover anything you were not expecting to find or if a repair is costlier than you expected.
  • Determine the seller’s timeframe and add that date as your settlement date. If they need a longer timeframe to close, consider adding free rentback period with an early close so they are not worried about a long, drawn out closing.
  • Cover all your own closing costs.
  • Do not ask for a home warranty paid for by the seller.
  • Write a personal letter to the seller explaining why you want to be the next home owner.

These tips won’t guarantee you will get the house, but they will help.

If you are thinking of buying, please call me to discuss your situation in more detail and how we can make these suggestions work for you. If you are selling, I have strategies to discuss with you on pricing, staging, and how to handle multiple contracts when they come in on your house – if you don’t want to wait until next month.

Happy Spring!

You can reach me at scottmacdonald@macdonaldhomes.com or 703-652-5777

The end of the year offers us time to reflect

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Wow, November really WINTER SCENEflew by this year. It’s hard to believe that December is here already. At this rate, when we blink it will be a New Year. This being said, with December comes reflection and projection.

Let’s reflect, this year, what resonates with me is that it was odd to say the least. Looking back, for the real estate business it has been especially challenging. We have not had a year where we couldn’t predict the market because there were no trends that lead the way for us. The harsh winter weather carried into May so there was no momentum from a spring market to carry us into the summer months. We had overly choosy buyers, rising inventory, fewer first time buyers, fewer investors, more inventory coupled with more days on the market plus even more. You name it, it happened and we couldn’t predict what would happen next. What we did have this year were very low interest rates – stable house prices – inventory was plentiful but nowhere near historic highs yet we had a “different” year. In a year where buyers should have been coming out of the wood work, they stayed on the fence. There are many in the business happy to see an end to this year from a business perspective.

So, let’s talk about next year. We are expecting a strong spring market based upon what our top producing agents are talking about in our mastermind meetings. Many of them have buyers ready to buy homes, they have realistic sellers ready to put their homes on the market and rates will remain low through the spring market. We hit a low in first time buyers last year that we haven’t seen since 1987 but there are financing changes upcoming with lower down payment requirements and changes in regulations relaxing the tight underwriting standards we have had recently. These revisions will make first time buyers and Millenials a viable option that will help revive the housing market in the lower price points that will help the market flow up stream. We expect that the month’s supply of homes will remain between 3.5 – 4.5 months so sellers will need to be patient. Overall, we are optimistic that the real estate market will be strong in 2015.

Have a fantastic, safe and relaxing holiday season with your family and friends. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns about your situation, feel free to call me.

Scott MacDonald

RE/MAX Gateway