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Forecasting The Real Estate Market With Government Shutdown

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Wow, where did September go?  It was a very interesting month – kids went back to school, football season started, the weather has changed, the housing market remained strong and the government shut down for the first time in 17 years.

Forecasting The Real Estate Market With Government Shutdown

It will be interesting to see how the stock market reacts to the government shutdown, what the impact will be on rates, the housing market and how long it lasts.  If it is a quick shut down, we will probably see little reaction in the stock market and as a result, rates and the housing market.  If it is a prolonged shutdown of a few weeks or more, the stock market will have a negative reaction, rates will rise as bond yields decrease and we could see a loss of momentum in the housing sector of the economy.  What will happen to government backed loans in process and how will it affect settlements?  None of these are helpful to our economy since the housing recovery leads the economic recovery as a whole.  At this time, it appears as if this could last longer than just a day or two so let’s get prepared for a rocky economic road the next few weeks.

Let’s talk about the real estate market in September.  We did see a pickup in sales over last year in Northern Virginia.  Inventory increased slightly which gave buyers more choices.  As inventory increased, distressed properties made up a lower percentage of this increase which is great for home owners.  New home sales continue their strong pace of sales.  Interest rates came back down as the government eased off their threat of reducing their purchasing of mortgage backed securities and we still see multiple contracts on properties in certain price points and locations.

All in all, September was a good month for Northern Virginia real estate.  We need this trend to continue, so let’s hope the shutdown gets resolved more quickly than it appears it will.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to call me directly (703) 652-5777

Scott MacDonald

RE/MAX Gateway, LLC

How Fast Will My House Sell? A Look Into The Real Estate Market Roller Coaster Ride

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July turned out to be a roller coaster month for real estate as the long-awaited day of reckoning came: The era of historically low interest rates is over.

How Fast Will My House Sell INTEREST RATES

Additionally, inventory levels continued to increase – we are up nearly double the number of homes for sale since the beginning of the year.  Also, home prices have risen and sales slowed slightly all resulting in a hectic month for residential sales.  Oh yeah, throw in a long holiday weekend so some sellers are a little anxious today about their home sale situation.

So the biggest question is…what was the impact of rising rates?

  • It knocked some buyers out of the home purchasing arena as they could no longer qualify.
  • Some buyers are waiting to see if the rates will come back down so they are on the fence.
  • Higher prices coupled with higher rates have made some people uncomfortable with the elevated payments and don’t want to make a move at this time.

How do we look going forward into August…. Houses will sell!

  • Existing home sales are expected to rise more than 8% for the remainder of the year.  As our prices continue to rise, albeit at slower pace than the rest of the major metropolitan areas as reported by Case-Shiller – home prices in the 20 biggest cities rose 2.4 percent from April to May, with a 2 percent monthly gain in the Washington market. How Fast Will My House Sell
  • Sellers in our area will continue to take advantage of the gain in equity, especially closer into Washington and put their houses up for sale giving us a more balanced market between buyers and sellers.
  • Interest rates will remain stable and we won’t have the drastic increases we experienced over the last two months bringing some of the buyers back into the market.

So overall, I believe we will have a good August, not great, but that is typical for this time of the year.

If you have any additional questions or concerns about your particular situation, feel free to call me (703) 652-5777.

Scott MacDonald

RE/MAX Gateway, LLC

What You Need To Know To Prepare For A Home Appraisal

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We had a great training session with John Chapman and Nathalie Palmer from Omni Appraisal Services about the current market and how to help get your properties to appraise for the contract sales price or at least get better results.

Here are a few key items to take into consideration when know who you are working with on your appraisal:

There are two types of appraisers – licensed and certified. Licensed Appraisers can only do values up to $1,000,000. Certified Appraisers can do any property value. Additionally, Certified Appraisers must take a test and have a Bachelor’s degree. Only Certified Appraisers can appraise FHA loans.

Did you know there are two types of appraisers?
– Licensed and Certified
Do you know the difference?

  • Larger banks are paying less to appraisers through Appraisal Management Companies.  Almost all of the banks own them so they can make more money.  This is not always a “good thing”.  Often times you will get an appraiser with less experience or one that will rush through the process because they have to make up their income by doing more volume.  Appraisal companies are in place to put a buffer between the lender, Realtor and appraiser to perpetuate a more “arm’s length” transaction.  What has resulted is that the banks are using this as a profit center and not always employing best in class appraisers.
  • Check with the appraiser’s competency and local knowledge.  Ask where they are located and if they are familiar with your property/area.  Additionally, ask how long have they been appraising homes?  Lastly, check and see if they work from home or office?   Many small owner operators work from home and as a result, don’t get exposures to other appraisers.  This lack of networking, idea sharing and updates on the market can hurt appraisals.
  • Education for appraisers is getting tougher.  There is an apprenticeship for 2 years now.
  • There are two types of appraisers – licensed and certified.  Licensed Appraisers can only do values up to $1,000,000.  Certified Appraisers can do any property value.  Additionally, Certified Appraisers must take a test and have a Bachelor’s degree.  Lastly, only Certified Appraisers can appraise FHA loans.

What you need to be prepared for your appraisal:

  • Always bring your own comparable sales – make sure they are good comps so you can build creditability.  Even bring low sales and let them know what the issues were that resulted in their low sale – pet odors, back to power lines, short sale, foreclosure, etc.
  • If at all possible, provide plat/floor plan – proper measuring is critical because if its 100 square feet off the true square footage you will have issues
  • Bulls eye approach – first look in subdivision, then do a radius search of 1 mile, 2 miles, etc. to find the right comparable properties.
  • Use a couple of higher sales, couple of smaller home, the radius approach to finding properties and a couple within the timeframe of settling within 3 months or less
  • You now need to have 5 to 6 comps
  • Provide 1-2 under contract comps as part of your presentation
  • Find FSBO too!  They can help your cause
  • Pass on any and all information you know about your property – list all recent improvements and their cost/value to help support your price.
  • Provide details on other offers if you had multiple offers
  • Provide additional pricing details like the Home Pricing Wizard, RBIntel statistics, and articles relating to escalating prices.

Steps to overcome low appraisal

  • Get a “good” conversation going, kill them with kindness
  • Provide new info that the appraiser might not be aware of when you met initially at the property
  • Be there when the appraiser wants to meet at the property
  • Use their language
    • Beneficial
    • Neutral
    • Adverse

Appraisers need to be concerned with the following items:

  • Safety –  the house needs to be safe, easy to explain
  • Soundness – the house needs to have structural integrity including but not limited to the roof and foundation
  • Security – the house needs to have locks on windows and doors

Integral issues for appraising

  • You have to know the condition and the subsequent ratings of the properties condition.  The rating scale goes from C1-C6.  One is the best and 6 is the worst.  Speak with the appraiser in terms of the condition to get more value for your clients
  • You also have to know the quality of the construction in order to help get more value.  Was the home custom built or was it a cookie-cutter built in the late 70’s with 7.5 foot ceilings?  These rankings range from Q1-Q6

As you see, it is extremely important for you to be a professional agent, do you job thoroughly for you clients and get the results that everyone is looking for from the appraisal process.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!

Scott MacDonald

RE/MAX Gateway, LLC

 

How Do Top Producers Create Their Success? REMAX Gateway Round Table May 2013

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The Spring Real Estate Market has really taken off and as we enter the month of May, rounding out the 2nd Quarter of 2013, it’s a great time to look at the some of the best practices of a few of RE/MAX Gateway’s Top Producers and what they attribute to their success, year after year.

RE/MAX Gateway Top Producer Panel MAY 2013 Share Successful Business Techniques

RE/MAX Gateway Top Producer Panel MAY 2013 Share Successful Business Techniques

Our May 2013 Top Producer Panel consisted of Joe Doman, Bryan Felder, and Kathy Worek. These seasoned Agents offered some of their most trusted techniques and business strategies.

Joe Doman “Joe Knows”

Where is your business coming from?

Sphere, internet leads, referrals. 25 closed and pendings, just wrote 4.5 million in contracts and working them out.

4/4/4 – shoot for the numbers: reach out to sphere/internet leads/people in process, in this order

I just got off a call and overall the stats from across the country are:  38% sphere, 19% direct mail, 15% open houses and geo marketing, 9% expired(s) – especially older ones,  7% online and 12% other – like fsbo’s, sign calls and relocation(s). That does actually add up to 100.

What is different from last year to this year?

We have our WordPress site up and running, more focus, getting more things done. We are tracking of our numbers.

What has made the biggest difference in your business?

I think a combination of things like positive affirmations every morning; coaching is critical to my success – keeps me focused and on target, mindset & attitude my positive/upbeat, an assistant and time blocking.  I color code the calendar to see how I am spending my time.

What is the best piece of advice would you give the agents today?

WordPress is the wave of the future, conveying useful information via blogs and/or video and social media, and setting appropriate expectations for you clients. Google + is a good tie in with SM.  More than anything: believe in yourself.  Be unique.

What do you wish you started doing sooner rather than later?

Real Estate in general. Direct mail, I’m really particular about things that I do so it takes me forever to roll something out. I wish I had done it sooner who knows though, maybe now was the right time. (EDDM)

What do you wish you didn’t do if you had to do it all over again?

Most of the things I wish I didn’t do have nothing to do with Real Estate. Although, it’s all lead me down the path I’m on today and it’s pretty awesome.  A lot of things have made me the person I am now, they’ve built character, made me compassionate, appreciative and made me better in general.

Anything else to add that others should know?

“You can’t grow tomatoes if you plant corn.” When you plant seeds of doubt, worry, fear and failure , that’s exactly what you get. You need to plant seeds of positivity, wealth, abundance, happiness, success, greatness, love and gratitude. Don’t let your mind sabotage you; keep the course.  I have been in a position where I didn’t know where my next dollar was coming from and didn’t have one left either. You need to have faith in yourself, believe in yourself and you’ll surprise yourself.

Bryan Felder of The Virginia Realty Group

Where is your business coming from?

Everyone’s business is different – Bryan’s is business to business.  Set up 2 databases – one for business and one for clients. This system drives business to your business database from your client database.  This will get you referrals from the businesses.  Develop this piece of business.

What is different from last year to this year?

Networking with agents outside the area to get referrals for people moving to the area.  I attend seminars and set a goal for collecting cards and start to market to them with a quarterly newsletter.

What has made the biggest difference in your business?

Focus on 4 categories and go deeper with database – 37 touch points with them every year.

What is the best piece of advice would you give the agents today?

Leverage your team to gain balance – push leads, do team huddles and meetings consistently, and educate.

Do a “To Do” list every day, then set 3 goals to keep the focus and my time managed.  Keep records so you can bench mark your success.

What do you wish you started doing sooner rather than later?

You can make a lot of money. You cannot make a lot of money. You can spend a lot of money. So, you need to track your numbers.  Review your P&L and check bank accounts.  Do this now – don’t wait.

 Is there anything else to add that others should know today?

Don’t grow your team too big.  Only bring on the right people at the right time.  You’ve got to have fun!  Team activities, go out with agents – do stuff outside the office.  Pick a niche.   Ask your clients, “What one thing could I improve upon that would have made your transaction smoother? What about my staff?”  There is always room for improvement and if you don’t ask you won’t know.

Kathy Worek  of Kathy Worek Group

Where is your business coming from?

Business is growing through consistency in communicating with sphere – just listed cards, constant contact advertising, company newsletters and post cards.  Four times per month is the number of contacts with sphere per month.

What is different from last year to this year?

Focus on sphere – professional marketing – client reviews online.  Use WordPress with good content and quality information.  List contractors on website and post RBI stats on the site and encourage clients to go to my site.  Focus on neighborhoods and zip codes for Trulia and Zillow.  Team rhythm is good – not as consistently as Bryan but still good.  Take your professionalism to the next level by providing your client your checklists.  Use the power of the team to leverage exposure for your clients.

What is the biggest difference in your business?

Consistency in marketing, consistent in processes has added to my business.  Getting bigger internet presence and get reviews

Best piece of advice for agents to take in.

Appreciate your clients and let them know.  Communicate your understanding of their situation.

What would I have done sooner?

Don’t be afraid to spend money on assistants – it frees up your time and allows you to get in front of clients and new business opportunities.  Trust your staff.  If you want to get to the next level – you need to hire the assistant.  Speaking of assistants, Joe does videos to train his assistants. He tells them to watch the video and ask questions after they are finished.

Get a good database management system in place early and use it to the fullest.

Be firm in your listing agreements and commissions you charge.

Budget – and stick to it!  You are running a business.

Anything else to add?

Get in front of people – be positive and optimistic.  Network.  Be nice to other agents.

Please feel free to contact me scottmacdonald@remax.net or (703) 652-5777 if you would like to attend our next RE/MAX Gateway Top Producer Round Table or if you have any comments or suggestions.

Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!

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Northern Virginia Real Estate Market Update: Buyers and Agents Scramble to Find Homes

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Seller’s needed! Spring 2013 real estate market continues to get hotter as Buyers and Agents search and scramble to find homes. Scott MacDonald offers current Northern Virginia market data and housing statistics. Want to know how this could impact you? Give Scott a call (703) 652-5777 – He’s never too busy to discuss the real estate market! scottymacsblog.com

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High Performance In Real Estate: From Basketball to Business

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It’s that time of year again – college basketball’s Final Four time.  As you think about the potential winners of this year’s tournament and past winners, the teams that will win or have won in the past are all high performing.  This got me thinking, what represents a high performing team and how can this relate to your business?

HIGH PERFORMANCE from Basketball to Business scottymacsblog.com

Here is what I came up with for you to consider:

  • High energy – Get rest, exercise and be ready to tackle any challenge that comes your way.  Do what it takes to pump yourself up.  Read motivational quotes, talk with mentors, rally yourself or do whatever gets you excited to have energy.  High energy is contagious.
  • Integrity – Always do the right thing for your clients and your team – especially when no one is looking.
  • Goal oriented – Each and every team needs to be working towards a common goal or goals to keep them focused.  Review with the team on a regular basis and make adjustments quickly and as necessary.
  • Happy – Always be positive and optimistic and remember to celebrate achieving your goals.  Also, high performing teams have fun and laugh with and at each other to keep the atmosphere light and entertaining.
  • Performance driven – The best way to be performance driven is track and measure results of the goals you have set.  Depending upon the goal, this can be daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly.  I wouldn’t go out any further than quarterly so you can make adjustments to keep you on track.
  • Educated – Always be seeking to learn new things about your business, your clients, and other industries that you can take and adapt to your business.  Review what was done right or wrong to build upon your accomplishments or learn from mistakes.
  • Resilient – They don’t get down easily. Failures are learning experiences and setbacks are temporary.  They understand that no is not personal and gets you closer to the next yes.
  • Forward thinking – Incorporating strategic planning, careful analysis of trends, and reviewing industry data will enable you to think about the future and make the right decisions for success. Don’t get caught up in what you have now, but project on what you will have one month from now, two, etc. Agents always get hung up on what they have going on now that they often times forget to prospect for the next month, and going forward.
  • Opportunistic – They continuously look for opportunities in their fields.  In the recent past it was foreclosures, short sales, and working with investors  but remembering to work and grow their database is important.  Recognition of trends is key.
  • Realistic – Remember to never get too high or too low.  Set attainable goals, stay the course or make the appropriate adjustments to be on top of your game and focused where you should be spending your time.
  • Money driven – They are driven by money but not money focused and they don’t sell from their wallets.  They realize by helping others, they too will succeed.
  • Accountable – The teams are accountable to each other but most importantly, to themselves.  The leader keeps himself accountable through meeting with the team or trusted advisors regularly.  The leader needs to set the example.
  • Nonconforming – They set the pace and don’t follow, they are leaders and approach things differently from others.  Additionally, they look at things from all angles to determine the best course of action.
  • Communication – They provide positive feedback and praise in public, constructive criticism in private, face to face meetings, emails, texts and phone calls on consistent basis is critical to achieving great things.  Most importantly, you need to be consistent in your communication, i.e. messaging, relevance and timing.
  • Enthusiasm – Be ready to tackle any challenge and celebrate your success.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”.  Be enthusiastic.

HIGH PERFORMANCE success tips from Basketball to BusinessNow that you understand a little more about becoming a high performance individual or team, incorporate these philosophies and make things

happen.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!

Multiple Offer Strategies In Real Estate: Help For Home Buyers

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It is no surprise that we are seeing more and more multiple contract situations.  The perfect storm is in place – interest rates are at 65 year lows, inventory levels are at extremely low levels, and there are buyers anxious to get into houses.  Affordability levels are near all-time highs as well so it only makes sense that buyers are finding themselves competing to get into a home today.

So, the question is how do you win and get the home your client’s desire?

  • Add an escalation clause which allows you to bid up the price above any other offer up to an amount you are comfortable paying.  The escalation amount should be an interesting number like $1,150 as most people just do $500 or $1,000 – make your offer stand out.
  • Increase your earnest money deposit to show your interest in purchasing the house.  If your down payment is 20%, make your deposit 10%.  If you are doing FHA, have your deposit equal your down payment of 3.5%.  You are going to be putting the money down anyway, why not do this and attract more attention to your offer?Multiple Contract Strategies
  • Have a very short time frame on your home inspection contingency and radon contingency if you choose to have them.  Also, consider doing the inspection contingencies for informational purposes only just leaving yourself the opportunity to void if you find something so egregious or beyond what you expected.  If you and your agent are confident in the home’s condition, you may want to consider eliminating these contingencies but be extremely cautious when not exercising these contingencies.
  • Have a quick settlement date – Ashley Smith with Atlantic Coast Mortgage can close a loan in just 8 days if she has a complete loan application from her clients.
  • Additionally, encourage your loan officer to be proactive and call the listing agent and explain the financial arrangements and status of the loan.  Pat Cunningham of Home Savings and Trust was one of the first lenders to mention he was doing this for his clients.
  • Allow the seller to rent back after closing giving them flexibility on when they need to move or to give them time to find a home.
  • Put in a home of choice contingency for the sellers if they have not found a home yet – make the contingency for an extended period of time so they have the opportunity to find the house they really want.
  • If you are so bold, you can have the clients waive the appraisal contingency.  In order to do this, you need to work in conjunction with your lender and see if they can get a quick turnaround on the appraisal.  If so, have the appraisal done in concert with the home inspection contingency and if it doesn’t appraise, you can void based upon the home inspection or on the HOA/condo documents.  Not one of my favorite suggestions but it is a strategy you can undertake to help your contract win.  Also, if your lender can get a quick turnaround, make the appraisal contingency 5 or 7 days.
  • If you are dealing with a home owner and not a bank or investor, have your clients write a letter along with photos explaining why the house is so important to them and the trials and tribulations of their home buying experience.  It can sometimes help to pull on the heart strings of the owners.
  • You can explain to the listing agent, the highest contract isn’t always the best contract.  You need to have the right people in place to consummate the transaction not just someone willing to throw a high number just to get the house to only experience remorse later and back out of the contract.

These tips will help you win more contracts.  Consult with the clients and make sure they are comfortable with your recommendations prior to implementing them so they fully understand the repercussions of their actions.  Get it?  Got it?  Good!

Now, go sell something!

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Magic Tricks Inspire Leadership and Growth In Northern Virginia and DC Metro Real Estate

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In our Vistage meeting this week we had a very dynamic speaker by the name of Andrew Bennett. Andrew has a very interesting background and actually uses magic in his presentations to aid in engaging his audience.  He spoke about analyzing your business through the skills magicians use: appear, disappear, and restore.  Using slight-of-hand, Andrew evokes concepts: what in your company do you need to take on as a new initiative to grow your business,  what do you need to eliminate from your business that is unproductive or preventing growth, and what needs to be fixed – worth keeping, but hasn’t been tweaked to operate at full capacity.

The Magic of Andrew Bennett Blending knowledge of leadership, organizational culture, and mental management with magic.

Key areas we discussed were culture and employee engagement.  It all starts at the top and filters down to employees.  Look at how you use your words, how you inspire, develop relationships, develop your self-awareness, display your authenticity and utilize discipline; apply the appear/disappear/restore analysis to your business. Let’s look at each of these areas individually.

  • WORDS – Researchers say you have 60,000 thoughts a day – 57,000 were thoughts you had the day before.  What do you ask yourself so as to drive yourself to be successful?  Be intentional in your thoughts and in the questions you ask yourself.  To change your thoughts, change your words.  Think in terms of, “what I speak is what I create”.  Think about what you say to others and more importantly, to yourself.
  • INSPIRATION – the definition is “to breathe life into”.  Inspiration comes from the inside, so touch what matters to others – help them believe the impossible is possible.  As a leader, deliver the power of WOW.  Passion and hope come together and become inspiration.  Build on emotions and sense of accomplishment.  Think about what inspires you about your business?  What are you willing to suffer to get what you want? Why is that important to you and why does that matter to others.
  • RELATIONSHIPS – Your individual supervisors and the amount of communication they have with your people are critical to employee engagement – know personal things about your people to build trust – recognize other’s mannerisms to determine how can you help them.
  • SELF AWARENESS –  What we believe is what we see.  What do you see?  Who fosters these beliefs to encourage you to greatness?  How do my beliefs result in how I show up each day?  Pay attention to this area – how you show up is critical to the culture you are developing.
  • AUTHENTICITY – Transparency and vulnerability are your keys to authenticity.  Ground yourself in reality but be hopeful.  What are your challenges or struggles and how will you overcome them?  Be true to yourself and you will be authentic to others.
  • DISCIPLINE – do what I say, it is that easy!

Things to consider as you contemplate these topics:

  • What excites you about our organization?  Communicate this with others.
  • Who are your trusted allies?  Seek them out and ask for feedback.
  • Where are your blindspots?  We all have them and your trusted allies can help guide you through discovering them.
  • Deliver your message consistently but paint the picture in different ways to appeal to your team members.

As you move in this direction be passionate about what you do, help make a difference in other’s lives and build something greater than yourself through inspiring others to achieve more.  Get it?  Got it?  Good.

Now, go build something!

Sequestration: FHA Delays, Department of Agriculture, USDA Loan Processing and How It Will Affect The Real Estate Market in Northern Virginia

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Sequestration is here and it is going to affect a lot of areas of our life – some people more so than others.  The initial $85 billion cuts will include furloughs for 2.1 million federal workers for five months.  They will be required to take 22 unpaid days beginning in April and will end in September.  This 20% reduction in pay to many people has the potential to put them behind in their mortgages resulting in an increase in default notices.  This in turn could result in more short sales and foreclosures thereby affecting prices and more importantly the housing recovery.  Additionally, if people are making less money, they do not have the ability to “move up” so we will continue to see a lack of inventory in housing.  Worse yet, in some cases if people with security clearances fall behind with other bills, they could lose those clearances and their jobs.Image

Speaking of housing, FHA has acknowledged they will see delays in endorsements/claims time frames which will impact settlement dates because of getting loans not being completed in time for closing.  FHA is responsible for approximately 25% of loans so this is a big deal and you should pay attention to your closing dates.  Along these same lines, cuts in the Department of Agriculture will mean there will be delays in the processing of USDA loans.  These loans typically take a minimum of 75 days – I would encourage you to look at a minimum of 90 days to be safe.

In addition, people who rely on Federal Housing Assistance are going to lose their benefits which would leave them homeless.  These people include veterans and the disabled.  One other area that is affected is foreclosure prevention aid to nearly 75,000 people – keep an eye on this development.  People who receive Housing Choice Vouchers will be cut.  These vouchers are used for renting apartments.  Approximately 125,000 will be affected here potentially leaving them homeless.

A majority of the cuts will come from defense spending.  It is estimated that nearly 207,000 Virginians will lose their jobs with 75% of those residing in Northern Virginia.  California will also lose a total of over 200,000 jobs with Maryland not far behind with over 100,000 jobs lost.  In totality, it has been predicted 2.14 million people would become unemployed as a result of sequestration.  There will be unintended consequences resulting from these cuts which will total $1.2 trillion by 2021.  One area that comes to mind is travel by air.  Fewer air traffic controllers and fewer TSA employees will result in delays at the airports for sure.  Another area is Hurricane Sandy victims, their aid will be diminished as well.  Lastly, when the hardworking, lower middle class government workers get 20% of their income slashed, there will be less discretionary spending which could have broad sweeping consequences – let’s see what else will be impacted.

Platinum Group: Hot Topics in the Northern Virginia Real Estate Market

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In a recent Platinum Group meeting we discussed many hot topics in the real estate market today.  They included the appraisal issues we are encountering that I discussed in my last blog, new home sales, the rental market and of course, low supply and high demand.

New home prices are rocketing up, incentives are going away, one builder sold 13 houses last weekend in Prince William County and took closing costs down to just $5,000 when they were offering more at the beginning of the weekend.  Nationally, new home sales dropped but not in Northern Virginia.

Platinum Group Hot Topics FEB 2013 scottymacsblog

Lack of resale inventory is leading buyers to new homes.  When buyers go to new homes, their prices increase.  Be careful as a lot of builders don’t have appraisal contingencies in their contracts.  Ask what happens if house doesn’t appraise.

The rental market continues to be on fire.  We have a 1.7 month supply of rentals available in Northern Virginia.  Prices have stabilized and move quickly when they are in good shape.  Additionally, in a recent article, it was estimated there will be another 6.6 million renters in the market.  It makes now a good time to work with investors, understand the rental process or even start a property management company.

One other topic we discussed was the lack of inventory of resale properties on the market.  It has been mentioned that we are at an 11 year low in terms of available properties.  When something is desirable, we have seen as many as 14 contracts on one home.  It is time to structure offers for our buyers so they can win in multiple contract situations.

 

To learn more about the market or our networking group, feel free to reach out to me.  scottmacdonald@remax.net

Now, go sell something!