Northern VA Real-Estate Market? Tips? (Lake Ridge: cul-de-sac, for sale, real estate market)

[MrsMeredith]

Hello everyone!

I came to this forum seeking some friendly, local advice. DH and I are looking into purchasing our first home and we are new to all of this real-estate insanity! My DH and I got our pre-approval rate, and we have started working with a Realtor. She has gotten us up and running to shop the market, and shown us a handful of houses in Prince William County.

So, here's what's up; there is a townhouse in our preferred neighborhood selling for $225,000. Our Realtor cannot give us an exact number to offer on the house, but threw us $220,000 as a number to start working around. We are hoping they'll pay closing costs, which are estimated to be around $6000. Knowing this - we're thinking of putting in our first offer @ 215K with closing costs covered. Considering the fact that we're asking them to cover the closing costs, it's more like they'd be selling to us for $209,000. That's somewhere between 7%-8% below asking if I'm doing my math right.

I've read that anything over 10% of the listing price is considered a "low-ball" offer. We don't want to insult the owners, but we took a few things into account before settling on that offer. For instance - the HVAC unit is ancient, the entire house is carpet which is not new, it has been on the market a month, the owners have already moved out, and houses on the same street were selling between $195-$205 last year.

Our Realtor tried to run comparatives from houses sold in the last 60 days, but we couldn't pin-point anything similar to all of the amenities and square footage of the house we're looking at.

Anyway. I'm sorry to babel on and on but my point is this!: Are we dangerously low on our offer? Do we risk them flat out turning us down? (We don't want that!! We love the house and neighborhood!!) We want to give them room to counter but still get ourselves a good deal. Also - is the market in Northern Virginia (Prince William) a buyer's or seller's market? This could impact our offer!

[oneasterisk]

Maybe you can ask your realtor if there is anything extra you can do to show the sellers that you are very serious with your offer. Perhaps a large "earnest money" deposit? A pre-qualification letter from your mortgage company?

Here are some stats from MRIS concerning the county: Real Estate Market Statistics for Prince William County, VA | RBI

What's telling to me is that the sold to list price ratio is very close suggesting that homes are being sold at closer to the list price than your offer. Also the median and average sold price has increased compared to last year as well as less homes selling, suggesting that it is more of a sellers market. I'm not a real estate professional, just my reading on the stats.

Good luck! Oh and don't let the seller or your agent know how much you like the home ;-)

[sullyguy]

The buyer's real estate agent is the BUYER'S real estate agent. As such, that agent should do EVERYTHING in the buyer's interest, including coming up with an appropriate offer amount and getting reasonable comp's to help in that decision.

[oneasterisk]

Originally Posted by sullyguy

The buyer's real estate agent is the BUYER'S real estate agent. As such, that agent should do EVERYTHING in the buyer's interest, including coming up with an appropriate offer amount and getting reasonable comp's to help in that decision.

In my experience the buyer agent will never say, offer X amount. They will give you the info for you to make an informed offer. I'm thinking they don't want to be liable if the deal goes south, or if the offer is high and the buyer has "buyer's remorse". I've only bought 2 homes and helped my friend with another but that's what I've noticed.

[NYmama2dallas]

The Franklymls.com website will show you everything that has sold in that neighborhood for several years back (no, I'm not Frank, I just like his website). It should be pretty easy to come up with some recent comps for a townhouse neighborhood. Your realtor sounds lame. Good luck!

[spencgr]

Offer whatever you want and see what happens. If you "insult" them and they turn you down flat, then offer them more. (There is no law that says they have to counter-offer before you offer something else.) This is still a buyer's market; if the property has been on the market for more than 20 days, then they aren't fielding a plethora of offers.

And, if your concern is the actual "insult" of a low offer, do not worry about this. A) This is business. B) They are moving out, you aren't going to be friends with them anyway.

[MrsHunny]

Thanks all. It has been on the market a month and two days with 0 offers. (As of a few nights ago.. per our Realtor.) Also, a house in the same cul-de-sac just went up for sale and from the looks of it they have more attractive upgrades (new hard-wood on main, new carpet on upper/basement, and new HVAC) for the same price.. I'm hoping we can tweak this to our favor and get a decent deal.

[athensvaasi]

Originally Posted by oneasterisk

What's telling to me is that the sold to list price ratio is very close suggesting that homes are being sold at closer to the list price than your offer. Also the median and average sold price has increased compared to last year as well as less homes selling, suggesting that it is more of a sellers market. I'm not a real estate professional, just my reading on the stats.

Good luck! Oh and don't let the seller or your agent know how much you like the home ;-)

I believe the list price is the "latest list price", so it would not be indicative of whether the home had a "Price Cut" during the listing time. Am I correct?

Or is NoVa such an attractive market that "Price Cuts" do not occur as much?

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by MrsMeredith

Hello everyone!

I came to this forum seeking some friendly, local advice. DH and I are looking into purchasing our first home and we are new to all of this real-estate insanity! My DH and I got our pre-approval rate, and we have started working with a Realtor. She has gotten us up and running to shop the market, and shown us a handful of houses in Prince William County.

So, here's what's up; there is a townhouse in our preferred neighborhood selling for $225,000. Our Realtor cannot give us an exact number to offer on the house, but threw us $220,000 as a number to start working around. We are hoping they'll pay closing costs, which are estimated to be around $6000. Knowing this - we're thinking of putting in our first offer @ 215K with closing costs covered. Considering the fact that we're asking them to cover the closing costs, it's more like they'd be selling to us for $209,000. That's somewhere between 7%-8% below asking if I'm doing my math right.

I've read that anything over 10% of the listing price is considered a "low-ball" offer. We don't want to insult the owners, but we took a few things into account before settling on that offer. For instance - the HVAC unit is ancient, the entire house is carpet which is not new, it has been on the market a month, the owners have already moved out, and houses on the same street were selling between $195-$205 last year.

Our Realtor tried to run comparatives from houses sold in the last 60 days, but we couldn't pin-point anything similar to all of the amenities and square footage of the house we're looking at.

Anyway. I'm sorry to babel on and on but my point is this!: Are we dangerously low on our offer? Do we risk them flat out turning us down? (We don't want that!! We love the house and neighborhood!!) We want to give them room to counter but still get ourselves a good deal. Also - is the market in Northern Virginia (Prince William) a buyer's or seller's market? This could impact our offer!

Have you signed a Buyer's Agent agreement with your Realtor? Until you do, your realtor represents the best interests of the Seller. When you have a Buyer's Agent agreement with your Realtor, your agent represents your best interests.

I don't understand why you're agent cannot suggest what amount is reasonable to offer?

I do think offering $215k with Seller paid closing costs is reasonable because you want to have room to negotiate. For example, the TH in Lake Ridge we purchased was listed for $275k. Upon our agent's suggestion, we offered $260k with Seller paid closing costs. The Seller countered at $267,500 and agreed to pay closing costs. Sold!

If they flat our refuse your offer without countering and you love the house and neighborhood - submit a new offer with a higher amount.

[jillabean]

Offer what you think is good. What's the worst they can do? Say "no"?

It's a house sale/business transaction, it's not personal and if someone takes it as such, then it's their problem, not yours.

Good luck on the house!