Are housing prices back to '03 yet?

[saganista]

Originally Posted by goldenmom7500

Well, OK, but anecdotally, areas that start to be mentioned frequently on various "best places to live" lists do see a lot of new interest.

I don't question the value of good advertsing. Wild. Wonderful. West Virginia. See? You're thinking of moving there already! I just don't think it's very realistic to explain the actual real estate numbers in Vienna (or anywhere else) on a theory of mass reaction to a two-and-a-half-year old magazine story. If that article is a driver at all, it's way, way down the list. Schools, Metro-access, proximity to everything, the fact that it's actually a town...those sorts of things play a significant role. Somebody's bit of now long-ago number crunching, not so much...

[Novamom06]

Originally Posted by El General

20165 is more like 24 years old. You can get a pretty good townhome there for 200K. There is a repo listed at 341K that has been sitting for a long time. Nice area, though. A good place to drive a bargain.

You must be referring to Countryside. They didn't start building Cascades until 1993. I think the two communities are pretty distinct.

[El General]

Yes, I was. But, it is still 20165.

[goldenmom7500]

Originally Posted by saganista

I don't question the value of good advertsing. Wild. Wonderful. West Virginia. See? You're thinking of moving there already! I just don't think it's very realistic to explain the actual real estate numbers in Vienna (or anywhere else) on a theory of mass reaction to a two-and-a-half-year old magazine story. If that article is a driver at all, it's way, way down the list. Schools, Metro-access, proximity to everything, the fact that it's actually a town...those sorts of things play a significant role. Somebody's bit of now long-ago number crunching, not so much...

Gotcha, I can agree. It's quite circular though - I'm sure it ends up high on a list because of schools, metro access, proximity, etc. If someone hears of [Vienna] and then discovers it has no metro access, poor schools, etc., then the advertisement is irrelevant.

[normie]

Loudoun County was cited on the NBC Nightly News last night as a prime example of the drop in real estate prices. I think they must have been talking about Landsdowne--but it makes you wonder. We haven't had a drop like that in my immediate neighborhood, but I don't know how the rest of Loudoun is doing. I don;t see a lot of foreclosure signs, though. That's a good thing.

[goldenmom7500]

Originally Posted by normie

I don;t see a lot of foreclosure signs

Can you imagine your neighbors seeing one of these in your yard? I would just die ...

[car54]

Originally Posted by goldenmom7500

Can you imagine your neighbors seeing one of these in your yard? I would just die ...

I've never seen a foreclosure sign...it's totally unnecessary and could be embarassing to the former owner.

I love to surf the MLS..here's how you tell a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure. It will say "Bring all offers, subject to 3rd party approval", or something to that effect.....the "3rd party" is the lender.

[goldenmom7500]

Originally Posted by car54

I've never seen a foreclosure sign...it's totally unnecessary and could be embarassing to the former owner.

I love to surf the MLS..here's how you tell a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure. It will say "Bring all offers, subject to 3rd party approval", or something to that effect.....the "3rd party" is the lender.

Ahh, good tip, now I get it. I walked through one foreclosure - it was in a nice neighborhood, but the home had been completely trashed. The whole place reeked of cigarette smoke; the walls had holes, the carpet disgusting. Even if I could have salvaged the house without tearing it down, I couldn't have ever lived there. Bad karma maybe? If I hadn't seen it for myself I would have said "oh, cosmetic stuff, no problem" but it was terrible.

PS - I have seen at least one foreclosure sign - it said "recently foreclosed" - but only one and not on this house above.