Buying a Home Wait or Buy NOW!!!! (Arlington, Alexandria: loans, neighborhoods)

[VirginiaGirl1]

Originally Posted by car54

I think I'd wait VirginiaGirl. I don't think we've near hit bottom yet.

I keep an eye on properties near me just out of curiosity. I like this website:
Home Search: Select County

Then, when they sell, I go to the County tax assessor's site and see what they got for it and how long it took.

Here's Fairfax County's site:

Fairfax County

PS: The sales prices on the County's site are gross, not net. You can't tell what subsidies the seller had to kick back, but it gives a general idea.

thank you for you information car54 I will take a look at the websites.

[springfieldva]

Hi VirginiaGirl -I would contact a realtor if I was *serious* about buying a home in the near future. Websites are great for gathering data, but they are often w-a-y behind the actual trends in any given neighborhood. You should get up to date, blow by blow reports NOW on the areas you are most interested in.

Whats happening in Mannassas may not be what's happening in McLean, etc., etc.

Good luck!

[VirginiaGirl1]

Thnx, springfieldva i'm in the process of doing that now!!!!!!!

[mojo_1979]

Originally Posted by SharRahl

I’ve currently been looking around at the house market, and you would be surprised by what you can find. The realtor I am using pointed out some really REALLY nice houses that last year where going for around 500$k, that are now 300$k. She said that hardly anyone is paying over 300$k recently. I also heard a report on NPR just a little while ago about the state of the housing market in areas close to large cities with heavily used Metro services.

Home Prices Drop Most in Areas with Long Commute : NPR
It seems the prices are starting to even out, and some places have even started to go back up in recent months.

Not here in the DC Metro area... prices posted their largest year-over-year decline EVER just last month.

[mojo_1979]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mark

It's my opinion that house sale prices will continue to slide (slowly) for the next few months BUT the thing to watch is Interest Rates!!! As interest rates climb they eat up any savings you may attain by waiting for sale prices to drop. For example - if you are watching & waiting for a $500k house drop to $475k or $450k but interest rates change from 6% to 6.5% your monthly payment would remain about the same or could actually increase. Buyers aren't doing themselves any favors by waiting out this market. We are at the bottom of the market right now Today! Sellers are ready and willing to negoatiate sale prices and closing costs. This is a fantastic buyers market! The goal of real estate investing is to buy low and sell high. Knock, Knock - Low prices are screaming for you (Buyers) to open the hypathetical door!!!

Again - this is my opinion, but I've been in business for 14+ years and have seen different markets come and go... Feel free to contact me directly with additional questions.

Have a great day!

I would love for interest rates to suddenly spike. This would put even more i downward pressure on house prices and speed up this long overdue correction. You fail to see the point that housing are much too unaffordable and these prices, even off of their peaks, cannot be sustained.

[springfieldva]

Mojo 1979 - haven't the prices in Arlington actually *increased* over the past few months? I'm not saying that every area, in every price range, has hit bottom yet.
But many areas (especially in the below 500K range) have already suffered substantial corrections and are about as affordable as they are going to get, given the very low interest rates you can get now on 30yr loans.

[TCJohnson]

Originally Posted by car54

I think I'd wait VirginiaGirl. I don't think we've near hit bottom yet.

I keep an eye on properties near me just out of curiosity. I like this website:
Home Search: Select County

Then, when they sell, I go to the County tax assessor's site and see what they got for it and how long it took.

Here's Fairfax County's site:

Fairfax County

PS: The sales prices on the County's site are gross, not net. You can't tell what subsidies the seller had to kick back, but it gives a general idea.

Just thought I would point out that washingtonpost also has a good tool for this: Washington DC Metro Area Home Values & House Values

[Novamom06]

I think the market is very neighborhood specific right now in the DC area. In some highly desirable neighborhoods homes are starting to move quick. I sold my 4200 sq ft single family home in Cascades in less than a week. The amount of showings was unbelieveable. We got close to asking price. I think it is all about location, schools and home condition. There are plenty of buyers out there with good, high paying jobs, loads of equity and are ready to buy. sorry to the naysayers.

[VEIK]

how did you sell it for?

and how long ago did you buy it.

[normie]

Originally Posted by Novamom06

I think the market is very neighborhood specific right now in the DC area. In some highly desirable neighborhoods homes are starting to move quick. I sold my 4200 sq ft single family home in Cascades in less than a week. The amount of showings was unbelieveable. We got close to asking price. I think it is all about location, schools and home condition. There are plenty of buyers out there with good, high paying jobs, loads of equity and are ready to buy. sorry to the naysayers.

Congratulations Nova Mom!!!!!

That's wonderful news. I'm so happy for you. That reminds me.... the last time I was up in Virginia (about 10 days ago) I took a photo to share with this site:

This is a For Sale sign for a house on McGees Ferry Way in my daughter's neighborhood. As you can see, it sold so quickly that the "new listing" sign is still up.

In late Feb., my daughter was starting to feel a little nervous. For several months there had been 1 home for sale on McGees Ferry Way. Then suddenly 2 more homes put up signs. She hated driving down the street seeing three homes for sale.

But things turned around quickly. Two of the homes sold within two weeks of each other. And then just a week or so later this house sold. Now there are no homes for sale on the street. Woo hoo!

Another pleasant surprise was how many people she saw looking at the house. There were a lot of people making return visits.

Apparently the owner of the house was very surprised to get an offer so quickly (and close to the asking price) ...and it left him in a pickle. He had put the house on the market early, expecting to move in August (and probably leaving behind a vacant house). He had to scramble to get a rental place.

Of course, that's the kind of headache a home seller wants to have!

Where are you moving to? Oh please oh please tell me you're moving to Georgia--I'd love to have you down here as a neighbor!