What is going on with home prices in Manassas?

[Margery]

Originally Posted by VRE332

Everyone suddenly is a professional real estate agent

People will post their opinions whether they are well informed or not, much of what is on this post is from people who do not live in Manassas but are repeating what they have read or heard. I checked on townhouses for sale in Georgetown South. There are 70 active listings ranging in price from $47,900 to $279,500, with the average listing price of $100,623. There are not many around the $50,000 price, as was posted by someone else who does not live in Manassas. I do not live in Manassas either and cannot understand how someone can tell an illegal immigrant just by looking at them.

My professional opinion is that the present situation is due in a large part to greed. Greed from lenders who approved loans that should not have been made and the easy money helped buyers to bid up the prices. Everyone who brokers a mortgage loan should be licensed, not just the managing broker or owner, but every loan officer. And, I hate to say this, but greed from Realtors who forgot they were to make sure their buyers understood what they were signing and understood the terms of the loan they were committing to.

The market is showing signs of life, prices are more reasonable now, and homes are selling. I just hope everyone has learned something from this disaster. I remember a saying from my days at Merrill Lynch back in the 70's, "Bulls make money, bears make money, but hogs get slaughtered."

[barryhussein]

Originally Posted by Margery

I remember a saying from my days at Merrill Lynch back in the 70's, "Bulls make money, bears make money, but hogs get slaughtered."

Merrill Lynch just reported a 4.85 Biliion Dollar loss in Q2--I guess that makes them pigs.

[blossom4792]

Just one more thought about Manassas ... when we talk about, say, Chicago or Portland or Omaha, we assume that there are good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods ... but when we talk about Manassas, we (a lot of people) seem to think that there is just one homogenous definition of what it is. But Manassas has a lot of things ... it has beautiful older neighborhoods (as featured in the Washingtonian Magazine) and beautiful newer neighborhoods. And then it has its bad parts that get their share of publicity. Some 'lower' income neighborhoods have indeed declined in the last 5-10 years. It's just a town or small city or whatever you want to call it with a lot of different parts. The perspectives of people will vary depending on what part they know. When I first moved to the DC area, Manassas was thought of as its own separate place. Then (it seemed) it became another suburb, which I would argue resulting in the notion that it might have a singular homogenous identity. Now, the reality is that property values are affected by the perception of Manassas, which is skewed by Georgetown South et al. This is unfortunate because it's quite a lovely place and has a lot of new high-tech industry.

[Margery]

Well said, blossom.