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The market will probably pick up a little bit in the spring but I don't think it will be significant and I think homes will have to be priced right in order to sell. Where I live in NOVA, the housing market has slowed down significantly. I receive monthly report from a real estate agent and it shows that although there are fewer homes on the market compared to this time last yr., homes are not selling very quickly and many are sitting unsold. Seems like buyers are in no rush to buy now. I also believe that we are heading for a housing crash, as least a major slowdown. It won't be anything like the last one but I believe home prices will continue to drop. I think a lot of people took out large mortgages, especially in the hot markets, and may have gotten over their heads. And as the economy slows down, there will be layoffs and many are just one pay check away from not being able to pay their mortgage. And it will be a trickle down effect.
I think I would put the house on the market Fed./March timeframe, price it to sell. Otherwise, I would prepare to rent it out for several yrs. Renting it out for one yr. wouldn't be worth it as you would have to repaint and do other potential repairs. I had good and bad luck with tenants, so getting good tenants is critical.
In the short term, I would count on the "Amazon affect". I live aprox. 20 west of Crystal City, where Amazon is located and as I stated, there's a slowdown in housing market here, so further out, I'm sure it's even worse. Also, Amazon won't hire 25k employees right away, I think in 2019 it plans to hire 1,000. It will be a gradual hiring, over 10 yr. span. If there's a slow down in the economy it will further delay the process.
Sadly, I've inherited a house that will now need to be sold. We'll be interviewing realtors again once the holidays are past and we get a few other things sorted out, but in the meantime I thought I'd bounce a few questions here. Any thoughts on what the market will be like this spring? We'd like to list as soon as possible, is mid January realistic?
This is a 2000 sf house in an exurban area of northern Virginia. It's far enough out that there are farms nearby as well as lots of housing developments. It's about an hour's drive from the new Amazon HQ2 campus, so that probably won't be a factor. Neighborhood seems popular, but is also older. The house was built in 1995 and is considered a "transitional colonial." Updates have been done; it's in good shape.
Homes in this part of northern VA were selling at a fairly steady rate last spring, but the area never really had a "hot" market. It seems to have slowed down since October, when we sold our house in a nearby town. Common wisdom in the local news is that there are "no buyers" but I haven't yet had a chance to ask realtors if they agree with that.
If you were in this situation, would you list in the spring or rent it out for a year while waiting for the market to heat up again? I've gone the landlord route once, and we were very lucky to get a great tenant. Can't count on that happening twice. But maybe renting it out is the only good option if the market is truly bad. complicating the issue we no longer live in the area, so we can't keep as close of an eye on it as we did before.
I know, I know: ask our realtor. We'll be doing that as we interview them, I assure everyone. But in the meantime I'd like to hear what people here think. Maybe talking about it here is my way to get ourselves back in the saddle again. I thought we would have a few more years before having to deal with selling a house again. Life is funny that way I guess.
Can offer nothing but sympathy. Sorry for your loss.
OP, I am in your market. It already is heating up for spring! My Xmas shopping is seriously derailed due to "just one more pre-approval" to get in to be ready after the first of the year.
Chop chop, get the house ready. Roll with agents the 1st week in January.
Every time they raise rates, it scares of more and more buyers (although you sometimes see some buyers come off the fence before the rate hike).
People who want to buy are going to buy regardless.
It's not that it scares them, it's that it makes your house that much less affordable. But then sellers lower their prices to compensate. Real estate is dynamic.
The buyer pool is constantly changing, but this is not like the housing crash where everyone except investors stayed on the sidelines.
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Solly says — Be nice!
