Archive for September, 2008
Go NATS!
September 21st, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Area Attractions, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, Local Events, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
OK, for 2 years now I’ve been hearing folks rave about the new Washington Nationals baseball stadium. Now I must admit, although it’s America’s favorite pastime, baseball is not my favorite sport. In fact, I would say that up until today, the few major league baseball games I’ve attended have been more about enjoying a beverage and eating as much junk food as you want (you know the rule, what you eat at the ballpark doesn’t count). But today, everything changed… I’ve become an avid fan!
As my family and I metro’d down to the new stadium, I wasn’t too sure what to expect – how I’d respond – and frankly, what I was going to eat first! We stepped off the metro, turned the corner and as we got closer to that center field gate – we were in AWE. The stadium is gorgeous – and, thanks to my cousin who’s in group ticket sales for the Nats, we had the most amazing seats we ever could have dreamed of. Here’s our view from our seats: Can you say “Home Plate?”
It was a gorgeous day – perfect temp of about 78 degrees – FANTASTIC seats – I practically forgot about hot dogs, soft pretzels, nachos, popcorn, peanuts, cracker jacks and the like… well, almost. I did enjoy a Nats dog and got the kids some snacks, too. But I was right there out of my seat when the Nats scored a home run! And the crowd went nuts!!!!! I enjoyed myself so much more than I expected to (especially since it was DURING a Redskins game!!!) and really got into the game!
All in all, it was a great afternoon, so thanks Kat for the amazing tickets! Thanks to all the Nats fans who come out game after game even though they don’t have the best record. It’s such a great experience and great family fun! There’s still time to catch a game or two before the season ends - you should think about going! If not, there’s always next year!
Here’s me - finally not embarrassed to have my picture taken at the ball park:
Oh, and I love this sign…. right down below the plexi-glass I was standing against stood the following sign:
“Please be aware of objects leaving the field” – any guesses on what sorts of objects (other than fly balls) might be leaving the field?
Happy Sunday! I hope you enjoyed your weekend and are ready to get back to business tomorrow morning!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Fall is here!
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Don’t Panic!
September 16th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Finance, Reston Dirt
It would be so easy to work up into a lather with all of the gloom and doom financial news. Everywhere we turn some major wall street financial institution is filing for bankruptcy or being taken over. Mortgage companies are in trouble and/or crumbling left and right. The Federal Government decided to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to increase the availability of mortgage finance and to add liquidity to the mortgage bond market.
Oh and then there’s the AIG mess – the government is supposedly considering lending tens of billions of dollars to bail them out of their recent woes… YIKES… And today, if all that weren’t enough, the feds decided against lowering the fed funds rate stating that they believes the mortgage interest rates are already low enough to spur future economic growth.
It would seem that in fact we’re headed for mass destruction and dismay. In fact, that’s the farthest thing from the truth – at least from the housing perspective. Consider this –
Interest rates have tumbled beginning with the Fannie/Freddie news and are now once again below 6% – hmmm
Inventory of homes is still fairly high and there is generally a plethora of choices
For a consumer that has good credit and assets, this is the BEST TIME EVER (yes, I did say the best time ever) to make that home purchase. Can I guarantee that home prices will not continue to go down? NO Can I guarantee that home prices will appreciate at some ridiculous rate over the next 2 years bringing “flipping” back into vogue? Of course not. But I can say that conditions are actually favorable right now for the housing market to correct itself. NOW is the time rather than when buyers have to enter into bidding wars against each other. NOW is the time rather than when buyers will have to give up some of their rights in order to beat out someone else.
Every action has a counter-action. When builders realized that they would 
have home surpluses, building slowed and in some cases even ceased. When we come through the cycle, they won’t be able to gear up quickly enough to meet future demand and there begins that cycle again with higher prices and more demand. So… just stop for a moment to consider that perhaps, just maybe, now is the time to begin thinking about a change.
I look forward to your call to discuss your home needs - both selling and buying.
Happy Tuesday
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Fall is here!
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High ~ Low - How HIGH or low can you go??
September 10th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Neighborhoods, Northern Virginia News, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
I thought it would be fun today to look at the incredible range of properties that are currently on the market. The format for today is high/low. Here’s how it works…
Arlington County Virginia
Today in Arlington County there are 795 active listings – they range from a LOW of:
$90,000 – 1br/1ba bank-owned property in “Arlington Heights” condominium complex. This property has been on the market for 126 days![GetMedia[1]](http://www.thearlingtondirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/getmedia1-small.jpg)
to a HIGH of:
$8,850,000 – 5br/5ba ~2 acres of riverfront property. This unique home is a 12,000 sq ft contemporary with spectacular views of the river that was originally listed for $9.5M and has been on the market for 607 days.
Fairfax County Virginia
Today in Fairfax County there are a whopping 6,021 properties for sale. They range from a LOW of:
$69,100 – 1br/1ba bank-owned property in Colchester Towne Condominium complex. This property has been on the market for 55 days.
to a HIGH of:
$16,500,000 – 6br/8ba (+5 powder rooms) country estate on 2.1 acres in Oakton. This property has 4 levels, 8 fireplaces and has just come on the market 2 days ago.
By the way, in Fairfax County there are 33 listings priced over $5 Million (21 of which are located in McLean, Virginia and 303 listings priced BELOW $150,000.)
Alexandria City, Virginia
Today in the City of Alexandria there are 728 active listings from a LOW of:
$89,900 – 2br/1ba bank-owned property in Saxony Square – this property has been on the market for 322 days.
to a HIGH of:
$3,500,000 – 4br/4ba townhome in Old Town – This is an historic mansion built in 1805 and has been on the market for 70 days.
Loudoun County Virginia
Today in Loudoun County there are 2,388 active listings. They range from a LOW of:
$74,900 – 1br/1ba bank-owned condo in Country Club Green condominium complex. This property has been on the market for 20 days.
to a HIGH of:
$7,500,000 – 7br/7ba Georgian home sited on 217 acres including a pool, large barn, sheds and other out-buildings. This home is in Bluemont and has been on the market for 138 days.
I find all of this information fascinating. Not only is it fun to imagine living in some of these super luxurious, high end homes, it’s just amazing at the variety of properties that are currently available for sale in our region. I do think it’s interesting to note that in every single case that I looked at today, the lowest priced property was bank owned; and if the days on market is any indication, they are NOT flying off the proverbial shelf. There are deals out there for those with a strong stomach!
If you’d like to see a mansion or a great deal, please don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and give me a call. I’m game for either end of the spectrum or anywhere in between!
Happy Wednesday
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Fall is here!
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Sales Numbers are in for Arlington Virginia - August 2008
September 8th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
Well, September has arrived, the air is cooler, fall is coming, the Redskins have already lost their first game of the season (and hopefully their last loss this year) and it’s time to review how the market was for the month of August. I personally found this to be an unusual August – I found the weather delightful, people were vacationing for longer periods of time (2 weeks instead of 1) and were largely gone, in more ways than one, for a good part of August.
Nonetheless, the market was not dead - in fact we saw some improvement in terms of Days on Market and more condos settled in August than any other single month since July of 2007. Wow… I think with news that perhaps we’ve hit bottom, interest rates are still manageable, especially with the FHA and other government programs being in vogue right now, many factors point toward this being a decent time to get involved.
Here’s how the numbers looked for August 2008 in Arlington:
As far as absorption rates go, we still have some of the lowest in the country. This shows us on an on-going basis how much inventory we have and how long it would take at the current monthly rate to sell through what we’ve got. In theory it should be a good indicator of how long to expect (on average) for a property to sell.
There are some great options out there. If you’d like to investigate what might meet your needs, give me a call. Or - just call to chat!
Happy Monday
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Fall is here!
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The Ins and Outs of Loan Approval, Pre-Approval, Loan Commitments and so forth…
September 2nd, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Finance, Reston Dirt
As a general rule, one of the very first things I do when working with a new buyer (whether they are a first time buyer or even an experienced buyer) is to recommend they speak with a lender and obtain loan approval.
The reason for this is simple: Let’s say they’ve used an internet loan calculator to guess at their loan amount – did someone explain to them the tax relief they will benefit from? Or perhaps they actually talked with a lender and did some sort of preliminary approval where they provided their salary information and debt information, but perhaps they didn’t discuss more detailed financial matters like alimony (either being given OR received), investment properties owned, etc… These factors can have a HUGE impact on a buyer’s ability to actually obtain a mortgage.
I usually like to have someone talk with a contact of mine – for no reason except that keeping the communication lines open during this process is HUGE. It doesn’t matter to me who originates a loan for my clients in the end, as long as they get as good of a program as they can – good rates, good terms, and the RIGHT program fit for them. But during the process, questions can arise - here’s one that happened lately:
I have a client who wants to purchase a condo – he has his preliminary loan approval in place for a particular amount - and the lender is out of state. So we set out looking at properties in a particular range that we are estimating will work with his loan amount and the amount of cash he has set aside for this purchase. However, pretty soon, some questions came up:
What condo fees were used for the approval? (Usually a lender will put in some sort of estimate)
What about property taxes?
Oh, and since the lender is out of state, how were they able to complete a good faith estimate perhaps not knowing what our usual and customary charges are here in Virginia to the buyer?
At this point, since we were unclear on the answers, my client agreed to talk with one of my local lenders, and we’re in the process now of understanding exactly how much home he can afford. At least we’ll know what the range is and negotiate the best deal on a property with confidence that he can afford it.
So perhaps I digressed a little from the title of this article - here are some brief descriptions of different terms you’ll hear from the lending world:
Pre-Approval – this means some basic information has been provided to the lender, probably without verification in order to establish a baseline of affordability. Sometimes lenders will even issue pre-approval letters, but they all state that they are subject to income/asset verification, so really, they’re not particularly strong.
Loan Approval – this usually means that all income/asset verification has been done as well as a credit check. This is a much stronger term and generally is used when submitting a contract. Sometimes, depending on the lender, the application has even made it through the underwriting process already. Barring any issues with the property, it’s smooth sailing from here.
Loan Commitment - this is when the loan has not only been approved, but the bank has already earmarked the funds to consummate the transaction. This is the strongest level of approval that exists.
So there you have it – a lesson on loan approval types, terminology and the like - and also some reasoning as to why I’ll ask you to speak with a lender and why it’s important! It’s a much smoother process when this is done in advance and we can start out with the best foot forward not wasting any time at all in finding that dream home.
If you’d like to talk about the process or get started, call me today! I have some great local lenders I can refer you to – with a great team around you’ll be in great shape for a successful outcome!
Happy Tuesday
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Fall is right around the corner!
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