Archive for November, 2008
Confidence in the Real Estate Market is Building in Arlington Virginia
November 18th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats, Northern Virginia Home Buying, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
OK, so if you’re a regular reader, you’ve figured out by now that each week I will report to you the number of contracts written/ratified for the previous week – I am here to tell you, we had a big week last week!
Yes, that’s right! 46 contracts were ratified last week - with 1 exception, that’s the biggest week we’ve had since August (we did have a week late September/early October when we had 47). There were about as many single family homes as condos with a few townhouses and duplexes tossed in – there were properties that sold in 1 day, and in fact 6 sold un under a week, and 11 sold in under 2 weeks. There was actually one condo that had been on the market a total of 1,289 days. YIKES… I would NOT want to be that owner or agent!
If you’d like to discuss placing your home on the market OR if you’re thinking of beginning a search, I’d love to hear from you.
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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Georgetown Cupcake Scores BIG with ME!
November 12th, 2008 Categories: Area Attractions, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia News, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
I got home last night after a long day and found that my family had gone on a little adventure to surprise me with one of my favorite treats – CUPCAKES! You see, The Washington Post recently ran an article proclaiming Georgetown Cupcakes Chocolate Ganache cupcake to be the local #1 cupcake! That day they had a huge spread in the paper and my daughter and I drooled over every picture putting them all in order that we’d like to try them. I’m a baker by hobby so I can appreciate all of the work put in and also what a difference fresh, natural ingredients makes to the end product!
So, back to last night - I got home to find an adorable bright pink box with a cool brown swirly sticker on it, sitting on the kitchen counter… oh my… it was filled with the most delicious looking cupcakes you’ve ever seen – not too big, not too small, not too fancy, not too weird… perfect in every way.
I sampled the mocha (chocolate bottom w/mocha frosting and a chocolate covered espresso bean) and finally settled on the Vanilla Squared (vanilla cupcake w/vanilla frosting - what a surprise!). I enjoyed every bite.
Georgetown Cupcakes hasn’t even been open a year and yet they sell between 3,000 and 4,000 cupcakes EACH DAY! Here’s the line my family stood in JUST FOR ME:
They bought a half dozen for $15 and I can’t wait to go home today to sample some more! They are well worth the 20 minute wait in line and the $2.50. It will now be a personal goal to sample each and every one - then I can report to you MY personal favorite. So STAY TUNED..
Meanwhile, if you’d like to discuss real estate (or cupcakes) feel free to call anytime. I look forward to hearing from you.
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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October 2008 Sales Figures for Arlington County Virginia
November 11th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats, Northern Virginia Home Buying, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
Here I am again to give you the overal market statistics for Arlington Virginia for October 2008. I have to say, I expected dismal – and with expectations like that, I was pleasantly surprised. October really was pretty steady from September – similar inventory levels as well as contract writing and solds. So it got me thinking - lately I’ve had people quoting numbers to me like “Arlington market has decreased 5–10% in the past 2 years” and other such statements… I’ve been tracking statistics for a while, so I went back to October of 2007 AND October of 2006 and take a look for yourself:
Condo Observations:
Average sales prices are within a range of $425K-$450K with a slight decrease each year – but remember, this is just ONE month compared to the same month in years past - not any sort of average. Unit sales are UP this year and days on market are lower than in either of the previous 2 years.
Single Family Home Observations:
These numbers are a little more scattered and tougher to draw conclusions… however, across the board, we are not seeing the steady declines year over year for the past 3 years as you would be led to believe. In fact, we had healthy selling and good selling prices with fewer days on the market than in years past.
Overall, I would say that in Arlington County we have fairly balanced opportunities for buyers and sellers alike. Our absorption rates are telling as well:
This tells us how long it would take to sell through our current inventory – most would tell you that as long as we’re in the single digits, we’re doing OK!
On a final note, you may or may not be aware that I have been reporting on contracts written on Arlington County properties – so for the week ending November 6, 30 contracts were written. While that’s down from last week, it is an appropriate level to resume where things were as of early October. The rolling average graph now looks like this:
So, the upshot is…. the market is fine. People are still successfully buying and selling homes. I would be delighted to talk with you further about representing you on your home purchase or sale.
Happy Tuesday – go HUG a Veteran and thank them for their service to our great country!
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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Election Day is finally here - and Contract Writing Significantly Improved - YIPPEE
November 4th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Northern Virginia Home Selling
OK, so we can finally TODAY elect our new president. For me, that means no more door knocks, auto-dialed calls, signs in the medians of EVERY road, street and highway! It is certainly the most historic election EVER and having said that, I’m excited to see what’s in store for us. So GO VOTE!
Secondly I have GREAT news to report! Last week, the number of contracts ratified on Arlington County properties jumped to a whopping 39! That’s the largest number since the last week in September. Let’s see what THAT does to the moving average!
As to what to attribute this activity to? Rates? Who knows – inactivity can’t last forever – people need to buy and sell homes. PERIOD… and they always will. I will continue to closely monitor the numbers and report regularly. I have a theory that moving past the election we will start to see business settle back into some normal patterns. I guess we’ll see soon enough!
Have an excellent TUESDAY!
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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Top TEN Reasons Northern Virginia is the BEST place on Earth - Day 2
November 3rd, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Area Attractions, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Home Buying, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
I wrote a whole post last week and my computer ate it! REALLY - and it had so many links and pictures and I was so discouraged that only now have I returned to my computer to make an attempt to re-create it.
So, without further ado, next on my list of WHY Northern Virginia is a GREAT place to live and play:
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
Yep – Professional Sports. We’ve got it all covered!
Football: We are home to the 6–2 Washington Redskins (Hail to the Redskins!) and while I know Baltimore is 40 miles to our North, many also consider the Baltimore Ravens to be a home team as well.
Basketball: We’ve got the Washington Wizards representing our fair city in the NBA; and the super cool chicks of the WNBA, the Washington Mystics. GIRL POWER!!!
Baseball: The AMAZING Washington Nationals and their new, world class stadium. Again, with our northern neighbors, we also have the Baltimore Orioles here, which, for a long time, was our team until the Nats arrived on the scene a few years ago.
Hockey: The Washington Capitals – now THIS is cool – 
right in our own back yard for us Arlingtonians… A few years back the Caps relocated their headquarters to a newly built iceplex in the Ballston area of Arlington. It’s a beautiful facility, and you can go and watch them practice and even get out there on the ice yourself – for me, reminiscent of how I spent many a Friday night in high school, but we need not dwell on that…
Soccer: We are home to the beloved DC United – our Major League Soccer Team.
I think it’s great that we have so many great professional sports teams here and I believe just one more reason why the DC area is a great place to live. Stay tuned as I reveal more and more reasons why I love it here!
Happy Monday (on the EVE of a big Election Day!)
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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