Real Estate Information Archive

If you are looking for a good movie to watch this holiday season, check out This Christmas. This is a story about what happens when all the family members get together for the holidays. It seems like everyone has a secret or baggage that they've brought with them--some of the sibliings haven't been home for years. This is a movie that tests the bonds of family.

Check out http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809813069/details for more information on this movie!

Susan Hall

Last Wednesday we had our office Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. Romano’s Macaroni Grill in Kingstowne (www.macaronigrill.com) catered and brought lots of good stuff. We had 2 types of salad, bread, chicken, a couple different kinds of pasta, broccoli and chocolate cake for dessert. Everything was hot and set up right on time---this is a good option if you work in the area and want to have an office lunch.

Look at all the food!

It was also Cindy’s birthday, so we sang Happy Birthday and also had a delicious marble cake from Shoppers.

Our newest agent in training, Emily.

  ?          Weekly Market Update – 19 December 2008

1.         And an increasing number of consumers taking NFCC's Mortgage Reality Check are falling into the red danger zone, indicating they are in imminent risk of foreclosure. The self-assessment test, which determines one's risk of foreclosure, is located at http://www.HousingHelpNow.org.

2          This areas market is neither better nor worse than any other; however, homes continue to sell in our area when the listing agent has been direct and candid with the seller regarding price and condition. By passing along market statistics, including showing a declining market, sellers can be prepared for what are "realistic" offers in today's market which include discounted prices plus closing assistance and higher commissions. This upfront approach prepares sellers in the beginning so there are fewer surprises when offers come in.

3          According to HUD, 4.3 percent of all Prince William mortgages are in foreclosure, compared with the statewide rate of 3.1 percent. The Fairfax County rate is 2.3 percent.

4.         Eight of the largest 15 metropolitan areas were losing jobs as of August.  The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Washington as gaining 44,600 jobs since August of 2007.

5.         Programs such as “Hope for Homeowners” that were passed by Congress have done little to help homeowners soon to be foreclosed on.  The lenders holding the notes are unwilling to re-negotiate the terms of the loans in most cases.  The projected 400,000 who were to be helped will actually be about 13,000 by year end.

6.         In Greater Northern Virginia the number of homes sold in October this year showed a 29% increase over home sales in October a year ago. The absorption rate for October 2008 is higher than last year’s with a 6.04-month supply of homes.

7.         A major portion of the total inventory on the market continues to be “Short Sales”.  These homes are taking on average 4-6 months to close, if ever, after a contract has been received by the sellers.  Most agents are reluctant to show these homes to their buyers actively looking to purchase because of the uncertainty of ever being able to get the banks decision to accept the sale.

8.         FHA loans will require a minimum of 3.5% down at settlement after January 1, 2009. 

9.         Average conforming loan rate 5.25 with 0 points.

10.        Average Days on Market in N. Virginia for October ‘08 = 94

11.        Light, sweet crude went down to settle at $42.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange

A fast note on a couple of movie ideas. We saw Slumdog Millionaire and it is amazing. Probably not for everyone, but it really is moving. Some scenes are tough to watch, and some are hilarious, but it really is a great love story at heart.

Also, if you never got a chance to see the movie "Frequency" with Dennis Quaid, I think you should see it. My girlfriend hadn't seen it and we watched it the other night. You know how a movie you saw and liked might not seem so good years later? Well, she loved it I'm happy to say.

Any comments on these are welcome!

Tom Pietsch

We saw this article and thought we'd share:

Mortgage Rates Hit Lowest in 50 Years

Just a quickie review. Our listing manager, our favorite sales trainer and I went to the restaurant Farrah Olivia in Old Town Alexandria. It really was excellent. I had always wanted to check it out, but never had. Yes, it's quite expensive, so make sure it's a special occasion or you're in the mood for a treat. We started out a bottle of cold French champagne. The chef sent us a sample of a special tortilla soup and home-made cheese puff. Then we had a vanilla poached lobster appetizer that was fresh and tasty. Susan had the pan-roasted chicken with curry banana crust. It was served with a soft black barley risotto. Andy and I had the wild black cod. It came with creamy smoked lentils and lemongrass perfumed mussels. Everything was fabulous. The service was consistently outstanding. They were always there when we needed them, but not hovering over us staring. The decor was interesting and fun to look at and there was plenty of room between tables. I hate to be crammed in. Their chairs were comfortable too. All in all a great evening. I hope you have an equal experience if you go.

Check out www.farraholiviarestaurant.com. The address is 600 Franklin Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. Enjoy!

Tom Pietsch

Well, it's interesting. For the second year in a row we are noticing a lot of activity during a time of the year that most people write off as non-productive. We have 6 homes under contract in the last 7 days. We've even been able to settle on a couple of short sales and foreclosures that have been sitting for months without resolution. It seems that anything that shows well and is priced CORRECTLY is selling quickly. We have a garage townhome in Kingstowne under contract in 2 weeks. Why? It has a brick front, 3 bedrooms, hardwoods on the main and lower level and the sellers let us put the right price on to begin with, instead of chasing the market down like a lot of unfortunate sellers do.

I've got some stats here, courtesy of MRIS (our multiple listing service). I'll start with zip codes 22315 and 22310. These are closest to our office in the Kingstowne area and are remarkably accurate in giving us a feel for the market and it's movements. We check it daily. There are 258 properties available. That's everything from a 1 bedroom condo to  million dollar homes. There are 89 under contract. That's a 34% absorption rate. Not bad, considering that a short time ago we were hovering at 325 units for quite some time. But there's more: a lot of these are new homes, not even built yet. A number of them show really badly, and a lot of them are way overpriced so those won't sell. So the good ones are selling.

Out of the 258, 127 are detached. 40 are under contract for an absorption rate of 31%. This figure no doubt is affected by the older homes that are in 22310, many of which are short sales.

There are 89 townhouses on and 40 under contract for an absorption rate of 43%. This is GOOD news that you don't hear about from the local media. Contrast that with 12-18% absorption rates of earlier in the year. The amounts that prices have come down and the super-low interest rates are starting to kick in.

Condos---39 are available and 11 are under contract---28% absorption rate.

In Lorton the numbers tell a very positive story. There are 198 properties on the market and 100 under contract. That's a whopping 51% absorption rate. People like newer homes. Lorton has them and they've been beaten up for a long time price-wise.

Springfield is not far behind. There are 441 homes on the market and 210 under contract for a 48% absorption rate.

Alexandria comes in with 1023 homes available and 300 under contract for a 29% absorption rate. This encompasses a wider area and would need to be more specific to glean the meaning. For example it's tough to compare a townhouse in Old Town with some areas that are further out and having problems with a lot of foreclosures and short sales still hurting the neighborhood.

What does all this mean? Well, each year inventory seems to go down around this time. Some sellers are tired of the process and don't want their homes on around the holidays so they take them off. Others decide to start the process after the New Year, so they wait to put them on. And, because we are in the DC Metro area, there are always people buying and selling, so the good ones that are value-priced are selling. That keeps inventory down right around now.

At Tom & Cindy and Associates we always advise those thinking of selling to go on right after the first weekend of the new year. Our spring market doesn't begin when the azaleas bloom. It begins right after people put away the Christmas tree, say goodbye to the relatives, and start thinking about where they want to move. There is less competition then and lots of interested buyers.

Tom Pietsch                                                                                                                                                  

Monday, December 15, 2008 marked the end of our Toys for Tots drive for this year and it was a huge success. The Long & Foster courier came by to pick up the many bags of toys that we were so fortunate to collect—take a look at the photo below! Our whole front office was taken up by the wonderful gifts. The toys were then given to the local Marines for distribution. We hope to make lots of kids happy this Christmas!

We want to extend a sincere thank you to everyone in the community that contributed, including Kathy Weaver,—it was very much appreciated.   

If you’d like to make a donation to Toys for Tots, check out http://www.toysfortots.org/.

We look forward to continuing the tradition next year.

Happy Holidays!