Loudoun County Real Estate Statistics - Feb 2009 - Video Edition

Here is a video edition of the Loudoun County Real Estate Statistics for the month of February 2009.  Unlike what you are hearing in the press and other media, home sales were strong in February and inventory levels continue to stay low. 

Watch the video and let me know if you have any questions or ideas for future topics you would like me to vlog about.

Comments

[Still watching from the sidelines....]

Good info Tony- your slide presentation was great :)

It makes sense that inventory levels are down...mainly because most potential sellers are not going to list at this time unless they absolutely have too. I still think there is a lot of pent-up inventory in this area because of several factors that I won't get into right now, however could be way off.

I have 2 questions though:

1. How many of those home sales were traditional sales vs short sale/foreclosures?

2. Do you have any info on average sale prices for February? Inventory / sales data is great, but if prices are the indicator that I really like to look at.

Thanks!

[Just Looking]

Tony,

I have 2 quick questions/comments about your video:

1. I notice you said that "If you're a buyer in the market looking for a nice house that is priced properly priced, you either can't find it or are competing with multiple other buyers." In your opinion do you feel that a lot of the inventory currently on the market (not included short-sales/foreclosures) is still over priced?

2. Do you have any more info about the $650K house in Brambleton that you have 7 contracts on (i.e. last selling price, sq. footage, lot size, etc)? Was this a house that was selling for $800K - $900K a few years ago or just an absolute perfect house in a great location?

[Chris]

Tony,

As always, job well done. I enjoy reading / viewing your data. Thank you for your insite.

[The eternal Optimist]

December 2006 posting from Mr. Arko regarding the housing market:

"I'm here to tell you that the worst is behind us and there are some good signs for the future"

...don't buy into the hype.

[Tony Arko]

The great thing about my blog is it keeps a record of everything I write and anyone can go back and see exactly what was on my blog in December 2006.

Here is an exact quote from my post on December 28thd, 2006:

Though there are signs of a bottom in the near future, how much inventory floods the market will dictate which way the market goes. If we see inventory spike up, we may have a ways to go.

Inventory did spike up and my words were absolute correct.

It is sad for someone such as Eternal Optimist to come onto my blog and spread lies about what I wrote. I feel sorry for people whose only value is in the lies they spread about others.

[Eternal Optimist]

Tony,

First off, I am not 'spreading lies' as you put it. I was not quoting your December 28, 2006 posting; I was quoting your post from December 6, 2006 entitled "Leading Indicators Look Good for Loudoun Real Estate". I should have been clearer in my last post.

Second off, I apologize for my short/direct nature. I did not mean to offend you the way I did...much of your information on this site is very good, I just get a little touchy about certain topics and this is one of them. Supply & demand do directly affect prices in a normal market. However, most of the run-up in housing prices during the "housing bubble" was due more to speculation than it was because supply & demand. Hopefully once everything works itself out in this current market situation, the factors you have stated in your video (supply & demand) will once again be the leading drivers for housing prices and not speculation. I just get a little annoyed when everyone and their brother tries to become a real estate investor without doing their homework or looking at previous economic trends. You seem to be very good at what you do and have the experience to navigate the current market wisely; however many "Real Estate Investors" have no clue what they are doing and will jump on any bandwagon they can find if they think it will make them a buck.

Here are the 1st 2 paragraphs of your post on December 6, 2006. You'll notice the statement I quoted in my previous post is the last sentence of the 2nd paragraph:

"News sources have been reporting some numbers recently that paint a very gloomy picture for real estate. Just in the last week, MSNBC has run stories that detail the housing slump, plunging construction activity and slowing or falling home sales. This can be very troubling for homeowners especially if they need to sell in the near future.

However, not all of this information is bad news and a lot of the information is too old to be applicable. The problem is news organizations are in the business of selling news and what sells in today's market are the flashy headlines that proclaim doom and gloom. But I'm here to tell you that the worst is behind us and there are some good signs for the future."

[Poplar Bluff Real Estate]

Can anyone suggest good sources for real estate statistics?

[new houses for sale]

Great post, so excited to read your post soon.

Jomie