Loudoun County Real Estate Statistics and News

The Best Search Site for Loudoun County Real Estate

The best search engine I have found for searching real estate in Loudoun County (and the rest of the Washington Metro Area) is FranklyMLS.  It is made up of the same data that is available to real estate agents that are members of the MRIS, the local multiple listing service.  It is made up of active and under contract properties.  Sold data is not currently available but will be in the future.

The reasons this site is so much better than any other search site are many:

1. Speed - The site loads lightning fast and requires no login.
2. Ease of Use - Searches are made right on the front page.  You don't have to go through multiple screens to enter search criteria.  It has a google like search box that you enter search keywords.
3. Larger Photos - All the pictures are much larger including thumbnails.
4. Better Sorting - You can sort listings by criteria that is much more applicable and allows buyers to find listings faster. (This feature is great for finding the best value property, longest on market, etc)
5. Pricing History -  You can view the pricing history of a listing.  This is valuable in a number of ways including forecasting price changes and possible price change amounts before writing a contract.

Another feature of the site is the ability of agents to enter information regarding properties from the buyers perspective.  This balances out a lot of the fluff some listining agents put into the comments on a property.  Also agents can add photos to vacant properties that have only one picture or no pictures at all.

I suggest that if you are searching for a property to buy, you utilize this site to its fullest potential.  If you have any questions or need assistance maximizing the site, give me a call or send me an email.  I will be happy to walk you through ways I use it to find great values in the Loudoun County real estate market like this 3000+ square foot townhouse in Broadlands that is selling for only 66% of assessed value.

Eco Friendly Lawnmower for Loudoun County Home Buyers

Buy a House - Get a Lawnmower - Save the Planet

I ran across the Neuton Mower in an article in Outside magazine and I thought it would be a great gift for a new home buyer.

So.....Anyone who buys a house and wants one of these cool mowers just let me know and I will deliver it to you.  The only catch is you have to use me as your agent.

But if you don't want a cool eco-friendly electric mower, I also give bikes as gifts to my clients.

Add this post to Google Reader: 

Loudoun County Home Searchers Needed

I am looking for home buyers or home sellers to try out a new website that I have recently enrolled in on behalf of my clients.  If you are using the internet to do your searches and want to try out a new site, let me know and I will get you signed up.  Details follow......

No Pix - No Problem....8 Townhouses in Countryside

Agents that list foreclosures for sale have a tendency to not upload any photo into the MLS or into internet listing sites.  This is frustrating for me and I know it is frustrating for many of the buyers looking at properties online.  So I have taken pictures of properties for houses that don't have any and will organize them by location.

The first group I have is townhouses in Countryside subdivision of Sterling.  There are 8 that have no pictures.  Here they are:

Of these eight townhouses, only one is priced in line with its value.  Detailed information about each house along with interior photos is available at Opensource RE.

19 Palmer Ct.  1 Mercer Ct.  5 Millard Ct.  25 Millard Ct.  43 Millard Ct.  25 Huntley Ct.  117 Bickel Ct.  78 Bickel Ct.

5 Reasons Why Loudoun County Home Prices Will Not Go Up in 2008

Here is a list of the forces that will keep home prices in Loudoun County suppressed during the coming year.  These factors will prevent any appreciation in home values for the next twelve months.  And without some offsetting factors that could be looked at as positive, these factors might even continue to push prices lower.

1.  Foreclosures/bank-owned properties - The total number of foreclosures/REO and the percentage of the market they represent continues to climb month after month.  And the forecast is for these distressed properties to continue to come onto the market.  Keep an eye on the foreclosure listings and statistics to see if and when we hit the peak of this trend.

2.  Rental Rates Stay Low - Even with rental properties being converted into condominiums during the boom market and less and less people qualifying to get home loans, the supply and demand factors have not caused rental rates to increase.  And without rates moving higher, a lot of investors and smart money will wait on the sidelines to make purchases.  Watch for rental rates on townhouses and condominiums to start to move up before home prices move with them.

3.  Supply Stays High - In the heyday, there was never more than a couple (2) months worth of supply even in the slow months.  We haven't come near that supply amount since Hurricane Katrina hit in August of 2005.  With 2500 homes on the market and 250 sales per month we are at a 10 months supply.  Demand would have to start cutting into this supply before prices have a chance at appreciating.

4.  Sellers Moving Out and Down not Up and In - Baby Boomers are downsizing and/or heading South.  Companies are moving out of the area (e.g. AOL) and the job growth in the area has slowed.  Much of the equity people used to make a move to a larger home is now non-existent so they are staying put or looking to move to other parts of the country with a lower cost of living and lower home prices.

5.  Election Year - In an election year when we have no idea who will be the candidates for President much less what party will control the White House, people will hold off on major investment decisions until they feel less uncertain about the future.  And for most families, the biggest investment is their home.  So until we know who will control Congress and the White House, don't expect potential buyers to be too excited about buying.

T

Update On New Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Statement

We just obtained a copy of the new Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Statement that will go into effect January 1, 2008. It is nothing more than a revised Disclaimer Statement with a new name. It's comprised of an opening paragraph that states that the Disclosure Statement is mandatory in the sale of residential property and is followed by 6 paragraphs that all start with something like:

"The undersigned owner(s) makes no representations with respect to..."

It then has a section called "Additional Written Disclosure Requirements", which goes over Section 55-518.B., Section 55-519.1 and Section 32.1-164.1:1 of Virginia Code.

The first section says that the first sale of a dwelling "is exempt from the disclosure requirements listed above". That's basically a CYA for all new home builders in Virginia. The only "protection" that a buyer of new construction has with this Disclosure Statement is that it requires the builder of a new dwelling to "disclose in writing to the purchaser thereof all known material defects which would constitute a violation of any applicable building code."

Yeah, right. Good luck trying to prove that a builder actually knew anything.

The subsequent Sections go over disclosures pertinent to properties located in military air installations and those with septic systems.

The last part alerts consumers to the Virginia Condominium Act, the Virginia Cooperative Act and the Virginia Property Owners' Association Act, which are already covered in the Virginia Jurisdictional Addendum.

Basically, nothing will change with the new Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Statement. Sellers still get to say "I have no idea about anything" and Virginia retains its' "Buyer Beware" status.

For further guidance, please contact a real estate attorney licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

How To Save 30 Percent on Title Insurance When Buying A Home or Refinancing

All home buyers have fees to pay associated with the purchase of property of which Title Insurance is a part. And it's expensive. Based on a $450,000 property (the median sales price of a home in Ashburn, Virginia), the cost is around $2,000 (about $1300 for the lender's policy and $700 for the owner's policy).

Would you like to keep some of that $2,000 in your pocket? You may be able to if you can get the re-issue rate on the owner's policy, which is 30 percent less than the regular cost.

In order to get the re-issue rate, the Owner's Title Insurance policy that the current owner has can not have been issued more than 10 years ago. If seller doesn't have an Owner's Title Insurance policy or if it's more than 10 years old, you're out of luck.

To make sure that you don't lose out on the savings, write it into the purchase offer. If you're in Northern Virginia and using the "Regional Sales Contract"*, you can add the appropriate verbage in "Other Terms" (paragraph 34). If you're curious as to the proper verbage to use, check with your agent or real estate attorney.

If using a real estate agent, your agent should have already checked if the sellers bought the house less than 10 years ago and if so, addressed this with you prior to submitting your offer. If they haven't mentioned it, bring it up.

A few minutes worth of work. A few hundred dollars saved. Not a bad hourly rate!

Note - You also get the reissue rate if you're refinancing so don't forget to double check on this with your settlement agent prior to closing on your refi.

*The "Regional Sales Contract" is widely used by real estate agents in Northern Virginia. Your specific agent and/or area may use different forms.

IRS to Auction off House in Ashburn, Land in Great Falls

According to a letter I received via snail mail and addressed to "Loudoun Stats", the IRS is "seeking to redeem and sell" a single family home in Ashburn.  If anyone is interested in purchasing the property there is a phone number and a contact at the IRS that you need to call by September 10th, Monday. 

The letter mentions the assessed value of the property at $598,600.  Based on recent sales and the "as is" condition of sale, a closer market value of the property is in the low to mid 500's.  The minimum bid for the auction has been set at $480,000. 

In checking the with the IRS website, I could not find any additional information regarding this property.  However, I did run across a piece of land in Great Falls going to auction on the 13th.  It is close to 2 acres and the minimum bid is $496,263. 

Let me know if you need any additional information or assistance regarding either of these properties or other distressed property opportunities.

Loudoun County Sales Statistics for July - 2007 vs. 2006

Loudoun County Sales statistics for July 2007 as compared to July of 2006 are incredibly similar in many areas.  Here is a breakdown and analysis of the median and mean comparisons of List Prices, Sales Prices and Days on Market as well as Total Sales and Sales Price as a Percentage of List Price.

July 2007 vs. July 2006

Total Sales:  397 vs 395

This number has been very similar for almost every month this year.  In fact for the first seven months of the year the difference is only 21 sales, 3039 vs. 3060. 

Average List Price:  $530,280 vs $525,247

This is the average list price of the home when it went under contract.  This is useful for determining what list price will motivate a buyer to submit an offer.  When combined with the Percentage of List Price it can give you a fairly accurate idea of what homes are actually selling for before they go to closing.

Sales Price as a Percentage of List Price: 97.5(est) vs. 97.7

This number has stayed fairly consistent and although we don't know the exact number for July of 2007, the previous quarter the number was 97.5 and it hasn't changed much this year.

Average Sales Price: $517,023 vs. $513,324

Contrary to what many people think, the average sales price for a home in Loudoun County has not changed much at all in the last 12 months.  And although it does show a slight increase in price versus last year, this is a little misleading due to the fact that many more newer homes have sold this July versus last July. 

Median List Price: $434,900 vs. $449,900

The median list price is the price at which half the homes sold for more than this price and half the homes sold for less.  I believe this better reflects the trend of home prices in Loudoun County because it doesn't let a few very high priced homes skew the number.  This number is the only number that shows a significant difference versus the previous year.

Average Days on Market: 98 vs. 99

This number has stayed consistent for the last year around the 100 mark.

Median Days on Market: 69 vs. 81

This number tells us a lot more than the average Days on Market number.  The fact that the number is 12 days less than last year says that people who are listing their house this year are doing a better job of pricing it to sell.  This could mean they are pricing it lower to begin with or making adjustments to the price sooner. 

Bonus Statistic

Average Listing Price Adjustment:  $23,209 vs $30,038

This statistic is the amount of money a seller had to reduce their list price before they got to the price that enticed a buyer to write an offer. 

Coupled with the Median Days on Market statistic, the Average Listing Price Adjustment data suggests that sellers this year are pricing there properties more accurately, making smaller price adjustments and selling in a shorter period of time than the sellers of last year.

Home Prices in Loudoun County to Remain Flat for the Next 4 Years?!

If the past is any indication of the future of real estate prices in Loudoun County, then we are in for another 5 years of little if any price appreciation in Loudoun County.  According to annual statistics on the Dulles Area Association of Realtors website, the last market slowdown/correction occurred in 1990 when the average sales price dropped from $181,800 in 1989 to $170,100 the next year.  The market didn't get back to that high water mark until 1994.

The bull market that proceeded the current market slowdown started in 1997 when the average price of a home in Loudoun County was $202,166.  Eight years later the average price had increase to $546,897.  This awesome market was bound to slow down if not retreat.  Through the first six months of 2007 the average price of a home sold in Loudoun County has dropped to $502,005.  This is the first drop in the average price since 1996. 

With the bull market over and a price correction already in place, past market cycles indicate we are probably going to see a consolidation period.   A consolidation period or base building period is characterized by a long period of time with little if any price movement. 

A comparison can be made to the stock market of 7 years ago when a huge correction began in 2000, lasted for about 18 months and then a base building period of 4 years lasted until 2006 and led to the current bull market. 

So look for the next real estate bull market in Loudoun County to start around March or April of 2011.