Spotsylvania County Market Report – 3/29/10

The Spotsylvania area market has definitely rebounded from the snowy beginning to 2010. Buyers seem to be coming out in droves, especially in the $200,000 and under pricepoints.  We are in a very interesting time now as our inventory is down considerably, houses are not staying on the market for nearly as long as they were last year, and buyers are trying to make sure they go under contract by April 30th if they qualify for the tax credit. 

Here are our most recent stats for Spotsylvania County for the month of February: 

• New listings down 27.4%.
• Closed Sales down 4.7% over February 2009.
• The Percent of Original Sales Price Received at Sale rose by a healthy 9% to 95.3%.
• Average Days on Market fell 43.4%.
• Average DOM 66 days

There has also been a small drop in Median Sales Price, down 4.5% to $177,600.

Commentary and market stats provided by Amy Cherry-Taylor, Business Manager, Stafford Regional Office.

Search for Home in Spotsylvania County: www.averyhess.com

What Really Matters in Real Estate

Sometimes you hear a story that makes you smile. A story so genuine, the goodness just seeps throughout you, warming your insides like a steaming cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day. Real Estate is moving. FAST. Technology. Social Media. Tablet PCs and iPads. Twitter. MySpace. Facebook. FourSquare. All of this technology, that at first glance, we assume can make our lives faster, more efficient.

Take a step back and pause for a second. Take stock of what’s really important in Real Estate.

I implore you.

Relationships. Helping people. Advocacy. Understanding the needs of YOUR clients.

Sheila Carney gets it. She lives it. Perhaps its because she has a mentor in her mother, Lucille Ryan who is just a genuinely good person. Perhaps it’s because Sheila too, is a genuinely good person. Perhaps it’s because this is not just a job for Sheila, it’s a passion. Perhaps it’s all of the above.

Yesterday, David Hess forwarded me an email from one of Sheila’s clients. A client Sheila met three years ago. A client who Sheila just helped with a home purchase. I smiled when I read it. A genuine smile, bolstered by the knowledge that we have a company full of great people, a company full of Sheila’s. Read on, and you will smile too, I promise.

Hi Mr. Hess: 

I wanted to send you a note describing the high quality person you have working with you.  My husband and I worked with Sheila Ryan Carney during our home buying process this winter.  We met Sheila during an open house in our neighborhood nearly 3 years ago.  My husband is in the Coast Guard and we have a 4 year lease on a rental home in Vienna that expires next month.  Sheila, upon first meeting, was professional and approachable.  She understood our situation and did an exceptional job of nurturing a well balanced relationship with us throughout the term of our lease.  This winter we were able to seriously start our house search and we had no question about who we wanted to represent us.  We had attended a lot of open houses in the Vienna area by this time and had interviewed a lot of Realtors from various agencies at these open houses.  Sheila definitely stands out in the sea of Realtors. 

Sheila’s professionalism continued through out the house search, to the closing day on February 25, and just last week I emailed her a question which was answered within 24 hrs.  It definitely shows that she enjoys her work and that she puts her clients above her paycheck.  She proved to be committed to our well being time and time again.  Living in an area that a half a million dollars gets a family a great shoe box or a bigger fixer-upper, Sheila gets all of the credit for us finding a solid move-in-ready home that is the right size for us at a price point that we can comfortably afford. 

I didn’t even think about writing to you, Mr. Hess, until at closing one of the seller’s agents said in jest that I should write you after Sheila assisted me with zipping my jacket on the way out the door.  If truth is spoken in jest, (I believe in this case it is) even the Long and Foster agent noticed Sheila’s professionalism, attention to detail, and commitment to her clients throughout the entire settlement that day including the minor detail of assisting a woman with her jacket after a large purchase.

Sincerely,

Grace B.
Vienna, VA

Avery-Hess has a mission statement, which we take VERY seriously. Our agents take this statement VERY seriously. Sheila takes this statement VERY seriously.

“Hyper-focused on servicing the needs of the consumer.”

Sheila lives this statement. Sheila understands this statement. She understands that it means looking out for her clients. Sheila understands that it means finding them a home that meets their needs, not hers. Sheila understands that it means caring, genuinely caring, about the people she represents. Sheila understands that this means something as simple as helping someone zip up their jacket as they walk out the door.

Sheila understands what really matters in Real Estate.

-Amit

Connect with Sheila: www.righteam.com

Ashburn, VA Market Report – 3/23/10

Here’s a quick snapshot of the market in Ashburn, Virginia 

• Homes for sale: 420 (up from 404 in January and down from 465 one year ago) 
• Closed sales: 70 (up from 65 in January, up from 60 in February 2010)
• Average sold price: $402,305 (down from $423,445 last month, but up from $401,215 one year ago)
• Average days on market: 59 (up from 51 days last month, but down from 78 in February 2009)

When you consider that there were only about 20 selling days in February due to the two record back to back snow storms, to have more sales in February 2010 than 2009 speaks to the sense of urgency that buyers have as confidence returns to consumers in the Greater Washington, DC area. 

Prices in Ashburn are stable to rising over the past year, but what influences the averages and medians are the quantity of lower priced houses that are selling. The bottom of the price range is still where the predominant amount of activity is occurring. The market bottomed in December 2008 and many who have purchased since then have actually already benefited from an increase in their equity position as prices have firmed and risen.

Perfectly normal is the fact that more houses are coming onto the market. We expect the number of homes coming on the market to increase each month for the next four months as is normal. The seasonality of residential real estate has not been repealed. This bodes well for buyers who want to take advantage of the low interest rates, liberalizing lending terms, and the Federal Housing Tax Credit. To get the tax credit you must be under contract by April 30th and close before June 30, 2010.

Ashburn has a great selection of homes and almost all of them are under 15 years old–the approximate age of the entire area. The great thing about Ashburn is because it is flush with such a huge diversity of homes, an individual or family can keep trading up or down in size and style and never change grocery stores. You can have change and stability at the same time.

Market report provided by David Hess, Executive Vice President, Avery-Hess, Realtors.

Search for Homes in Ashburn, VA: www.averyhess.com

Choice Mortgage Moment – How Much do I Need for a Down Payment? [video]

Don Metcalf of Choice Mortgage answers the a question that puzzles many prospective home purchasers – “How Much do I Need for a Down Payment?”

Choice Mortgage Moment: How Much do I Need for a Down Payment?

Choice Mortgage Servicing, LLC is an affiliate of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Equal Housing Lender). Click here to get started on the application process and learn about which down payment option is best for you.

Search for homes in all of the DC Metro: www.averyhess.com

The Champ has been Dethroned. Pay Attention.

Something seismic occurred in the on-line space last week. The tremors reverberate still. It has nothing to do with Real Estate. It has everything to do with Real Estate.

Facebook became the most visited place on the Internet last week.

Joel Burslem of 1000 Watt posted about this very topic last week, and the San Jose Mercury News reported on it. According to Hitwise, Facebook edged out Google as the Internet’s most visited site by the slimmest of margins – 7.07% of all traffic to Facebook vs. 7.03% of all traffic to Google. But this is big. Real Big. People no longer go to the web just to search. They actually go to the web MORE to discuss things. To collaborate. To share experiences. On Facebook.

Let’s all sit up straight now and pay attention. Please.

90 some odd percent of consumers begin their Real Estate experience on-line. Buyers and Sellers alike. And now they aren’t going just to Google to gather information, or your Real Estate website. They are communicating on Facebook. Searching for information, sharing stories, getting the skinny on who to use and who not to use for their Real Estate experience. We have to be there. Real Estate. Brokers and Agents alike. We all have to be there, active and engaged in an intelligent conversation.

But wait. Hold on.

Before we rush like lemmings racing towards a treacherous Social Media precipice, let’s think. Effective use of Social Media, and Facebook specifically, is an art, not a Real Estate right. There are good ways to do it, and some not so good ways to do it. Your Facebook page should not consist of an explosion of listings, and sales pitches, and price reductions and post after post after post after post of the benefits of the tax credit and why you should buy now. Too many are.

Start a conversation. Craft a message. Carefully consider every post before you post it. Engage in a conversation, and stay away from the sales pitch. Reach out to your constituency and engage them. Solicit feedback. Create a community. Have your Facebook page be a Social Media extension of your Brand.

We have to do it. Companies, and specifically Google, see that Social Media is affecting the very fiber of our everyday lives (see Google’s Buzz offering). Let’s recognize this as an opportunity and engage Facebook and Social Media effectively. If you don’t yet have a strategy to do so, and do so effectively, get one, and do it RIGHT.

Remember, this is HUGE. Google has been dethroned. I never thought I would see it, the Internet’s 800 lb. Gorilla knocked from his lofty perch. If even for only a week, the shift from linear search to conversation is undeniable. Make sure that your voice gets heard.

-Amit

Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/AveryHess

In ______ we Trust.

How great would it be if that ________ was “Real Estate Professional?”

I had the opportunity to attend a cinemeeting event hosted by Wells Fargo Home Mortgagethis past Thursday titled “Meeting the Market Challenges of 2010.” The content and information presented at this cinemeeting was mind-blowing. There was commentary and discussion about Short Sales and the Short Sale process, there was discussion of the REO “Shadow Inventory,” there was discussion and commentary about today’s Real Estate consumer. And then there was one topic of discussion that stood out head and shoulders above the rest.

TRUST.

Jeremy Conaway of Recon Intelligence Services waxed poetic about this very issue. And how important it is. And how in 2010, the Real Estate industry is near an all-time low with regards to this very thing. The very thing that is the most important fundamental building block of our business.

TRUST.

There is so much weight that is carried by this one little word. Five letters that can make or break any business or organization. Any sustainable business model has to built upon this foundation. There are a lot of ways that we can regain consumer trust. We can listen. We can counsel. We can give sound advice. We can understand personal situations and the specific wants and needs of our individual clients. We can partner with our clients to assist in a collaborative manner. We can utilize technology, data and real time market stats and information that we as Real Estate professionals have exclusive access to in order to provide accurate information to our clients to better enable them to make informed decisions. (Yes, believe it or not, on-line valuation sites really are not that accurate).

Jeremy was optimistic. He mentioned his son’s dreams of home ownership. His son’s dreams of building a better future for himself. He mentioned that people are once again buying homes for the right reasons, not as a way to make a quick buck. He mentioned that Real Estate as an industry would lead the charge to economic recovery – at a sustainable pace.

I think I agree with Jeremy. I think that I too, am optimistic. I think that perhaps Jeremy addressed the most pressing challenge of 2010 – TRUST.

I think that with what I see every day in this industry, given time, we will win back that trust.

I think that given time, that _______ will be filled with “Real Estate Professional.”

-Amit

Find your home. Plan your Life. www.averyhess.com