Northern Virginia Real Estate Market Update for July 2014

 There are many great Northern Virginia area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (703) 995-9449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today we are going to talk to you about some interesting items that have come across the wire, both nationally and in Northern Virginia.

More homeowners are tapping into their home's equity and treating their castles like cash registers. Borrowers took about about 230,200 home equity lines of credit in the 1st quarter of 2014, which amounted to about 23.4 billion dollars.

At the same time, we are also dealing with a lot of sellers right now who are downsizing their homes. It's an interesting thought process, where on one hand you have a lot of folks who are taking cash out of their homes, and on the other hand a lot of people are of the mindset where they are reducing their stress and liability by downsizing

In late July, specifically in Northern Virginia, we are seeing homes on the market a little bit longer, around 30 or more days. With that being said, next week we will be talking about some information that you should be aware of. If you are thinking about refinancing, please reach out to our fantastic preferred lender, Melissa Hoover at (703) 928-7074 or MHoover@HighlandsMortgage.com. If you are thinking about buying or selling, please give us a call. We wish you the best and hope to talk to you soon!

Real Estate Agents Outperform Online Services Every Time

  
There are many great Northern Virginia area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (703) 995-9449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

How Accurate are Online Home Estimates?

A lot of consumers (nearly 97%) are utilizing the internet to search for their homes. Online websites such as Trulia and Zillow offer a service that is very convenient and easy to use, but there are some big disadvantages to the services they provide.

I often get clients here in Northern Virginia telling me that their property was worth such-and-such on Zillow. What these websites do is use algorithms from a variety of sources, with the goal of finding only a ballpark estimate. 

For example, I recently sold a Northern Virginia property in 7 days, and the house sold for $409K. Interestingly enough, Zillow said that the same property was worth $391K. Zillow also says that this property is still on the market, but I sold it nearly a month ago.

The bottom line is that these websites are neither accurate nor updated. Another big factor is that they are machines that do not factor in the motivations of the buyer. 

Only real estate agents can give you accurate and updated information on available properties, and only real estate agents can actually talk to you and understand your motivations for buying a home.

Hands down, a real estate agent beats an online service every single time. This is why it is important to speak with an agent when you're buying a home.

Please contact us via phone or email and we would love to assist you in finding real estate in Northern Virginia.

Download our Mobile App: This is Your Chance to Win $50,000!

 There are many great Northern Virginia area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (703) 995-9449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

The Keller Williams Real Estate app is easy to use and makes finding homes on the go much easier. You can refine your search according to the features you’re looking for in a home, as well as narrow down a price range. This handy search engine is just one more way we would like to help you find a property.

Aside from the ease of use and market advantage this app will give you, it will also give you a chance to win $50,000 dollars. Here are my download instructions:

1. Make sure to enter the code KW2ENXGBY when prompted.
2. From your mobile device, click the following link or visit the mobile app store: http://app.kw.com/KW2ENXGBY.
3. You can also text the code KW2ENXGBY to 87778.
4. Again, make sure you enter the code KW2ENXGBY to be entered for the $50,000 giveaway.

This application is free to download so please use it as resource when searching for a home. As far as the $50,000 dollar prize, a winner will be announced on or around April 9th, so stay tuned.

Good luck! 

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Selling Your Home Now: List Before Prices Stabilize to Ensure Top Dollar for Your Home!

There are many great Northern Virginia area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (703) 995-9449 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Selling Your Home Now: List Before Prices Stabilize to Ensure Top Dollar for Your Home!

As we progress through February, sellers have been asking me if they should sell their home now. Yes! Now is the time to sell if you have to sell within the next 30-120 days. This needs to be done sooner rather than later.

As I have just stated, don’t wait to list! The reason being is that there has been 208 new homes enter the market in the last three days and this trend of oncoming inventory is going to continue. With more competition or inventory on the market, prices may stabilize as to where sellers might not see the prices they want to receive for their homes.

The bottom line is that you need to call us today! Diane or I will come out to home and give you a free valuation on your home. This is otherwise known as a pre-listing appointment to tell you what we think we could sell your home for. We want to you to be the smartest person in the room and based on what we come up with, you can decide whether or not to sell your home.

Stay tuned for more great information next week! Our goal is to guide you in the home selling process. Thanks and have a great day!

I’m Excited About 2014 and You Should Be Too!

I’m Excited About 2014 and You Should Be Too!

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and Christmas season. Today I wanted to quickly go over what the real estate market will look like in 2014. As far as what happened in 2013, a couple highlights were the fact that across the county we saw a 12.5% in values, which is great news. Zillow and other real estate professionals, including myself, are thinking 2014 will bring an additional 3-6% increase in values. That may not be as hot as 2014, but we’re still going in the right direction.

In December 2012, there were 971 closings; fast forward to March 2013 and there were 1,496 closings. As the spring market approaches, we see more homes coming onto the market. In July 2013, we saw 2,496 homes that closed in Northern Virginia. If you’re going to be selling your home in 2014, give us a call and we will set up a pre-listing appointment, learn what your goals and help you achieve those goals.

Stay tuned for more valuable information so you can make informed decisions in the market. Thanks and have a great day!