2018 was a wonderful year for our team, and we’d like to thank you for the business you’ve given us—we couldn’t be where we are without you. This holiday season, we hope you’re able to spend plenty of time with family, friends and loved ones. May this new year bring you and your family joy and prosperity. We look forward to continuing to meet your real estate needs in 2019 and beyond. Happy Holidays!
People say renovating is actually a nightmare—it’s painful and difficult. Well, so is moving; there’s no real easy way out. So if your home has run out of space, you have two options: build on or expand your existing home or move to another.
Now, many of you like your neighborhoods, and if you live in Arlington and want to stay here, let’s explore the option of expanding your home.
You’ll need to make sure that when expanding the existing footprint of your home, it’s still within county allowances, that it meets setback requirements, and that your property can carry the additional weight added to your home. But the most important thing to pay attention to is the cost. You don’t need to have the most expensive house in the neighborhood; when it comes time to sell, you’ll see that you made a mistake by sinking too much money into it. If you’re spending $200,000 on a $1 million home, that’s fine, but if the house is worth $500,000 and you spend $250,000 on it, that may not be the smartest move.
You also need to figure out if expanding your house will actually fix your long-term problem. If you’re planning to have three more kids, adding one bathroom might not solve the issue, so you might want to look at purchasing a larger property. It really depends on your personal needs.
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You also need to figure out if expanding your house will actually fix your long-term problem.
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Building a custom home is very expensive; if we can find you a house that’s already been built in an established neighborhood, that will probably be the better option. There’s a lot of development in Loudoun County, but like a lot places in the area, it’s very tight.
Additions to homes are, of course, fine, as long as we can support and document evidence so that we can recoup your money when it comes time to sell.
Hopefully this information was valuable for those of you thinking about building additions on your home or moving to a larger home altogether. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. I’d be glad to hear from you.
If you’ve been paying attention to the latest nationwide market statistics, you might’ve noticed that in many areas around the country, we’re shifting from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market.
In our Northern Virginia/D.C./Maryland area, however, we’re still in a seller’s market.
Let’s recap some year-over-year statistics from this past September. In Virginia, the average days on market was 39 days, which was a slight drop compared to September 2017 (41 days). In D.C., the year-over-year average days on market rose from 36 to 37 days. The total number of closed sales for detached units from all three areas dropped 12% to 15%.
This means there are fewer buyers out there, and what’s going to start happening in the next several months because of this is that inventory will climb. In fact, I think we’ll have more inventory next spring than we’ve had in the past three or four years.
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I think we’ll have more inventory next spring than we’ve had in the past three or four years.
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If you’re thinking about selling, now is the best time to do it—don’t wait until next spring. If you’re a buyer, you should also think about buying now as well. Although inventory is down about 45% overall in our area, you can lock in a lower interest rate if you buy now. Currently, the average interest rate is 4.6%, which is almost a full point higher than where it was at this time last year. If you’ve been paying attention to the latest nationwide market statistics, you might’ve noticed that in many areas around the country, we’re shifting from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market.
In the meantime, if you’re thinking of buying or selling a home or you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you.
My guest Mike is a real estate broker in Virginia, Maryland, and D.C; he and I partnered up a month ago and today we’d like to talk about the importance of your property’s condition when it comes to selling your home.
Three months ago when the market was busier, people couldn’t get away with failing to paint their house, fix the grout in the bathrooms, or other such details, even though they felt they could. We’re discovering that we have an available pool of buyers who’ve been pre-qualified, but they’re also quite particular about the homes they’re willing to bid on. If the house isn’t in top condition, they won’t pull the trigger.
This is why it’s important to have an agent who knows the area and what buyers are looking for. They can tell you what you’ll need to do in order to make a good impression on the buyers, whether it be hiring a handyman or a contractor to fix your home up.
We all know that we have historically low inventory, but still house aren’t selling. Sellers wonder why, but we’re here to say that your home’s condition could very well be a factor.
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Buyers don’t have to race to put offers on a property; rather, they can hold out until the house is in their definition of move-in condition.
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Buyers understand that our market isn’t undergoing a kind of gold rush. They don’t have to race to put offers on a property; rather, they can hold out until the house is in their definition of move-in condition. These buyers are ready to purchase, but they won’t move until it’s just right for them.
We’re still in a strong seller’s market. We have about two months of supply, though in D.C., inventory is starting to grow. We'll have to wait and see what will happen over the next month or so, but we’ll continue monitoring the market and updating you with valuable information.
If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to reach out to us. We’d be glad to help.
Many of my investors ask me when the next recession is going to happen. The truth is that I don’t know. All I can do is look for answers. Many smart economists predict that the recession might start in 2020.
Our economy has been expanding since 2009 and we have seen almost a decade of growth. All signs point toward a recession soon. However, to my friends that invest in real estate, there’s no need to panic. With the exception of the 2008 recession, real estate has done really well in the past five economic recessions. A recession doesn’t equate to trouble in the real estate market.
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I wouldn’t be concerned about falling home prices in an upcoming recession.
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This recession will occur when the GDP begins to shrink for multiple quarters in a row. It’s more complex than that, but that’s what it is on a basic level. We don’t have any data to indicate that the real estate market will cause another recession, which is the only way a recession would really affect real estate.
So, I’m not concerned about dropping house prices during the upcoming recession. You shouldn’t be either. If you have any questions about the recession or about anything else related to real estate, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Today I want to talk about property disclosure as the seller.
Many people have asked me what they need to disclose about their property when selling. To answer this, I should start by saying that what you have to disclose depends on where you live. Each state actually has different rules about disclosures.
Virginia, for example, is a “buyer-beware” state. If you read Virginia's one-page disclosure, it pretty much says that the seller doesn't know anything about the house and the buyer will need to do their own inspection. In other words, you don't have to disclose much of anything.
However, keep in mind that if you are concealing some kind of trouble, such as a leaky roof or a crack in the foundation, that actually becomes a disclosable item and you are violating the law. You may even get in trouble after the settlement for doing it. I recommend always disclosing a problem if you're aware of it. Just because you disclose it does not mean that you have to fix it.
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There is a federal law that requires homeowners of homes built prior to 1978 to disclose whether there is any lead-based paint in the house.
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In Maryland and D.C., meanwhile, the laws are different. There is a much longer disclosure form. However, sellers can also do a one-page disclosure where they can say that they don’t know anything about the house and that the buyer will need to do a home inspection to figure it out.
Regardless of which state you live in, there is a federal law that requires homeowners of homes built prior to 1978 to disclose whether there is any lead-based paint in the house. You must also disclose if there are any inspections. Everybody needs to fill out this form if your home was built before 1978.
If you are concealing something, you may get in trouble after the settlement. For this reason, I say that it is better to disclose and to be safe than sorry.
If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me by phone or email. I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Multi-generational living refers to a person sharing a household with their parents or in-laws. It has become increasingly popular over the last few years with more people searching for homes that have finished basements with a separate entrance so they can have their parents live with them. I am currently selling a house in Vienna which has live-in parents and in-laws. This totals to three families living together.
Why is this happening? People are living together in this way because of the cost of living in Virginia, Maryland, and DC. It is becoming cost-prohibitive. When people retire, they may only have the choice of moving out of state because they can no longer afford to pay their property taxes. Some, meanwhile, choose to live with their children.
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Multi-generational living has become increasingly popular the last few years in the United States.
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Some people consider living in an assisted living community, but that is a huge expense. It could be $10,000 or more per month to live in assisted living. If you do not have that kind of money, there is a chance you may be moving in with your kids.
As you may know, I am from Lithuania, where generational living is very common. People grow up in a house and raise their own families who then have their own children. Multi-generational living in the United States, though, has become a new trend. I think that it will continue to become increasingly popular and be similar to the European model. This means that people will look for large homes and maybe even combine two or three households into one which will create tremendous savings for all members of the family.
If you are interested in finding out more about generational living or are looking at buying or selling, please feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Though it was a bad time for many reasons, there were still lessons to be learned from the 2007 financial crisis. Today I want to discuss how those lessons apply to the 2018 market, and how we can avoid making the same mistakes that we did 11 years ago.
1. Don’t buy a house you cannot afford. As a real estate professional, I still see a lot of people who aren’t meeting with their lenders to ascertain how much they can afford. Sticking to a reasonable price range per your budget will be easier on you and your finances.
2. Don’t expect your house to appreciate. Back in 2005 and 2006, people thought that if they didn’t buy a house then, they wouldn’t be able to afford one later on. That wasn’t the case, as we learned a few years down the road when the bottom of the market opened up. If you look at the long term, homes will absolutely appreciate. However, it’s never a straight line of appreciation; there will be ups and downs. The real estate cycle usually restarts every seven to eight years, but we’re about 10 years off from the last one, so if we end up seeing price reductions soon, I wouldn’t be surprised. 3. Make sure you have adequate cash reserves. Most financial planners and economists will tell you that you should have six months’ worth of reserves in your savings—if it costs $5,000 a month to live in your home, you should have $30,000 in your savings.
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Sticking to a reasonable price range per your budget will be easier on you and your finances.
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4. Put down a healthy down payment. Many people are doing 100% financing, which was part of the problem we saw back in 2007. Even if you have to sell a few years down the road when you haven’t yet accumulated a lot of equity, a healthy down payment will allow you to sell your home if your life changes to where you need to move.
5. Sell high and buy low. 2018 could be the best time to sell your home if you bought the house with the intention to flip it and make money. Now is a good time to get your home on the market—the market is hot, inventory is low, and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow.
If you have any questions or need the assistance of a professional agent, please feel free to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you out.
Here are the top 10 most expensive mistakes you might be making on your home: 1. Using traditional light bulbs. Did you know that if you change from traditional light bulbs to LED light bulbs, you can save as much as $150 over the life of each light bulb?
2. Ignoring a leaky faucet. If you know you have a leaky faucet and think it is no big deal, consider this: One wasted drop per second equates to 3,000 wasted gallons per year. 3. Using the wrong-sized air filter in your HVAC unit (or not replacing it regularly). You should change your air filter every 30 or 90 days, depending on which air filter you use. 4. Not using a customizable thermostat. There is no need to heat or cool your home if you’re not there. Nest or Honeywell thermostats have programmable functions that you can control with your smartphone to help you save energy.
5. Not adjusting the vents in your house. If you have a forced-air central heating system, as many homeowners do, you may be overheating or overcooling certain rooms if you are not adjusting the vents in them.
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There is no need to heat or cool your home if you are not there.
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6. Overwatering the lawn. Inspect your sprinkler system to make sure you don’t have a broken sprinkler head. This can lead to overwatering your lawn.
7. Setting your water heater temperature too high. Unless you have a tankless water heater, you’re heating your water 24 hours of the day. Again, you do not want to burn unnecessary energy or keep your water at too high of a temperature during the summertime, so adjust your water heater temperature accordingly.
8. Having leaky windows or doors. If you can see the sun in the gap between any one of your window frames or door frames, you need to cover that gap.
9. Paying a handyman. You do not have to pay someone $200 to change a few light bulbs. Just do it yourself and save even more money. 10. Ignoring your roof’s shingles. If they are curled or some of them are missing, this is one of the exceptions to mistake No. 9. Missing shingles can cause your roof to leak, which then means you have bigger problems to worry about.
As always, if you have any questions about this topic or you are thinking of buying or selling a home soon, please feel free to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you.
Today let’s review the first quarter market of 2018 and see how it compares to the first quarter of 2017. The average sold price for Virginia in the first quarter of 2018 is up 3.48%, which is great news for homeowners. Homes are selling on average at $511,066 this year versus just $498,880 last year. Sold units are down 2.85%; we are in a low-inventory market, so fewer homes have sold in the first quarter than last year. The average days on market is down 10.17% as well. 2017 saw an average of 59 days, whereas 2018 saw 53. In the state of Maryland, the average sold price is up 1.93%, which is a smaller gain than Virginia, but a gain, nonetheless. The number of units sold is also down 5.37%, with 4,785 in 2017 and 4,528 in 2018. The average days on market is down as well; it dropped 3.57% from 56 days last year to 54 days this year.
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We see fewer homes to sell, which is why we see fewer homes closing this year compared to 2017.
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Washington, D.C., is not doing as well as Maryland or Virginia. The average sold price is down 3.67% from last year, going from $677,408 to $652,560. The number of units sold is also down 1.25%, or an average decrease of 24 units. The days on market did see an increase of 2.38%, however. In terms of average sold price, I wouldn’t panic about the drop; if you look at the median sold price, it’s still up 1.23%. It could be that fewer luxury homes have sold in D.C. and that the average sales price is skewed a little bit. In addition to the specific market trends, I wanted to share a bigger picture of how we’re doing compared to 2008, when we were experiencing a recession. For the last 10 years, the number of active listings has been going down, though the closed sales were pretty stable. The inventory has shrunk over time, and yet demand has been the same. We see fewer homes to sell, which is why we see fewer homes closing this year compared to 2017. If you have any questions about these reports, about your neighborhood, or about your property, please feel free to reach out to me. I can go deeper and explain exactly where we stand in today’s marketplace.
Many of you have asked me about what you can do to improve the quality of your home so that you get the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time when you decide to sell. Here are four things I would do if I were to sell a house right now:
1. Fix anything obvious. If you have rotten wood or a dripping faucet, take care of it. It’s going to show up in the inspection anyway. They are cheap fixes, but they can bring your home a ton of value. Changing the carpet and redoing some paint will get you at least a 10x return on your investment.
2. Fix up your kitchen and master bathroom. The other rooms don’t matter. These are the two places you need to focus on and spend your money. Repaint the cabinets, add new counters, or add a new backsplash. There are a lot of ways we can spend a little money to get a lot of value in return. If you plan on living in the house for the next three to five years, I think it’s a great idea to do it now so that you can get some mileage out of your improvements before you cash in.
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A nice, fresh coat of paint on your front door is a great idea.
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3. Curb appeal. If you’re about to list your home for sale, you need nice, brown mulch. Professionally cleaning your windows and porch is a good idea. So is a nice, fresh coat of paint on the front door.
4. Change the windows. Energy efficiency is really important to buyers. They are looking at utility costs closely, and the house with new windows looks so much better. However, if you’re not looking to be in the home for the next three to five years, it’s probably not worth the investment.
I hope this list was helpful to you. If you have any questions for me or need any help buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out and give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Today we’re talking about 10 steps that you need to take if you’re preparing to buy your first home:
1. Check your credit score. You might be surprised at where it is. If you haven’t checked it in a while, make sure you pull it and it’s where it needs to be.
2. Start saving money now. Start making small sacrifices now so that you have enough money set aside to buy a home.
3. Look into a second job. If you have plenty of cash, don’t worry about this. If you don’t, this is a good way to get you to save some more.
4. Meet with a lender. Having a conversation with one before buying is very important. It might take you a year or two to get your financial ducks in a row, so it’s good to meet with them as early as possible in the process.
5. Check out down payment assistance programs. There are a lot of them out there for first-time buyers. You don’t have to save 20% anymore. 6. Find out what your comfort level is. We don’t want you to be stressed out making your payments. We want you to live a comfortable life. If you’re not financially ready to buy yet, don’t feel pressure to pull the trigger until you’re comfortable.
7. Attend homebuyer seminars, just like the one we are running out of our office. If you want more information about our next seminar, feel free to reach out.
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Meeting with a lender early in the process is key.
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8. Start looking at different neighborhoods. Take a look at different areas to make sure you’re seeing everything.
9. Go to open houses. Start getting a general feel for the homes on the market so that you can narrow your search further.
10. Interview real estate professionals. Just don’t work with somebody because you’re related or you feel obligated. Interview two, three, or even four different real estate agents to get a better idea of who can get you the best results.
If you have any questions for me, don’t hesitate to reach out and give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Today we’re going to talk about the stress that a lot of homeowners experience during the home selling process. In this hot real estate market, with a shortage of inventory and bidding wars, you’ll hear all the time from the media that the market is “on fire” and you would think selling a home would be as easy as pie.
However, that’s as far away from the truth as possible. In this hot seller’s market, sellers are more stressed than ever. Part of this is because they are more involved than ever. They can track their properties views online, and doing so constantly can create a lot of stress.
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In this hot seller’s market, sellers are more stressed than ever.
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Of the home sellers that were surveyed, 83% said they got enormous value from their real estate agent, but still said they were stressed out. In that same study, 30% of homeowners underestimated how long it would take to sell and 76% of these surveyed homeowners had to re-price their house.
Selling a home is much more stressful than it used to be, but it doesn’t have to be. You can still be involved in your sale without all that stress. That’s why it’s vital that you have the right professional representing you, someone who can take the stress off you and handle the job.
If you have any questions for me in the meantime or are interested in selling your D.C. area home, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you soon.
Now that we’re well into the beginning of 2018, it’s time for a market update. Additionally, I’d also like to share some predictions for what I think might be ahead.
2017 was a fantastic year for real estate. Homes appreciated almost everywhere, with the exception of a few states. Homes in certain areas of California, for example, appreciated 17.4% year over year.
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We can expect to have a wonderful year ahead of us in 2018.
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Many economists predict that homes will continue to appreciate in 2018.
Here in Northern Virginia and the surrounding areas, the statistics from last year were not as impressive as they were on the West Coast.
However, growth has still been positive. The median sales price did rise by 2.4% here on the East Coast, and the average sales price in the Metro D.C. area went up by 4.5%.
The market will continue to be strong and rising interest rates are likely to apply upward pressure. We can expect to have a wonderful year ahead of us in 2018.
If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Why are fewer and fewer people try to sell their homes on their own these days? Why is selling your home as FSBO a bad idea?
The NAR has been tracking the number of homes sold as FSBO since 1981, and this year was the third consecutive year where we’ve hit a new record low of FSBOs. From 2001 to 2008, FSBOs averaged about 12% of all home sales. Right now, we’re right around 8%.
Keep in mind, we’re in a seller’s market, so you’d think more people would be inclined to put their home on the market without an agent, but that’s not the case.
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Fewer and fewer people are trying to sell their homes on their own.
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I think there are three reasons behind this decline. First, FSBOs aren’t able to get the same price for their home. Also, the selling process usually takes a lot longer than they anticipated. Lastly, they typically have trouble with real estate contracts and the ever-changing laws included in them.
If you look at the average sale price of an FSBO home, it’s $150,000. That tells me that most of the FSBOs are in the lower-priced areas. In Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC, you can’t buy much for $150,000.
If you have any questions about this topic or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in 2018, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to talk to you.
