So many people ask about the real estate market and their question starts off like something like this “so…how is the market doing…still in the dumps?”

I typically answer it by telling them how the Northern VA market is not only one of the fasted in the country to recover from the bubble burst of 2007/08.  We have buyers out looking and sellers are beginning to put homes on the market again.  Still though, the inventory is down which drives prices slightly higher due to increased competition.

According to RGS Title in the last issue of NVAR magazine, the monthly average sold price in the whole Northern Virginia area in May of this year was $450,000 while in the same month of 2009, it was around $420,000….so we are seeing some slight appreciation year over year (about 7% which is healthy).

If you look back at the trend over the past 50 or so years, the price of a given home nearly doubled every 10 years…well, in 2000, the average home price in this area was 250,000 and in 2010, it is $450,000…pretty close to double.  I would say if we looked at a specific home in (say) Alexandria Virginia and it’s value/price in 2000 vs. its price now, it is probably almost exactly double.

So you see, if you look at it in terms of what the market should be doing and not what inflation did to the market between 2004 and 2008 vs. now, home prices are exactly where they should be.  Even the Washington Post said in its real estate section something to this effect.

Naturally, in the summer months, activity slows a bit, so the momentum will slow through June, July and August (so don’t be alarmed it home sales drop a bit over the next couple of months) but have no fear we are moving along at a good pace right now.  Stability is a good thing…and our market is finally experiencing it!

Jim Weichert asked the National Association of Realtors to take a look at the Weichert footprint (everywhere that there is a Weichert Realtors office) and tell him where the highest demand area was.  They discovered that it is right here in Northern Virginia.  They found that demand existed in other areas; however, Northern Virginia is the most successful because not only do people WANT to purchase homes here, but they can AFFORD to as well…because unlike other areas, Northern Virginia has JOBS.  People here actually qualify for the homes they want to purchase (for the most part)…this is what sets Northern Virginia apart from other high demand areas.  This is also why Northern Virginia was the first market to begin to recover from the housing crisis and why prices are beginning to increase here.  Additionally, most houses sell for at LEAST 90% (and many sell for over) of their list price and only stay on the market for an average of less than 90 days (many sell within only a few days…and folks…90-days is ONLY 3 months).

The market is not bad here…if you are still tailgating, get in the stadium folks…the interest rates are amazing and the price of homes aren’t getting any lower.  Wanna know when it has hit the bottom?  You wont…you will only know when you have missed it.

Happy Thursday!

So you have a property survey when you purchased the property and you go to build a fence…you begin construction within your boundaries (as stated by that survey) and the neighbor throws a fit.  You say…I am within the boundaries of my property…see…look at my survey…and the neighbor says no you are on my property…look at MY survey.  Which survey is correct?  Well…they both are…or they are both incorrect may be more accurate. 

When you purchase a home, the bank requires a survey to lend on the property.  This is called a “location survey”.  All this basically says is that there is a house where you say it is and the land that it sits on is the size it is supposed to be.  This type of survey is NOT accurate in terms of where your boundary lines stop and another homeowner’s begins.  To determine this, you need a boundary survey…but unfortunately, if you own a historic property (like the ones here in Old Town Alexandria, VA), the original property lines were determined something like:  from the boulder at the end of the North Corner of the Anderson property, take 300 paces south to the old oak tree…and so on and so forth.  Well, 400 years later, the boulder has disappeared and the tree cut down…so where does the property start now?  You can look back in the records in this case, and still come up short and have 5 different surveys and all of them end up different.  What do you do…well I suggest that you make good friends with your neighbor in this case and come to an agreement because otherwise you have to get an easement to build the fence where you originally wanted to and pay a ton of  money for it.

In a non-historic neighborhood where the boundries were drawn a little more cut and dry, you will have to get a boundary survey to determine the property lines.  This can be costly and upsetting if you were under the impression that the property you purchased included some part of land that it actually does not include. 

If you are unsure and it matters to you where the ACTUAL boundaries are, have the title company have a boundary survey completed prior to settlement and not only the bank ordered property location survey so that you know the facts when you purchase the home.

Hope this helps…happy Tuesday!