Fall Client Appreciation Event Invitation

As part of our annual fall tradition, we are gathering all of our favorite clients again for a day of food, wine, pumpkin picking and more! This is just a small way to express our gratitude for your business and referrals... and it's a great excuse to catch up and hang out in the beautiful countryside!

Please email us at info@mynorandassociates.com for more information.

Would you like to work with a Realtor with a personal touch? Call me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium.

Flipping houses: a booming business once again?

Flipping, or the act of buying houses at discounted prices and selling it quickly in a few weeks’ time, is said to be on the rise.

It earned a bad reputation during the housing boom thanks to speculators who bought and sold millions of homes in search of easy profits. But the practice is gaining popularity again as the nation’s real estate market shows signs of life. The number of flips rose 25 percent during the first half of 2012 from the same period a year earlier, according to research firm RealtyTrac, and the gross profit on each property averaged $29,342.

RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said the resurgence in flipping offers another indication that, in many parts of the country, housing prices have finally stopped falling.
“There are flippers in any market, but a market where home prices are appreciating is much more forgiving for flippers than a market where prices are depreciating,” Blomquist said. “We have turned that corner in a lot of places in the last six months, so that’s going to attract flippers.”
Areas of the country that were hit particularly hard by the housing crash have seen the most pronounced boom in flipping, as investors gobble up foreclosures and short sales — properties sold for less than the owners owe on the mortgage — and resell them to buyers eager to take advantage of record-low interest rates.

Maryland and Virginia have seen an increase in the number of flips during the past year, according to RealtyTrac. The District saw a sharp increase starting two years ago though the percentage in the last year is down slightly.
“Loan applications have tripled in the past few months,” said Justin Konz, an executive at Chantilly-based Restoration Capital, a “hard money” lender that provides fast, short-term financing to flippers. Konz said the firm funds everyone from weekend warriors flipping a house or two a year to professionals turning around dozens of houses a month.
“We thought it would slow down in the colder months,” Konz said. Instead, he said, business has picked up heading into the fall, with few signs of slowing.
With numerous investors and home buyers vying for a small list of available properties in the District and close-in suburbs of Maryland and Virginia, bidding wars and outsized offers have become a routine part of the landscape. The average gross profit for flipping a home in Maryland and Virginia is about $55,000, and it’s even higher in the District, according to RealtyTrac.

“It’s very competitive for people doing what I do, and the margins are very thin,” said Jud Allen, co-owner of D.C.-based Express Homebuyers, a company that flips dozens of local properties a year. “The upside is, if you can find a deal, you know you can sell it and make some money. The difficulty is in finding the deals, not selling the property.”

The flippers flocking to the market today are often a different breed than the opportunistic investors that helped fuel the housing boom.

The new generation of flippers can still frustrate some would-be home buyers by snapping up properties with cash offers and exacerbating low inventories in certain markets. But Blomquist said they also are playing a useful role.

Irvin, the 25-year-old flipper in Virginia, carefully researched each of his three properties — one in Dale City and a pair in Manassas — before buying. He said he spent tens of thousands of dollars improving the houses, refinishing hardwood floors, updating bathrooms, installing new kitchen cabinets and appliances, and landscaping yards but stuck to a tight budget to maximize his profit.
Irvin, who has a business management degree from George Mason University, plans to close on his fourth short sale this month, a home in Fairfax County that is larger and pricier than any he has flipped so far. With low interest rates, scarce inventory, rising home prices and willing buyers around Washington, he doesn’t plan on selling shoes again anytime soon.
“There’s always somebody who’s going to want to buy your house,” he said. “As long as there are short sales or foreclosures, I’m definitely going to want to be doing this.”

Source: washingtonpost.com

Do you want to work with a Realtor who never fails to keep his clients updated about Real Estate trends? Call me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium.  

Let’s Support Hayden’s Journey of Inspiration: 5k run/1mi walk

 

OCTOBER 14^th - The south end of Bulls Run Parkway, behind North Bethesda Middle School, will witness the gathering of about 300 runners and 150 volunteers as we take part in this year’s run to support families in need of a stem cell transplant.

It’s going to be a great Sunday! The 5k run will start at 8:00AM while the 1-mile walk commences at exactly 9 in the morning. Awarding ceremony follows at around 9:45AM.

There will be packet pickup and onsite registration available for you convenience.  Packet pickup will be today, October 12th at the North Bethesda Middle School from 5:00-7:30PM. Proceed to the front lobby. Race day registration starts at 7AM.

Parking won’t be a problem. There’s a designated area for you cars at the North Bethesda Middle School (8935 Bradmoor Drive Bethesda, MD 20817).

Make an even bigger difference and become a fundraiser for this event. Ask friends and family to sponsor your efforts and let them know about your plans to run with your own personalized fundraising website. To get started now, CLICK HERE.

For more detailed information about the event, visit this LINK. There you can see  the categories and fees.

ABOUT THE FOUNDATION

HJI is a non profit foundation committed to providing critical support to families of Georgetown University Hospital pediatric cancer patients during their pursuit of life-saving stem cell transplants at Duke University Medical Center. As a result of a cooperative arrangement between Duke and Georgetown, numerous pediatric patients go from Georgetown to Duke for stem cell transplants every year.

The families of the patients must establish and maintain a second home–an expense that is almost never covered by any health insurance. Often, one parent stays at home with the patient’s siblings, and the other parent leaves his or her job and moves to North Carolina to care for their child. The stress, anxiety, and disruption of having a very sick child are compounded by these extreme financial and logistical burdens.

HJI’s mission is to make this trip less disruptive for families who must move to Durham for their child’s treatment. We are proud to say that HJI has one freshly renovated and furnished apartment in Durham in use for families at no cost while their child is receiving treatment at Duke Medical Center. For more information, please see the HJI Foundation website.

As one of the Realtors who cares about making our community better,  I invite you to participate in this great community service. If you have questions, call me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the sub-divisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda, and Whitehall Condominium.   

Light the Night Walk: Fight against Leukemia

Light the Night Walk on October 6^th is an annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s fundraising event, one of the ways we can help people suffering from this type of cancer.

Mark and Lisa Wexler have been walking this program for 7 years now, in memory of their loved ones, Matt’s mother Zina Wexler and Aunt Rhoda Wexler whom he both lost to Leukemia.

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society funded advances are helping patients beyond those for whom they were originally developed, including people with solid tumors and auto-immune diseases. In the past decade, nearly 50% (19 out of 39) of the cancer drugs approved by the FDA were approved as treatments for blood cancer patients. Twelve are already approved for people beyond those for whom they were first developed. We are all saving lives.

• A donation of $30 makes a difference by providing patients and their families with FREE booklets that contain updated information about their diseases and new advancements that could help them make the right decisions about their treatment options.
• A donation of $50 provides them with a Family Support group with a professional facilitator.
• A donation of $100 supplies researchers the materials they need to further work on the cure.
• A donation of $1,000  gives them the chance to be with health-care specialists who can provide them with information about the disease process, options and help them prep their questions for their health care team.

Let’s help raise awareness and support this great cause. Visit Mark and Lisa’s website here to make a donation and find out more about the progress of this amazing drive to help cure Leukemia. Join the walk or make contributions, even small steps can make a huge difference.

As one of the Realtors who cares about making our community better,  I invite you to participate in this great community service. If you have questions, call me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the sub-divisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda, and Whitehall Condominium.