October Settlements Up; Inventory Up Over 2012

Inventory for single-family homes rose in the District during the month of October, and inventory also increased in Montgomery County for both condos and single-family homes. Settlements remained strong in both jurisdictions.

Washington, DC
The average number of days on market was down 29.4% compared to October 2012. The median price for condos was up 6.6%, and single-family homes saw an 14.9% increase. Condo inventory remained less than last year with 3.3% fewer listings, but single-family listings increased slightly, 4.3%. Condo contracts rose 23.5%, and condo settlement activity saw a 17.8% increase over 2012. Single-family contracts rose 12.6%, while single-family settlements enjoyed a robust increase of 34.3% over October 2012.

Montgomery County
The average number of days on market was down 22% from October 2012. Median condo prices saw a 5% increase, with the price of single-family homes increasing by 8.1%. The amount of available inventory increased for condos and single-family homes - 22.5% and 8.2% respectively - compared to October 2012. Condo contracts saw a 22.5% rise in October, and the number of new single-family contracts also increased by 9.2%. Condo settlements increased significantly in October, with a 45% gain, while single-family settlements saw a 20% increase.

District of Columbia	October 2013	October 2012	Change
Average Days on Market: Condo & Single-Family Homes	36	51	-29.41
Condo Median Price	$405,000	$380,000	6.6%
Condo Total Active Listings	684	707	-3.3%
New Condo Contracts This Month	373	302	23.5%
Condo Settlements This Month	305	259	17.8%
Condo Absorption Rate (Total Active Listings /New Contracts)	1.83	2.34	-21.8%
Single-Family Median Price	$599,950	$522,000	14.9%
Single-Family Total Active Listings	710	681	+4.3%
New Single-Family Contracts This Month	447	397	12.6%
Single-Family Settlements This Month	360	268	34.3%
Single-Family Absorption Rate (Total Active Listings /New Contracts)	1.59	1.72	-7.6%
Montgomery County	October 2013	October 2012	Change
Average Days on Market: Condo & Single-Family Homes	46	59	-22.03
Condo Median Price	$219,900	$209,500	5.0%
Condo Total Active Listings	500	408	+22.5%
New Condo Contracts This Month	267	218	22.5%
Condo Settlements This Month	248	171	45.0%
Condo Absorption Rate (Total Active Listings /New Contracts)	1.87	1.87	0%
Single-Family Median Price	$462,000	$427,500	8.1%
Single-Family Total Active Listings	1971	1821	+8.2%
New Single-Family Contracts This Month	795	728	9.2%
Single-Family Settlements This Month	667	556	20%
Single-Family Absorption Rate (Total Active Listings /New Contracts)	2.48	2.50	-0.8%

Source: Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors

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New York's "Insane" Real-Estate Market

As amazing as the rebound in the Washington, D.C.-region's housing market is, it's good to keep a little perspective. Check out this article from New York magazine about the truly insane real-estate market in Manhattan.

"The laws of supply and demand are on full display in first-quarter real-estate market reports released today by the city's major brokerage and database firms," the article says. "According to the Douglas Elliman report by appraisal firm Miller Samuel, the median price of an apartment in Manhattan is $820,555, up 5.9 percent from the first three months of 2012. (The average price is now $1.354 million.)"

The lack on inventory is fueling the rise in prices, according to the report. Inventory, which had been falling for a while, has actually "accelerated in [its decline] the last six months."

Please contact me, Mynor Herrera, for expert advice on everything real estate. I am licensed in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. And I specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium. 

Home Equity is Back!

"Home equity is back!" That's what Kenneth R. Harney wrote in The Washington Post last week. "And it’s growing fast: According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, Americans’ net equity holdings in their houses jumped by nearly half a trillion dollars during the last three months of 2012 and have increased by $1.7 trillion since the spring of 2011."

Harney points out what this means to the individual homeowner:

Depending on where you own your home, it might mean that finally — after years of struggling with an underwater mortgage — the market value of your property has risen enough to put you into positive-equity territory. Or closer to break-even equity than you assumed. Zillow Real Estate Research estimates that nearly 2 million American owners exited negative-equity status during 2012 alone.

He also points out that it also could mean that for those who would like to sell their house they are in a much better position to do so.  "And if your home is located in one of dozens of local markets that are experiencing severe shortages of listings for sale combined with strong demand from buyers, this spring could bring you a higher price than at any time in the past seven years."

Housing to save the recovery from the sequester?

Here's a dose of optimism: "The sequester will not derail the recovery..." according Nigel Gault, chief US economist for IHS Global Insight. He adds that it does likely slow it down some, however, especially here in the Washington, D.C., region. "The private-sector news on the economy continues to be good, and we would be upgrading our forecast of 2013 growth slightly were it not for the federal spending sequester that began on March 1."

And experts are pointing to the rebound in residential housing as what's fueling the growing confidence in the recovery. "Lights are burning longer in real estate offices. New housing construction sites are popping up across the country," writes Laurent Belsie, staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor. That activity helps in two ways, Belsie adds:

More home building translates directly into more jobs for construction workers and more sales of everything from lumber to electrical supplies and pickup trucks. Indirectly, rising housing prices mean that people feel richer because their homes are worth more. And if they think the rise is permanent, they begin to spend more.

The latest job numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor shows that economy added 236,000 jobs in February, the second best report in the past year. As Belsie points out, that means we've regained two-thirds of the jobs lost in the Great Recession. "One of the biggest gainers was construction, which added 48,000 jobs, the biggest jump in nearly six years." And along those lines, The Motley Fool's Matt DiLallo quotes Warren Buffett, the so-called Sage of Omaha, "We will come back big time on employment when residential construction comes back. You will be surprised, in my view, how fast employment changes when that happens."

Now, if the politicians would only reach a deal to end the sequester we'd really be cooking with gas.
 
Call me, Mynor Herrera, for expert advice on everything real estate. I am licensed in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and I specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the subdivisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda and Whitehall Condominium.

Sellers are returning to Washington housing market

Kathy Orton, The Washington Post's real estate blogger, reports that home sellers are returning to the market. "New listings increased more than 13 percent across all property segments in February compared with the previous month, according to a report released Monday by RealEstate Business Intelligence and the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis," Orton writes.  "The uptick in homes for sale is a welcome sign in a housing market that has been as dormant the past several months as the area’s flowers and trees."

She credits the causes of the historically low inventory to concerns over the federal government's budget tug of war and the fact that many homeowners owe more than their homes are worth.

Now as home values steadily rise, more sellers are starting to come off the sidelines. The median sales price climbed to $355,000 in February, a 3.4 percent increase over January and an 11.7 percent increase from February 2012. Single-family detached homes showed the biggest price gains compared to townhouses and condominiums. Their median price grew by $72,000, a 19.5 percent increase from February 2012. The average sale-to-list price ratio swelled to its highest percentage since June 2006, increasing to 97.1 percent.  

Washington Region a Seller's Market

The Washington, D.C., region “is a seller’s market,” reports Where We Live, The Washington Post’s real estate blog. “Housing prices are going up, days on the market are going down, and the scarcity of houses for sale indicates that the Washington region is a seller’s market,” wrote Kathy Orton, blogger for The Post. The assessment comes from a report by RealEstate Business Intelligence and the GMU Center for Regional Analysis on January housing data. “Yet, homeowners remain reluctant to put their homes up for sale. The number of new listings in January was the lowest for that month in 15 years,” Orton notes.

She proposed several theories to explain why so few homeowners are putting their homes on the market. “Many are underwater on their mortgages and can’t afford to sell. Others are worried about finding something to buy after they sell. And some are concerned about how the pending federal budget cuts might affect them and don’t want to undertake a large purchase because of that uncertainty.” The Washington region’s median sales price continues to increase compared to last year, she points out. “It climbed to $343,200, which was up 10.7 percent from January 2012, the fourth consecutive month it has shown a double-digit increase. However, it was down 4.4 percent from December, which is typical for this time of year.”  The median price for townhomes rose 13.3 percent over last year, condos climbed 13 percent, and single-family houses rose 3.8 percent.

Orton breaks down the numbers:

Sales of single-family houses had the biggest gain, up 8.8 percent. Sales of condos rose 5.4 percent, while townhouses were up 3.9 percent. This is the first time since March that single-family houses led the other two property types.
Active listings fell by more than 4,000 from January 2012 to 6,049. Townhouses are in the shortest supply, accounting for only 16.2 percent of listings. This is the lowest on record for this property type in the region dating back to 1997. There were 4,004 new listings in January, down 4.2 percent year-over-year.

She adds that the median of the number of days properties are on the market has fallen to 32 days, 25 days fewer than January 2012. An inventory shortage is driving this number down.
As always, please contact me, Mynor Herrera, for expert advice on everything real estate. I am licensed in D.C., Md., and Va., and I 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.  

Why Today Is The Best Time To Buy A Home

According to a blog by Ebby, there’s been no better time to get on that awaited real estate purchase than today when housing affordability is at its best. I couldn’t agree more.

Statistics indicate that average home prices are about a third lower this time compared to how they were 5-6 years ago. That’s for the whole nation.

Another huge misconception that people have is that renting costs less than buying. Totally not true. Buying, if we dissect all the factors involved, is way cheaper than renting in about 98% of US major markets.

If we’re talking about interest rates, with today’s situation, we are looking at 30 more years of low rates.

Our recent economic improvement has helped a lot. There’s a little possibility of inflation and generally, with increased employment rate, we can stay that we are steadily improving.

Advice from me? Buy your ideal home now. Today is the perfect time.

As one of the top realtors in the area who has sold a lot of homes, I know how buyers think. I can give you tips on how to make your home worthy of its value. 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.  

Homes in DC Area More Affordable Than Ever

If you’re buying in or relocating to the Metro DC area or the surrounding suburbs, you can breathe a little easier. For 252 zip codes in the DC area, the yearly income needed to buy a home has dropped dramatically from 2007 to present says the Washington Post.

Here’s how the numbers tell it.

• Since 2007, general interest rates have dropped from 6.58 percent to 4.62 percent.
• The average cost of a single-family home has fallen from $424,000 to $329,990.
• Therefore, the amount of income you need to buy a home has gone from $103,776 annually to $65,088. That’s a staggering 37% less than 4 years ago.

In fact, there are now 134 zip codes in the DC area where you can buy a home with $80,000 or less of annual income, up from just 42 zips in 2007.  According to the Post, the most affordable zip codes in the greater DC area are:

• Maryland: Brentwood 20722
• Washington 20019
• Virginia: Manassas 20109

Even the areas that are considered pricey are more affordable than 2007.  The income needed to buy in DC has dropped 17 percent to $217,056, Chevy Chase is down 28 percent ($181,536) and McLean fell 36 percent ($201,264).

The graphic below from the Post provides more detailed information from each area. Click here  to see the Post website for more details.

The DC area has so much to offer, and it’s more affordable to live here than ever before! Contact 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 & Whitehall Condominium.

Silver Spring Neighbors Save Energy and Money

People in the DC Metro area know the importance and value of energy conservation. Recently, seven families in Silver Spring got together to save energy—and saved themselves some money in the process.

It started with one local couple attending a Takoma Park meeting about energy conservation, which got them really motivated to weatherize their home. They thought it was such an important idea that they checked a neighborhood listserv and contacted their Fairview Court neighbors, inviting them to a meeting at their home to hear more.  Also attending the meeting was WeatherizeDC, a local nonprofit that helps people with home weatherization.

Of the 13 townhouse residents who attended the meeting, seven families decided to have their homes weatherized.  Because they signed up as a group, the families also received a 15 percent discount on the work.  WeatherizeDC got quotes from local businesses and the Fairview Court folks chose Continuum Energy Solutions, a company based in Alexandria.

Each of the Silver Spring homeowners had specific needs, but one common fix was installing insulation as well as closing up cracks in walls and ceilings. These small improvements keep a house cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Amazingly, this was the first time WeatherizeDC had ever worked with a group of homeowners, but things progressed with no issues and work on all the homes will be finished sometime in early September.  The average cost for each home’s weatherization was about $3,000, which the families will probably make up just in their first winter’s lower heating bills. Overall, they’ll be saving 15 to 25 percent on their energy bills.

So if you’re thinking of weatherizing your home, check to see if your neighbors are also considering it. If you’re a close-knit neighborhood, you might be able to join to together like the Silver Spring families and get a group discount on the work.  Sometimes there’s safety—and savings—in numbers.

Folks in the DC area are great citizens of the earth as well as wonderful neighbors and friends. Come and live among some really fantastic people! Contact 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 & Whitehall Condominium.