LoudounScene.com - your source for what's going on in the Loudoun County real estate scene

WE'VE MOVED...

Yup, Loudoun Scene has moved - same name, new site. If you're reading this post, you're at the old site - all you have to do is click here and it will take you to the new LoudounScene.com.

Check it out and let me know what you think. Your feedback played a big part in why the site was redesigned and will continue to play a big part of future site tweaks.

Thanks and see you at LoudounScene.com! 

UPDATE: If you're subscribed to the RSS feed or have Loudoun Scene on your Google Reader, etc., please make sure to go to LoudounScene.com and re-subscribe to the RSS feed (top right of home page) or change the feed address to http://feeds2.feedburner.com/loudounreblog or http://loudounscene.com/feed/atom. 

IMPORTANT: If you've subscribed via RSS or reader...

Loudoun Scene has moved - same name, new site. If you've subscribed to the RSS feed or have Loudoun Scene on your Google Reader, etc., please make sure to go to LoudounScene.com and re-subscribe to the RSS feed (top right of home page) or change the feed address to http://feeds2.feedburner.com/loudounreblog or http://loudounscene.com/feed/atom. 

Sorry for the inconvenience and see you at the new site!

Coming soon...

Some cool, new things are coming to Loudoun Scene. Stay tuned...

Article on Short-Sales in Loudoun Times-Mirror

The Loudoun Times-Mirror ran a story today entitled "The Skinny on Short-Sales". The article, written by Jason Jacks, goes over what a short-sale is, their pros and cons and how many there are in Loudoun County. I had the privilege of being interviewed for the story (thank you Jason), but it seems that I may have been misunderstood when going over the statistics.

In the article, I was quoted as saying, "about 30 percent of the sales [he's now seeing] involve distressed properties, with about half of those being short sales." That is incorrect.

Here's what the numbers show...

Almost two-thirds of all homes sold in Loudoun County are distressed properties (foreclosures/bank-owned and short-sales).

Short-sales make up almost 15 percent of all properties sold in Loudoun County and that number is steadily increasing.

Why are short-sales making up a greater and greater percentage of the homes sold in Loudoun County? I wrote a post about that over at LoudounForeclosures.com just the other day - "Percentage of Short-Sales Being Approved Increasing". Check it out when you have a chance.

Thank you again to Jason and the Loudoun Times-Mirror and sorry for the confusion.

Loudoun Housing Inventory Way Down, Market Conditions

Loudoun County's housing inventory/supply is still going down. The number of active properties for sale as of 12:30pm today is 1252. This is less than half the number of homes for sale in 2007 and about a third less than the latter part of 2008. We haven't this few homes for sale in Loudoun County since the boom market in the first half of this decade.

What does this mean?

1. Buyers have less homes to choose from
2. Multiple offers are increasingly common (not just my observation and experience, but that of  other agents in Loudoun and NoVA I've spoken with)
3. Prices are holding steady
4. Less competition for sellers with their home on the market
5. Great time for sellers to sell their property if they're in the position to do so

The interesting thing is that the "spring market", which means more housing inventory on the market, typically starts in the middle of February or beginning of March. Here we are April 10 and the inventory is less than it was in January, February or March meaning that the "spring market" has yet to materialize (if it will at all).

Note: I do not include new construction listings in the MLS because they are extremely inaccurate. But, when looking at those, they plummeted as well so it just confirms that overall inventory in Loudoun is way down.

7 Housing Tax Laws You'll Want To Know About

There are several new housing tax laws that went into effect recently that will help some homeowners, but not others. Whether they help or hurt you depends on your specific situation.

Here's a list of the 7 new housing tax laws...

1. Cancellation of debt income
2. First-time home buyer credit
3. PMI deduction
4. Property tax addition to standard deduction
5. Surviving spouse home sale tax deduction
6. Energy-saving home improvements
7. Second-home sale limits

Click here for an explanation of these new housing tax laws and to see how they affect you.

Note: Make sure you speak with a tax accountant to see exactly how these new housing tax laws affect you.

Are You Looking at the Right Assessed Value?

Many home buyers use the assessed value of a property as a guage to determine whether an asking price is reasonable or when trying to determine its market value. And many listing agents are putting remarks in their listings such as, "Priced $90K below assessed value!".

But are they using the right assessed value?

When looking at listing agent's remarks such as that one and then the assessed value of the property, I often find that the agent used the 2008 assessed value in their calculation - not the 2009 assessed value as they should. If you look at the 2009 assessed value (which is, on average, 12 percent less than 2008), you'll see that the property is nowhere near "$90K below assessed value" as the listing agent and seller claim. (Of course the property is priced below its assessed value as of January 1, 2008 - DUH!)

Regardless of whether this was a" simple oversight" by the listing agent and seller or something else, it can be misleading. That's one reason why every buyer (and agent) should verify any such claim. 

Also be careful when looking at assessed values shown on listings on real estate search sites. Many of them pull their data from MLS's and/or public tax records. But the data in those is not necessarily accurate. For example, the tax records that are incorporated into the local MLS in this area do not yet have the 2009 assessed values listed (even though they came out a while back).

If you'd like to see what the 2009 assessed value of properties is, here's where you should go:

Loudoun County real estate tax, assessement and parcel database 

Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration's Real Estate Assessment Information Site

Prince William County Real Property Assessment Site

Eastern Loudoun County Housing Supply By Zip Code

Here's a breakdown of the amount of housing supply in Eastern Loudoun County by zip code:

20152 - 3.8 month's supply

20148 - 3.9 month's supply

20147 - 2.6 month's supply

20166 - 3.3 month's supply

20165 - 1.9 month's supply

20164 - 1.7 month's supply

20176 - 4.8 month's supply

20175 - 4.0 month's supply

What do these "month's supply" numbers mean? The general rule of thumb is,

• more than 6 month's supply = buyer's market
• 4 to 6 month's supply = balanced/equal market
• less than 4 month's supply = seller's market

Sellers, don't get too excited - regardless of how little inventory there is on the market, you must price your property correctly or it will sit on the market collecting "Days On Market" and dust (more about this coming up in a post soon).

Related Articles

Sterling Park Leads Loudoun County in Home Buyer Demand

Where Are All the Homes For Buyers To Choose From?!

Putting Loudoun's Housing Market in Perspective

Sterling Park Leads Loudoun County in Home Buyer Demand

When looking at supply and demand figures for Loudoun County, something jumped out at me... The 20164 zip code (Sterling Park) has the most home buyer demand out of any zip code in Loudoun County - and not just by a little.

Since March 1st, 102 homes have gone under contract (sold) in the 20164 zip code (Sterling Park). That equals 3.9 homes that sell each day.

The 20176 zip code (North and East Leesburg) came in second at 2.7 per day. That's 31 percent less buyer demand than in Sterling Park.

The lowest buyer demand can be found in the 20166 zip code (part of Sterling closest to Dulles Airport and Herndon) at 0.5 per day. That's 87 percent less buyer demand than in Sterling Park.

You may be thinking, "There are more homes for sale in Sterling Park than in other areas so of course there's going to be more buyer demand".

That doesn't hold true because Sterling Park has 200 active homes on the market as of today while second place 20176 has 387 - almost double. And two other zip codes also have more inventory on the market than Sterling Park - 20147 has 233 active homes on the market and 20175 has 206.

So why does Sterling Park lead Loudoun County in home buyer demand?

A big part is due to the price point - the lower the price point, the more people can afford to buy there. The median sold price in Sterling Park is $160,000 and the average sold price is $194,833 (the median sold price is a better gauge of market values/prices in Sterling Park). That's well below the overall Loudoun County median sales price of $223,750 and average sales price of $306,821.

If you're curious as to how other zip codes and areas in Loudoun are doing when it comes to supply and demand, check back soon - I'll be writing a post about that over the weekend.

Help Nominate FranklyMLS.com for 2009 Inman Innovator Awards

It's that time of year again - time for the Inman Innovator Awards. And this year, I believe that FranklyMLS.com is due the recognition it deserves. That is why I nominated FranklyMLS.com for the "Most Innovative Web Service" category.

If you haven't checked out FranklyMLS.com, here's a brief overview of why it's so innovative (and why you should use it)...

• Loads faster than any other residential real estate search site in the area
• Updates to listings on FranklyMLS.com show up faster than on 99% of other listing sites
• Cell-phone/PDA mode is faster and better configured for cell-phones/PDAs than any other site
• Only listing site around that allows Buyer's Agents to review properties and add photos so that consumers can get a better idea of what the property looks like without having to call an agent
• Only listing site around that has links from the listing to hyper-local blog posts so that buyers can get more information about the specific neighborhood/town the property is located within
• Only listing site around that has a live chat feature so that consumers can chat directly (and anonymously) with quality agents in the area they're looking in
• First (and still the best) listing site to offer keyword searches (granite, 2 car garage, bank-owned, Broadlands, etc)
• Only listing site around that allows consumers to filter their search results to only foreclosure/bank-owned and/or short-sale properties (or vice cersa)
• Only listing site around to allow for sorting by total views
• Only listing site around that has the listing's price history in plain view
• Direct link from the listing to the county tax records (Fairfax County only, but expanding)
• Hide a listing from your search forever by simply clicking an "X"
• "Walk-Score" on every listing
• Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth available on every listing
• Only listing site around that also has For-Sale-By-Owner homes on it
• Branded IDX for agents/brokers
• All this plus "Favorites", email alerts including price changes, "Sold Alerts" and much more...

No other listing site around here (nor the US probably) has as many innovative and forward-thinking features. This site is not only great for consumers, but it's great for agents/brokers. In fact, I use FranklyMLS.com just as much as the regional agent/broker-facing MLS site, especially on my BlackBerry when out in the field working.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a big fan of FranklyMLS.com. That's why I nominated FranklyMLS.com for the "Most Innovative Web Service" award and am asking you to consider doing the same (if you feel its deserved).

Help Those with Diabetes-Sponsor or Join Me in the Tour de Cure

In an effort to help raise awareness and money for Diabetes, I am riding in the American Diabetes Association National Capital Tour de Cure on June 14, 2009. I'm part of the"BeExcited" team, which is named after my sister-in-law's new apparel line which she launched this year. The apparel line is geared towards women (I know all you guys are now bummed you can't wear shirts with "BeExcited" logos on them) and part of the proceeds are being donated to charities such as the Tour de Cure.

Despite this area's Tour de Cure being the 5th largest in the nation with over 1200 riders, the American Diabetes Association could use all the help it can get. If you would like to ride in the Tour de Cure, feel free to join our team or register as an individual rider. If you don't bike or can't make it on that date, please click here to donate whatever you can to the cause. And if you're a business that would like to check out sponsorship opportunities, check out their sponsorhip brochure (pdf).

Thanks!

More details about the event...

The ride starts at the Reston Town Center and goes through Fairfax County and Loudoun County. There are several different rides starting at 1-12 miles and going all the way up to a Century. There are several rest stops along the way with food, water and energy drinks. Medical personnel will be stationed along the route should anyone need medical assistance.

In addition to the ride, there are events during and afterwards including live music, food, drinks, free bike tuning, bike clinics, etc. Bike shops from around the entire DC/MD/VA area are sponsoring the event and will be there including one of Reston Town Center's newest tenants - The Bike Lane.

They're expecting almost 1500 riders this year and the event should be the biggest one ever. Even DC Mayor Adrian Fenty is involved - he's the official ambassador of the 2009 National Capital Tour de Cure.