It’s interesting to read real estate related stories and the Baltimore Sun has a classic story related to home pricing. It mentions one home that was listed at $525,000, however, a year later it was finally sold at $350,000. The question raised by the article is whether or not the initial high price scared away [...]
If you are looking for a cheap foreclosed home in Maryland, then you may need to consider acting sooner rather than later. RealtyTrac figures are showing that Maryland foreclosures are slowly spiral downwards, with current estimates putting the foreclosure rate at in every 2,444 housing units. If you compare that to the national average of [...]
When it comes to real estate, there is a whole new language that is often used. One term that is frequently used is that of a ‘short sale’. When considering a short sale, your real estate agent may refer to a BPO. This refers to a valuation of a home, not by an appraiser, but [...]
With mortgage interest rates at almost record lows, it is tempting for some home owners to reconsider their current home finance strategies. There are a number of options available to home owners including refinancing at lower rates, selling and buying a better home, or just hanging in there and doing nothing. The latter option is [...]
Lenders are finally coming to terms with short sales – and it’s about time. In the past, it has taken anything up to six months to get anywhere near a settlement on a short sale, and while the timelines are not dropping dramatically, lenders are starting to look favorably on the short sale principle. On [...]
While the general real estate market is nowhere near the point where one could say it was ‘recovering’, there are pockets that seem to be improving. Richmond and Roanoke in Virginia are two such markets with listed properties down considerably compared to this time last year, according to a recently published report. Fewer properties on the [...]
Statistics can often be misleading and a quick look at the latest data published on Zillow wouldn’t offer much in the way of hope for home buyers. However, a closer look reveals that lower priced homes are weathering the financial storm reasonably well. It makes sense to an extent. Low priced homes don’t have a [...]
Home sellers in the greater Baltimore MD area are starting to breathe a sigh of relief as the market starts to swing in their favor. The Baltimore Business Journal has reported a 40% increase in pending sales for June 2011 over June 2010. More importantly, there has been a marked drop in new foreclosure and [...]
The second biggest group of home buyers (behind investors) in the market today are, believe it or not, single females. They make up 20% of all sales at present. Single males make up 12%. Both still way behind investors at 32%. Other groups include couples with no children, families, and retirees. For home sellers, there [...]
One of the major factors affecting the real estate market at present is the number of foreclosed, short sale, and real estate owned (REO) stock available. These properties produce two downward affects on prices – they increase the number of properties available for buyers to choose from and they are generally priced below current market [...]
While almost every other housing market has seen a year-on-year drop in house prices, Washington DC home prices have bucked the trend and increased by 4%. This has been a trend over the last three months and possibly reflects the growth in employment in the area. Being the nation’s capital and center of government certainly [...]
While the housing market statistics for May are not great, there is a hint of good news for those in the northeastern states. Sellers, and those who have purchased in recent months saw median home prices rise some 6.1% – for many, that’s an increase of 6.1% in equity. Employment and the ability to afford [...]
If you are considering selling your home, you may be wondering about the state of the market in your neighborhood. The information is available although it can be hard to collate to give an accurate snapshot. Another problem with collecting that data yourself is knowing how to actually interpret it. There is a service available [...]
If you are in the market to buy a home and you’re hoping to find a cheap home by grabbing a short sale, think again. There’s nothing wrong with short sales except perhaps the name. Short sales, in practice, are long winded, and the time from offer to settlement can be over six months. A [...]
Washington DC real estate is still holding strong when compared to most other real estate markets in the US. Prices in DC1 have either held their own or risen slightly compared to this time last year. Nationally, real estate prices have fallen around 4% so a rise of up to 6% augers well for the [...]
The current state of the real estate market is not being truly reflected in statistics that are being published. Recent numbers show that median house prices in the U.S. are hovering around the $160,000 mark. However, when you look at the distressed sales component, they are around the 40% mark, severely skewing those median house [...]
The real estate market is poised to go in a number of directions at present and every analyst seems to have a different perspective on that direction. We are in a rather unusual position nationally, one that has rarely been encountered in the past. Some areas are seeing improvements in both prices and stock reductions [...]
There was a point when home buyers would attend auctions in large numbers hoping to find a real bargain. In most cases, especially if it was a distressed or foreclosed sale, a bargain was found – at least, the perception was that a bargain had been found. The reality was often a little different. What [...]
Home sellers often get excited when their agent calls to let them know there is a buyer interested in viewing their home. The longer the home has been on the market, the greater the chance that excitement is tinged with relief as well. Sellers often go into overdrive to ready the home for that all [...]
Motivation is an important factor when determining a list price for selling your home. It becomes an even more important factor when deciding whether or not to accept an offer from a buyer. What do I mean by motivation? The reason behind your sale in the first place. If you have put your home on [...]
There is one aspect of selling a home that most home owners forget – competition. You are in a competitive market. It doesn’t matter how much you love your home, or how good you feel it looks in comparison to others. What is important is what potential buyers think of your home. There are several [...]
We are reaching an interesting point in the Virginia real estate market with little pockets appearing of what is known as a sellers market. These pockets are slowly growing, too slowly for some people, but growth is growth. What is interesting is that many of these pockets are very niche oriented. For example, in one [...]
As we get close to spring, people’s attention start to focus on future plans. The end of the school year often sees a surge in home movements with most families looking to be settled before school resumes in September. This can be a difficult time for many families as they rely on the sale of [...]
There are several ways to buy a property that has been foreclosed upon. For those who are quick on their feet and who have their finances all in order, court house step sales can see buyers gaining a great bargain. Buyers can also wait for third-party auctions. These are auctions that lenders arrange in order [...]
When selling a home, you need to modify your thought processes. Once the home is on the market, it’s no longer your home. From this point on, you are trying to do everything possible to make it someone else’s home – and the little things can count. Selling a home today is difficult, especially if [...]
If you are considering selling your home, then I am sure there are two things that are important to you – getting a good price and finding a buyer as quickly as possible. They are not exclusive – you can achieve both if you prepare yourself and your home well. Most of the preparation is [...]
When it comes time to sell your home, you might want to market your home yourself, and even if you get a real estate agent, there are things you can do to help the process along yourself and perhaps expedite the sale. Listing Your Property: Always lead your listing with the best features of your [...]
Buyers and the market set the price when it comes right down to the nitty gritty of selling a house. There are no rules of what appreciates or depreciates. Some sellers get the idea in their head that their house should sell for, say, $200,000 because they bought it a few years ago for $175,000. [...]
There are several different types of listing contracts, but very few of them are used. The “Exclusive Right to Sell” is the most common, but there is the “open listing,” the “exclusive agency listing,” and the “one-time show.” The “open listing” is mostly used by people trying to sell their home ‘by owner’ who are [...]
It’s not new news that the housing market is in a crash. Though house prices continue to fall in many locations, prices are still dangerously high compared to incomes and rents. Banks say a safe mortgage is a maximum of 3 times the buyer’s annual income with 20% down payment. Landlords say a safe price [...]
