Because the Loudoun County annual property tax assessments were just mailed, it’s probably a good time to take a look at whether your new assessed value matches up with the recent market data… Hop over to the post I just published at LoCoMarketStats.com that has the charts with the most up to date information:

From LoCoMarketStats:

Are you thinking about selling this spring? Or do you just want to make sure that your new property tax assessment matches up with market value? This should help: here’s the data for single family homes in Loudoun. If you want information targeted directly to your home and neighborhood, click here to schedule a consultation or sign up for an emailed market report.

Click here to see the charts…

Cheers,
Heather 

We’re almost to the spring market (anyone else noticed the confused forsythia bushes blooming around here?) so I thought we’d take a look at how far your money will stretch…with $500,000 to spend, how much house can you get in Loudoun County right now?

Inventory is slim pickin’s at the moment, with only 62 resale homes priced between $475,000 and $525,000. If that’s your ballpark range you can choose from:

• A restored 6 bedroom Queen Anne style Victorian with a wraparound porch…
• Several ready to move in foreclosed homes in good shape, dotted across the county…
• A large farmhouse on a (nearly) 28 acre lot …
• Your pick of two townhomes or five patio homes within the gates of different golf communities…
• A charming 200 year old period home in an historic community…
• A log home on a 10 acre lot overlooking a pond….

Plus numerous other properties…click through to see all of them:
Cheers,
Heather 

 Click here to set an appointment to view homes.

Showing properties 1 - 6 of 104. See more What you can get for $500K in LoCo.
(all data current as of 2/10/2012)

1. $525,000 : 26032 Rachel Hill Dr, South Riding
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,689 sq ft

   Lot size: 6,534 sq ft

   Year built: 1999

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1
2. $495,000 : 205 Park Gate Dr Se, Leesburg
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,900 sq ft

   Lot size: 8,712 sq ft

   Year built: 1999

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 1
3. $500,000 : 20322 French Open Ct, Ashburn
   
   5 beds, 4 full baths

   Home size: 3,192 sq ft

   Lot size: 9,148 sq ft

   Year built: 1994

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 4
4. $518,000 : 222 Magruder Pl Se, Leesburg
   
   4 beds, 4 full baths

   Lot size: 24,394 sq ft

   Year built: 2001

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 4
5. $489,000 : 240 Mindy Ct Se, Leesburg
   
   5 beds, 3 full baths

   Lot size: 16,988 sq ft

   Year built: 2005

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 7
6. $525,000 : 11724 Lotus Ln, Lovettsville
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Lot size: 8.50 ac

   Year built: 2003

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 8

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

 CLICK HERE to set an appointment to view homes.

With the mild winter weather, the spring real estate market is already showing signs of life in Loudoun County. Buyers are out and about, beginning to check out what homes are available. Sellers are deciding on pricing and when to list their homes as active on the market. And everyone thinking about a move, whether as a buyer or a seller, is trying to gauge the market to see where it’s trending.  If you are basing your thinking on the national news regarding the real estate market, you  are going to have a problem this spring: Loudoun County is NOT a buyer’s market. In fact, it’s edging very close to a seller’s market right now.

(I’m going to give you a moment to digest that.)

Sure, we’ve seen some articles recently that talk about how strong and insulated the Washington DC metro area  real estate market is, but I want to give it to you on a usable level…what’s happening in Montgomery and Prince George’s County (or heck, even Fauquier) doesn’t necessarily apply here. Looking at our absorption rate (the rate at which homes are selling) shows us that we have 3.9 months of inventory, and 3 months or less is a seller’s market.

Absorption rate is calculated by taking the number of active listings and dividing it by the number of homes that have gone under contract within the last 30 days. Six months or more is a buyer’s market, 3 to 6 months is a balanced market, and under 3 months is a seller’s market.

As of today, there are 1290 active listings, and 326 homes under contract in 30 days or less. That’s 3.95 months of inventory. (That matches with the most recent sales data from December, homes sold last month averaged just 69 days on market.) Now, that figure includes the new construction market. Some of those ‘active’ listings are just placeholder listings for models within communities: builders put in one active listing to represent all available lots with that model.  So their listings tend to skew the data on active homes.

Looking strictly at the resale market, removing the new construction listings and contracts, there are only 893 homes for sale in ALL of Loudoun County right now. Resale contracts in the last 30 days total 254…which puts the resale absorption rate at 3.51 months of inventory. Even closer to a sellers’ market!

What does that mean for you? If you are thinking about buying this spring, be prepared…if inventory levels do not increase, we will continue to see homes going under contract quickly, with the potential for multiple offer situations. (Yes, we have been seeing this for the last couple of months!) Be prepared and organized when you are doing your home search so that you can act quickly when you decide you are ready to offer on a home.

As a seller? We are not going to see the run-up in pricing that accompanied the craziness of the market in 2004 and 2005.  However, you can expect that if your home is priced appropriately and is prepared for showing and sale, you should be able to successfully sell within 3 to 4 months at the most.

Certainly, if everybody and their brother puts their home on the market next week and our inventory count goes drastically higher, that will affect our absorption rates for this spring.  This is obviously an overview for all of LoCo; different price points, home types, and neighborhoods will have different situations. If you want to know how this applies specifically to your home and your neighborhood (or the neighborhood you are looking to move to) you can click here to schedule a consultation.

Cheers,
Heather

Median Home Price for Loudoun County

If you follow along with any of my social media accounts, you might have noticed some mention of New York City….I am in the Big Apple this week for the Inman Connect conference, which is put on by one of the most respected sources of real estate news, Inman News. I think it’s massively important for me to stay on top of the trends within the industry, so I attend this and a few other conferences throughout the year. My goal is to feed my brain by attending classes taught by some of the brightest minds in the industry; I also appreciate the opportunity to network with these folks and hear how their business is going.  The real estate market and the way that transactions are handled is very different depending where you live, and I find it enlightening to hear how other professionals work.

It also gives me the chance to bring new strategies and good information back that I can put to use for my clients. Above everything else, I want to give my clients the best possible representation I can, and continuing my ‘real estate education’ is a big part of that.

Of course, the LoCoMusings team is still in the office in Loudoun County if you would like to set an appointment or have a question, so don’t hesitate to reach out.  I’ll be back in LoCo tomorrow night.

Cheers,
Heather

I thought it would be interesting to look at which LoCoMusings posts had the highest readership last year, to see what news and issues resonated the most with you, my loyal readers. Here’s what I found….

1. Cole Farm Barn Damaged, Work Stopped

By far, the most popular post of the year was the March “breaking news” story when the workers accidentally knocked down the barn at Cole Farm in Purcellville. With the first photos of the damage, LoCoMusings had a lot of new traffic, and some heated comments.

2. 10 Priciest LoCo Homes Sold in 2010

Many readers took the time to peruse the January post with the 10 most expensive (and interesting) luxury homes sold across Loudoun in 2010.  Look for our 2011 post in the next week!

3. Shenstone Reserve Opens on Dry Mill Road

New construction homes is always a popular topic here. Toll Brothers opened a new community this year and we wrote when they broke ground. The model home is now open, and it’s gorgeous.

4. Welcome to the Wow Factor

Oh look, another new construction post! This post gave us a quick peek behind the gates at the Creighton Farm community, and some of the luxury homes going in there.

5. New HARP Refi Rules Announced Monday

I’m surprised to see a mortgage-related post in the top five, but this one clearly struck a nerve. This post pointed you in the direction of The Morgage Reports, a nationally acclaimed mortgage blog authored by Dan Green.

Wonder which posts in 2012 will be the most read?  I’ve said it before, but thanks for reading and being part of the community here at LoCoMusings. Here’s to new adventures in 2012!

Cheers,
Heather