As a reader here in my little corner of the universe, you may (or may not) be aware that I hang my shingle with a Century 21 brokerage in Ashburn, called Redwood Realty. Anyone who knows me would be aware that gold is not my color of choice, and I’m not so much into blazers, so the chances of seeing me in one of those iconic jackets falls somewhere between slim and none, unless there’s a losing bet involved.

That being said, Century 21 created a bit of a buzz in the industry by choosing to spend a few million dollars to put out a television commercial. Not just any commercial, of course, but a Super Bowl commercial. If you were one of the folks still paying attention to the commercials in the second half of the game, you may have noticed the spot, which featured Donald Trump, Deion Sanders, and Apolo Ohno.  They represented smarter, bolder, and faster, which is C21′s new corporate slogan for its’ agents. Three pre-game commercials explained the premise, and led up to the final ad in the 3rd  quarter.

If you didn’t watch, take a peek first, then read on:

Smarter? Well, I spend at least one day a month either at an educational conference or taking continuing education. That’s not counting the classes that I teach. Yeah, I guess I could qualify for smarter.

Bolder? I certainly don’t dress as sharply as Deion. But I do make it a point to utilize the most cutting edge technology and marketing ideas to help my clients, and have done so since I first got into the business. (Single property websites, facebook advertising, social media, you get the idea. I’m happy to explain more if you’d like.) I’d consider myself bold.

Faster? In the sense of beating anyone in a race, especially on speed skates? Not so much. But I do think I’m quick to adapt to the changing market, and the tools I use keep me in constant communication with my clients. If that counts for faster, I’m in.

While I’m happy with the fact that Century 21, and Redwood Realty as well, provide some great marketing and systems that help my clients with either a selling or buying transaction, I do believe that most of the time that their decision to work with me has more to do with me than with the company I’m with.  (Any of my past clients care to chime in on this?)

It’s nice to see Century 21 provide some entertainment as part of the SuperBowl show, but I’m genuinely curious as to who noticed the commercial in the first place, and what they thought. Did it register for you that it was a Century 21 ad? And did you think it was entertaining? I’d love to hear your comments!

Cheers,
Heather

There’s been quite a dustup taking place within the real estate industry this week. A brokerage out in San Diego, ARG Abbot Realty Group, declared that effective immediately, they are pulling all of their listings off of third party syndication sites Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zillow, via an impassioned video posted on YouTube (a video syndication site, natch). The argument was that the evil syndicators were not displaying data correctly and thus muddying the water of the market really looks like.  That particular company seems to feel it’s not in the best interests of their consumer to permit their listings to be displayed there. All three of those sites are in the top five trafficked real estate sites nationally.

As a potential home seller, if your agent can’t explain what listing syndication is, please get another agent. Seriously. As the person hired to sell your home, it is most advantageous to not only put your listing on as many sites where there are buyer eyeballs as I can, but also to ensure that the photos display correctly, the open house information is there, the links to the virtual tours work, etc.  The blunt truth is that consumers flock to Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zillow because they are easy to use, and they all have slick mobile apps, too. Would you want your listing hidden from the consumers searching there?

That San Diego brokerage was arguing, in part, that the consumer needs to be able to contact the listing agent for information, and not whichever agent paid to put advertising on the page next to the listing. Honestly, when I’m trying to sell your house, I’m just as happy to answer questions from a buyer’s agent as I am from a potential buyer: I don’t want to represent the buyer, I just want to get the house sold, as I was hired to do. I don’t care where the buyer comes from as long as we can get them in the front door of the home.

I don’t list your home to fish for buyers. I list your home to sell it. 

Not only that, I refuse to double-side a deal; I decided several years ago that I would no longer represent a buyer and a seller in the same deal.  In my opinion, there is no way to completely represent each of your clients interests in the best way possible while working both sides of the deal.

I’m sure, as a consumer, that you could care less about what goes on in the real estate kitchen, you only need the results. So I want you to know that when I list your home, you will continue to have a featured listing on the big three syndication sites, and I will ensure that the information displays correctly. And you won’t ever have to worry about my company removing your home listing from a place where your potential buyer can find it.

Cheers,
Heather

(If you would like to read a full rebuttal explanation of how that video is full of misinformation, please read my friend Jay’s post here. He explains it eloquently.)

Also, here’s how one of my listings renders on each of those sites:

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 2/8/2012)

1. $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: 2
2. $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: 2
3. $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: 5
4. $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: 6
5. $499,999 : 226 Banff Springs Pl, Chantilly
   
   4 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,200 sq ft

   Lot size: 7,000 sq ft

   Year built: 2012

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 6
6. $509,900 : 25580 Upper Clubhouse Dr, South Riding
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 2,492 sq ft

   Lot size: 8,276 sq ft

   Year built: 1996

   Parking spots: 2

   Days on market: 6

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