How is the spring close-in DMV housing market looking like?
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Anonymous
It’s a little early. It’s only been a month. |
Anonymous
| McLean 22101 here, the houses priced in 1.5m - 2.5m range are flying off the shelf right now. |
Anonymous
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22205, sold our 4-bed in 3 days with multiple offers. I was shocked.
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Anonymous
| In 22314 (Old Town Alexandria) well priced houses are moving very quickly. I attribute the RTO policies making close in homes near the metro more desirable again. |
Anonymous
+1. In 20002, fair amount of listings at around $1.5m, and going quickly. |
Anonymous
| Price drops. Things priced too high stay on the market. |
Anonymous
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We bought last month in NoVA and I've been tracking most of the houses we saw (maybe about 30?) on Redfin. The houses with an open house tend to be under contract within 24 hours after the open house. Houses that go on the MLS with no open house scheduled tend to be under contract within the week. Houses are going for slightly above list.
In our personal experience with making offers, we found that most people are making offers with no contingencies (we offered well above list on a home where we did not wave inspection because there was a weird easement that led us to believe we needed some retaining walls checked and lost the house to an offer with no contingencies). So lots of waiving inspection, and more than a few all cash offers. We have seen some properties sit for a while, but of the three I can think of that did, one was a house in a very desirable location that was on the border of being a tear down/not tear down and offered at a not-a-teardown price, one was on a street that was less than desirable and was a quick flip that didn't look anywhere near as good in person as on the pictures, and one was just a very quirky odd house and property that needed the right buyers. In my very recent experience, still an extreme sellers market due to low inventory. In NoVA where were were looking anyway. A couple of months ago I was really worried, especially because we want to sell our FCC house, but there are renters in it until July, and I thought the market might drop and we'd lose all of the appreciation we got over the last decade or so. Now I'm not worried about that at all. |
Anonymous
| A lot more inventory coming on the market in NoVA over the past few weeks now that the weather is better. Well priced homes in the most desirable school districts are moving. The edge neighborhoods in Falls Church and Alexandria are still hit of miss due to perception about the schools and a general rejection of more "ethnic" areas. If you want white bread, or the economic equivalent of it, you're still looking in North Arlington, McLean, Vienna, Reston, FCC, Fairfax, and such and should be prepared to make a competitive offer very quickly. |
Anonymous
Isn't it mostly condos? Condos aren't doing so well now, and usually TBH. |
Anonymous
| I see new construction homes sitting even in desirable areas. There are simply not so many people willing to drop over 4 mil on a new house on .5 acre lot in mcLean or over 2.2 mil on a small lot house in Arlington/FC. The inventory is competing for these buyers IMHO. On the lower end homes in desirable areas sell fast. Well maintained older homes in move-in condition which offer a bargain compared to new construction. |
Anonymous
It seems to be the magic number - 2 mil. Anything under in any desirable area gets a lot of interest. If it's over, it's tough. Of course there are areas where 2 mil is entry level or even a tear down, but in most good areas it buys you a move-in condition comfortable home and is a lot cheaper option than new construction. |
Anonymous
With 20% down at today's ~6.7% rate, a $1.5M - $2M home is a $8K to $11K monthly. Assuming you aren't spending more than 35% on housing, that's $23K - $31K monthly post-tax income. So $276K - $372K pre-tax annually. It's a tall order. I wonder if the big law instability is going to start pressuring the sub $2M buyer pool, or cause more competition for the $1-1.5M homes. |
Anonymous
You can only deduct up to a 750K mortgage on your tax return. People buying 1.5 million homes are usually putting down 750K. |
Anonymous
In fake Falls Church and my neighbors listed for a bidding war and got it. 10% over ask and given the lack of an addition, probably sets the new high-water mark for the neighborhood. Nothing for sale otherwise. |
Anonymous
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22101 -
Nice houses, priced correctly sell quick Tear downs, sell slowly. Overpriced new builds sit. |