Arlington Open House Insanity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DH and did a marathon open house tour yesterday, and like a previous poster said - every house was packed! We ended up seeing some of the same people multiple times during the day.

We made an offer on our first choice, and have a back up selected, but with that many people I think it's pretty possible we don't get either. Now I am wondering, if last week was when most of the spring inventory came on the market or will we hit another 10 new listings next week.

We did both N. and S. Arlington 500K - 700k.

The price range you are looking at describe the level of insanity, I am not surprised at all. It has been challenging to find places in this price range inside beltway years ago, even in 2008-2009, demand for these properties was high. Try over 1.5 mil and you see a different level of interest.

Not in my N ARl neighborhood. We have zero inventory. Houses in that 1.5 mill range still go under contract before the Open house. It is insane.

Depends on an area, 1.5 mil can be average for where you live, so, logically, most people looking into this area would have certain budgets in place. But overall, there are many more people looking in lower price ranges in DC metro area. You just have a large portion of those with a large budget interested in your particular area for one reason or the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was under the impresson that in desirable neighborhoods its critical that you get into the house before the open house. Once the open house happens, there will already be multiple contracts on it. If you are using a realtor, they really need to be working that angle for you. I am getting ready to list a condo I own in DC and my realtor is listing for about 10k than I would prefer. But he said the idea is to get a bunch of folks interested and then start the bidding up to get it above what I want. He also plans to show before the open house for serious buyers or realtors he has relationships with. I think we are assuming to be under contract and never really deal with an open house. I know its brutal and it sucks but thats just whats going on in the market right now.

Assume you meant to say $10k UNDER what you prefer.

I hope the agent is willing to back up his strategy with a cut in commission if s/he is wrong. S/he should. If you get one full-price offer, you are obligated to accept it or pay a commission anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was under the impresson that in desirable neighborhoods its critical that you get into the house before the open house. Once the open house happens, there will already be multiple contracts on it. If you are using a realtor, they really need to be working that angle for you. I am getting ready to list a condo I own in DC and my realtor is listing for about 10k than I would prefer. But he said the idea is to get a bunch of folks interested and then start the bidding up to get it above what I want. He also plans to show before the open house for serious buyers or realtors he has relationships with. I think we are assuming to be under contract and never really deal with an open house. I know its brutal and it sucks but thats just whats going on in the market right now.

Assume you meant to say $10k UNDER what you prefer.

I hope the agent is willing to back up his strategy with a cut in commission if s/he is wrong. S/he should. If you get one full-price offer, you are obligated to accept it or pay a commission anyway.

Or the realtor can say that all offers will be reviewed on XX date, which would give more people time to put in an offer on your place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not buy in Arlington right now because prices are way over valued.

Do you really think it is going to be better say, next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not buy in Arlington right now because prices are way over valued.

Do you really think it is going to be better say, next year?

I agree there will be a point where prices just don't make sense, people are already looking father down the orange line closer to tysons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not buy in Arlington right now because prices are way over valued.

Do you really think it is going to be better say, next year?

I agree there will be a point where prices just don't make sense, people are already looking father down the orange line closer to tysons.

You know, like in the Mosaic District.

[Anonymous]

Don't give up on Arlington. We just bought at list in the heart of this range. Three other offers - but good credit, a healthy earnest $ dep, and a rent-back put us over the top.

[Anonymous]

I feel for you, OP! I was there recently in the fray myself. Not a SFH but snagged a tiny but nicely-renovated little duplex in N Arlington last month. I offered over asking and waived pretty much everything. The house was listed on a Sunday and there was a verbal acceptance on Wednesday - it never went to an open house. There is zero inventory in this zip code in the $500-550K range (other than condos) that I have seen in the past year. I had one, just one, true comp in the last 3 months to go on (I lost out on that one to an all-cash offer).

It is crazy, I know, but it's the reality right now. There is some good advice in this month's Washingtonian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't give up on Arlington. We just bought at list in the heart of this range. Three other offers - but good credit, a healthy earnest $ dep, and a rent-back put us over the top.

PP here (20:51). You nailed it and congrats! I was able to put a good chunk down and that made a lot of difference, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was under the impresson that in desirable neighborhoods its critical that you get into the house before the open house. Once the open house happens, there will already be multiple contracts on it. If you are using a realtor, they really need to be working that angle for you. I am getting ready to list a condo I own in DC and my realtor is listing for about 10k than I would prefer. But he said the idea is to get a bunch of folks interested and then start the bidding up to get it above what I want. He also plans to show before the open house for serious buyers or realtors he has relationships with. I think we are assuming to be under contract and never really deal with an open house. I know its brutal and it sucks but thats just whats going on in the market right now.

Assume you meant to say $10k UNDER what you prefer.

I hope the agent is willing to back up his strategy with a cut in commission if s/he is wrong. S/he should. If you get one full-price offer, you are obligated to accept it or pay a commission anyway.

Or the realtor can say that all offers will be reviewed on XX date, which would give more people time to put in an offer on your place.

There may not be multiple offers. Especially where a condo is involved.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Our realtor said they are looking at offers Tuesday night. Now it's a waiting game! Happy to hear others have been in the same situation.

[Anonymous]

Good luck, OP! The waiting sucks, hang in there.

[Anonymous]

A lot of them are nosy neighbors (like me!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not buy in Arlington right now because prices are way over valued.

Do you really think it is going to be better say, next year?

I agree there will be a point where prices just don't make sense, people are already looking father down the orange line closer to tysons.

You know, like in the Mosaic District.

The Mosaic District! That's where it's at.

What's this "Arlington" everyone's talking about? It's definitely not as famous or as desirable as "The Mose."