Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 09:25     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
I think feds are still paying off their credit card bills from 2025 and foreigners are less anxious to buy here than in the past. Meanwhile sellers can’t afford to buy or move up, and older people don’t want to pay the capital gains to downsize. So it’s a slim market.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 09:22     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
I saw a house I like at 1.3M, but it has 203 Saves in 22180.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 09:19     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out the pattern for which houses sell quickly and which houses don't. We just had a house on the main road (major traffic) with three bedrooms sell for $1.4 million in a day or two. Meanwhile, a better located (albeit smaller) four bed for $1.05 million has been sitting for months. A larger house that's probably overpriced and listed for $1.7 has also been sitting for months. But a $4 million gut reno sold in days.


What did they look like inside? IME people in their 30s buying their first house are scared of anything that isn't instagram-worthy. If a house needs even the tiniest bit of work (like there are carpets in the bedrooms or the cabinets have outdated hardware or there is yellow paint on the walls), they run away.


This trope is sooooo tired. First time buyers are stretching as far as they possibly can to buy their first home, literally tapping out all savings to buy $1M++ homes. They have no $ left to repaint a whole house, replace outdated fixtures, etc. They also probably have little kids and demanding careers and don’t want to spend their free weekends making cosmetic improvements (or hiring out - but they’ve never owned a home before so they don’t have a Rolodex of contractors to reach out to get quotes). Updated, reasonably priced homes come up every so often - it’s just not worth it to offer on a boomers outdated home that needs work, sorry.

I think it's very true that many buyers need to finance their purchase and don't have cash to pay for improvements after they buy, as they're sinking all their cash into a down payment.

We got an amazing deal on a house, I think mainly for this reason, as we had an extra $150k in cash to sink into immediate improvements. Those improvements took our $930k purchase (in 22207 on a quiet street) up to $1.3m a few months later, and it's continued to appreciate. Finding contractors was a pain. Supervising contractors was a pain. But we're very happy with the end product.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2026 07:23     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:No more bidding wars like in spring 2024.


Just sold our house; 7 bids.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 13:22     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I see houses in my neighborhood at 22032 are still selling like hot cakes. no inventory and they come out for $1.5M and get snatched quickly.


Niche puts your neighborhood feel in the "sparse suburban" category. Sounds horrible.


I had idea what Niche was, so I looked. It said 22032 had an overall A+ grade and was rated a Niche Best Places. So what does that mean?
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 13:18     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
I will give the DMV housing market some credit. We had a very tumultuous year in the local economy and nominal housing prices held relatively steady, at least for SFH.

So we're getting some real declines but it could have been a lot worse.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 12:12     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out the pattern for which houses sell quickly and which houses don't. We just had a house on the main road (major traffic) with three bedrooms sell for $1.4 million in a day or two. Meanwhile, a better located (albeit smaller) four bed for $1.05 million has been sitting for months. A larger house that's probably overpriced and listed for $1.7 has also been sitting for months. But a $4 million gut reno sold in days.


What did they look like inside? IME people in their 30s buying their first house are scared of anything that isn't instagram-worthy. If a house needs even the tiniest bit of work (like there are carpets in the bedrooms or the cabinets have outdated hardware or there is yellow paint on the walls), they run away.


This trope is sooooo tired. First time buyers are stretching as far as they possibly can to buy their first home, literally tapping out all savings to buy $1M++ homes. They have no $ left to repaint a whole house, replace outdated fixtures, etc. They also probably have little kids and demanding careers and don’t want to spend their free weekends making cosmetic improvements (or hiring out - but they’ve never owned a home before so they don’t have a Rolodex of contractors to reach out to get quotes). Updated, reasonably priced homes come up every so often - it’s just not worth it to offer on a boomers outdated home that needs work, sorry.


True. We got a deal on a fixer-upper because no one else wanted it!
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 12:09     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out the pattern for which houses sell quickly and which houses don't. We just had a house on the main road (major traffic) with three bedrooms sell for $1.4 million in a day or two. Meanwhile, a better located (albeit smaller) four bed for $1.05 million has been sitting for months. A larger house that's probably overpriced and listed for $1.7 has also been sitting for months. But a $4 million gut reno sold in days.


What did they look like inside? IME people in their 30s buying their first house are scared of anything that isn't instagram-worthy. If a house needs even the tiniest bit of work (like there are carpets in the bedrooms or the cabinets have outdated hardware or there is yellow paint on the walls), they run away.


This trope is sooooo tired. First time buyers are stretching as far as they possibly can to buy their first home, literally tapping out all savings to buy $1M++ homes. They have no $ left to repaint a whole house, replace outdated fixtures, etc. They also probably have little kids and demanding careers and don’t want to spend their free weekends making cosmetic improvements (or hiring out - but they’ve never owned a home before so they don’t have a Rolodex of contractors to reach out to get quotes). Updated, reasonably priced homes come up every so often - it’s just not worth it to offer on a boomers outdated home that needs work, sorry.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 12:01     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:I see houses in my neighborhood at 22032 are still selling like hot cakes. no inventory and they come out for $1.5M and get snatched quickly.


Niche puts your neighborhood feel in the "sparse suburban" category. Sounds horrible.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 11:59     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:I can't figure out the pattern for which houses sell quickly and which houses don't. We just had a house on the main road (major traffic) with three bedrooms sell for $1.4 million in a day or two. Meanwhile, a better located (albeit smaller) four bed for $1.05 million has been sitting for months. A larger house that's probably overpriced and listed for $1.7 has also been sitting for months. But a $4 million gut reno sold in days.


What did they look like inside? IME people in their 30s buying their first house are scared of anything that isn't instagram-worthy. If a house needs even the tiniest bit of work (like there are carpets in the bedrooms or the cabinets have outdated hardware or there is yellow paint on the walls), they run away.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 11:57     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:Homes are 17 percent cheapter than 12-31-2024 if one had their money in US Stocks.


Bullshit. Homes are only 17 percent cheaper if you had 100 percent of the purchase price invested in US stocks.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 11:55     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's pretty simple.

The $1.4mm house on a main road is updated. Sold fast.
The $1.05mm house is not updated. Sitting for months.
The $4mm gut reno is renovated. Sold fast.



+1

Well-maintained homes sell. The others do not.

+1 neighbor's house sold within 2 weeks. It was a gut job, including some yard cleanup, both front and back, but the inside was a complete gut job top to bottom. Sold for 1.2 million.
Anonymous
Post 01/04/2026 11:51     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
When will inventory pick up? There’s nothing on the market.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 20:27     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
I think the market will be strong but there won't be further price increases. Despite DOGE, the job market remains strong in this area, and the stock market is doing great. But if the economy sours, RE in this area will not be spared.

Every major investment bank is predicting that the stock market will gain this year. That makes me nervous.
Anonymous
Post 01/03/2026 14:04     Subject: Still lots of buyers looking?
I see houses in my neighborhood at 22032 are still selling like hot cakes. no inventory and they come out for $1.5M and get snatched quickly.