Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve been actively looking in Falls Church / N Arlington area and houses are being bid $100-200k over asking with a few places that have been bought sight unseen.

We’re wondering if we should renew our lease so that we can resume our search in a few months / next year.

What’s your price range

$1.3-1.5M. It's so bad in VA that we're actually looking at buying in D.C.

Watch the 1.1 to 1.3 listings like a hawk (or have your agent doing this), see it immediately the day it goes live and your agent can take you, and bid way up with an escalation clause.

Escalation clauses are foolish. You are incentivizing the sellers to sit around for more offers. Give a good offer with a 24 hour deadline.

Tell me you don't know how things work without telling me you don't know how things work.

Many houses in the DMV right now are listed as "coming soon," then they hit the active MLS and there is less than a week (sometimes a mere 24 to 48 hours) to submit an offer. We recently sold a house and had 5 offers and 4/5 included escalation clauses. Given the short time frame we allowed for offers and the fact that we knew there was a lot of interest we would likely have told a "good offer with a 24 hour deadline" to go pound dirt. The house we were selling went for more than 100k over list with an escalation clause. And why on earth would you offer 100k over list when you could offer with an escalation clause that doesn't take you anywhere near that high if no one else is offering above list?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1.2 million for an outdated split foyer in Lorton under contract in 3 days tells me that the market is rough.

https://redf.in/SE4z3N

Guess I’ll never get to upsize.

I know nothing about Lorton, but this is waterfront property which commands a premium. If you’re focused on its outdated fixtures you’re missing the point.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah we’re priced out of SFH’s at 300k hhi. Can’t handle a 7-10k mortgage payment, even in Ashburn. Already live in a townhouse with Covid interest rate so I guess we’re stuck

Then you aren't prioritizing buying a SFH, because you are not "priced out of SFH's at 300k hhi" at all. A 7k mortgage payment would be less than 1/3 of your hhi, and you'd probably be able to take a home mortgage deduction now that the SALT cap was adjusted as well. You aren't "stuck" in your townhouse; with a Covid interest rate I'd probably stay there, but that is not the same as "stuck."

Our 300k isn’t pure salary, a lot of it is made up from bonuses (that we’ve consistently hit the last 5 years, but can’t count on). 7k is almost half of our post tax, post deductions income as well. Our current payment is $1900. Really hard to justify going from this to $7000/mo but we’re also really tired of living in a townhouse. Could also liquidate investments for a large down payment but then we’d have less of a savings cushion and lose out on compounding growth.

You need to just make up your mind. You can buy a sfh, but it sounds like you just don't want to -- you'd rather save the money and keep it invested, or whatever. Which is fine. But then stop whining about how you are "really tired of living in a townhouse."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of houses are sitting in South McLean.

Is McLean on the downswing?

I don't think so. The houses listed all have issues. Three are around 2,000 sqft (or below), which is tough for a family; one is on a major road; one is a flip with a weird layout. The only one puzzling to me is the Kirkley house. It's well priced, though that Resource Protection Area and partial flood zone are red flags. And they should've seriously decluttered before listing.

From what I've seen, nice looking houses (and even mediocre ones) go under contract immediately. Here are a few:
https://www.redfin.com/VA/McLean/6534-Divine-St-22101/home/9402340
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/1609-East-Ave-22101/home/9413658
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/1558-Forest-Villa-Ln-22101/home/9407816
https://www.redfin.com/VA/Mc-Lean/6619-Weatheford-Ct-22101/home/9279115
https://www.redfin.com/VA/McLean/1839-Baldwin-Dr-22101/home/9473572

Maybe the 1.5 to 2 million market has better inventory than the sub 1.5 million market.

sub 1.5 market in Mclean (at least on lots of .4+ acre) and not in weird locations is mostly townhomes or tear down homes sold for their land value only. It's a compromise between doing renovations on a small 50+ yr old home, if you want a detached home, or living in a TH community in this price range.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like a lot of houses are sitting in South McLean.

Is McLean on the downswing?

idk what you mean by "downsizing". They are still building humongous homes there, new construction is significantly larger than homes being replaced. There is a lot of inventory in every area. I am guessing we are running out of people with deep pockets, so a lot of listings in the millions are sitting. Overpriced listings everywhere. Sometimes you see a house north of 4 mil sell quickly, because it appeals to a certain buyer and hits their checkboxes. And sometimes similar home is sitting just 2 blocks away for many months. Older homes sell fairly quickly because they are usually under 2 mil. Some tastefully maintained older mcMansions quickly sell if under 3 mil on good lots in more premium areas. THs seem to be flying and there is a lot of demand for homes that are family sized but not huge, with garages, convenience to amenities and under 1.3 mil.

New construction is just obscenely priced, and it's not because of land cost only. There is a lot of gouging and builders trying to make extra premium on certain neighborhoods just because of location, not cost of labor/materials/land.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah we’re priced out of SFH’s at 300k hhi. Can’t handle a 7-10k mortgage payment, even in Ashburn. Already live in a townhouse with Covid interest rate so I guess we’re stuck

Then you aren't prioritizing buying a SFH, because you are not "priced out of SFH's at 300k hhi" at all. A 7k mortgage payment would be less than 1/3 of your hhi, and you'd probably be able to take a home mortgage deduction now that the SALT cap was adjusted as well. You aren't "stuck" in your townhouse; with a Covid interest rate I'd probably stay there, but that is not the same as "stuck."

Our 300k isn’t pure salary, a lot of it is made up from bonuses (that we’ve consistently hit the last 5 years, but can’t count on). 7k is almost half of our post tax, post deductions income as well. Our current payment is $1900. Really hard to justify going from this to $7000/mo but we’re also really tired of living in a townhouse. Could also liquidate investments for a large down payment but then we’d have less of a savings cushion and lose out on compounding growth.

Wahhhhhhh

Vibes are very good near Philly

Anonymous wrote:Went to an open house listed at $2.25 in 22207 on the weekend and it was packed.

Lots of serious buyers in that range or mostly looky loos, I wonder.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah we’re priced out of SFH’s at 300k hhi. Can’t handle a 7-10k mortgage payment, even in Ashburn. Already live in a townhouse with Covid interest rate so I guess we’re stuck

Then you aren't prioritizing buying a SFH, because you are not "priced out of SFH's at 300k hhi" at all. A 7k mortgage payment would be less than 1/3 of your hhi, and you'd probably be able to take a home mortgage deduction now that the SALT cap was adjusted as well. You aren't "stuck" in your townhouse; with a Covid interest rate I'd probably stay there, but that is not the same as "stuck."

Yes you can afford one. There are SFH in Ashburn with good schools for under 1M. With 20% down your monthly payment would be 5-6k.

Went to an open house listed at $2.25 in 22207 on the weekend and it was packed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve been actively looking in Falls Church / N Arlington area and houses are being bid $100-200k over asking with a few places that have been bought sight unseen.

We’re wondering if we should renew our lease so that we can resume our search in a few months / next year.

What’s your price range

$1.3-1.5M. It's so bad in VA that we're actually looking at buying in D.C.

Watch the 1.1 to 1.3 listings like a hawk (or have your agent doing this), see it immediately the day it goes live and your agent can take you, and bid way up with an escalation clause.

Escalation clauses are foolish. You are incentivizing the sellers to sit around for more offers. Give a good offer with a 24 hour deadline.

Anonymous wrote:$1.2 million for an outdated split foyer in Lorton under contract in 3 days tells me that the market is rough.

https://redf.in/SE4z3N

Guess I’ll never get to upsize.

I know nothing about Lorton, but this is waterfront property which commands a premium. If you’re focused on its outdated fixtures you’re missing the point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah we’re priced out of SFH’s at 300k hhi. Can’t handle a 7-10k mortgage payment, even in Ashburn. Already live in a townhouse with Covid interest rate so I guess we’re stuck

Then you aren't prioritizing buying a SFH, because you are not "priced out of SFH's at 300k hhi" at all. A 7k mortgage payment would be less than 1/3 of your hhi, and you'd probably be able to take a home mortgage deduction now that the SALT cap was adjusted as well. You aren't "stuck" in your townhouse; with a Covid interest rate I'd probably stay there, but that is not the same as "stuck."

Our 300k isn’t pure salary, a lot of it is made up from bonuses (that we’ve consistently hit the last 5 years, but can’t count on). 7k is almost half of our post tax, post deductions income as well. Our current payment is $1900. Really hard to justify going from this to $7000/mo but we’re also really tired of living in a townhouse. Could also liquidate investments for a large down payment but then we’d have less of a savings cushion and lose out on compounding growth.

You aren't going to get anything comparable to $1,900/month for a SFH in a close-in suburb, so if that's what you're looking for, yes, you are priced out.

Anonymous wrote: Maybe the 1.5 to 2 million market has better inventory than the sub 1.5 million market.

There are very few SFHs below $1.5 in McLean. Quite a few townhouses, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah we’re priced out of SFH’s at 300k hhi. Can’t handle a 7-10k mortgage payment, even in Ashburn. Already live in a townhouse with Covid interest rate so I guess we’re stuck

Then you aren't prioritizing buying a SFH, because you are not "priced out of SFH's at 300k hhi" at all. A 7k mortgage payment would be less than 1/3 of your hhi, and you'd probably be able to take a home mortgage deduction now that the SALT cap was adjusted as well. You aren't "stuck" in your townhouse; with a Covid interest rate I'd probably stay there, but that is not the same as "stuck."

Our 300k isn’t pure salary, a lot of it is made up from bonuses (that we’ve consistently hit the last 5 years, but can’t count on). 7k is almost half of our post tax, post deductions income as well. Our current payment is $1900. Really hard to justify going from this to $7000/mo but we’re also really tired of living in a townhouse. Could also liquidate investments for a large down payment but then we’d have less of a savings cushion and lose out on compounding growth.