Virginia Real Estate

Is Now a Good Time to Buy?

October 5, 2010 by Sasha C. Farmer, REALTOR ® · 2 Comments 

Time Magazine’s September 11 cover story attempts to make a strong case against homeownership in the article found here; but I have actually found my recent conversations with clients (current and pending) to present a story that is quite the opposite.

Are you still debating whether or not it is a “good time to buy”?  It is never a good time to buy for EVERYONE, but right now is a GREAT time to buy for many people, and I hope the naysayers aren’t swaying people away from making a decision that could very well be right for them.  If you have income/job consistency and plan to stay in the same location for 5+ years, this may be the best time to buy that we’ll see in this lifetime.  In Charlottesville, we have excellent selection, competitive prices, and we’re seeing the same low interest rates that all of these experts mention.

Here is an interesting article from Steve Harney, a real estate expert who has stayed abreast of the current real state market and seems to do a good job reporting on it fairly.

“If you don’t own a home, buy one. If you own one home, buy another one. And if you own two homes, buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy one.”  – John Paulson 9/27/2010

WOW! That’s a powerful statement.

There is no question that John Paulson is a bull when it comes to residential real estate right now. Should we care what Mr. Paulson thinks? Should we listen to him? The answer to both questions is a resounding ‘YES’. Here are several reasons why.

Who is John Paulson?

Paulson is the person who made a fortune betting that the subprime mortgage mess would cause the the real estate market to collapse. He understands how the housing market works and knows when to buy and when to sell. What do others think of Paulson?

According to Forbes John Paulson is:

a multibillionaire hedge fund operator and the investment genius who made a killing going short subprime mortgages a few years ago.

According to the Wall Street Journal Paulson is:

a hedge fund tycoon who made his name, and a fortune, betting against subprime mortgages when no one else even knew what they were.

What did other financial players think of his statement?

The Wall Street Journal agrees with Paulson:

Ignore the critics. The odds have to be on his side…It isn’t just that home prices have fallen a long way. It’s also that, if you can get a mortgage, you are basically taking a reverse bet on the bond market. You could be a long-term borrower at fixed rates, instead of a long-term lender. Right now you can borrow for 30 years at around 4.3%. After the mortgage tax deduction, for some people the net effective interest rate is nearer to 3%. That’s going to prove an awesome deal if we see inflation again.

And Forbes said:

As this is the best time in 50 years to buy homes, Paulson advised his listeners to take 30 year mortgages to buy a home as “your debt and interest payments get locked in at record lows, while the price of your home will rise.”

Are others also saying now is the time to buy?

Just last week, we posted that there is a growing number of people saying that NOW is the time to buy, including:

• The Wall Street Journal
• Professor Karl Case, founder of the Case Shiller House Pricing Index
• The wealthiest families in the country and
• 70% of everyone else in America

Bottom Line

Thinking of buying a home? Are you taking advice from a friend or family member telling you that now is not the time? It may be time to listen to people who better understand the opportunities that exist in real estate today.

via If HE Says It Is Time To Buy a Home, BUY A HOME!.

I hope that if you’re considering purchasing a home, you will give me a call or shoot me an email to discuss your options and take a look at whether or not buying a new home in Charlottesville might be the right decision for you!

New Tax Credit for Current Home Owner's Making a Home Purchase and the Extended First Time Buyer Credit

November 7, 2009 by Sasha C. Farmer, REALTOR ® · Leave a Comment 

Today, President Obama signed off on the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, now to include a credit for current Home Owners.

This new initiative will continue the current $8,000 first time home buyer credit to eligible participants until 2010- July 1, 2010 to be exact, which is when all closings must have occurred. In order to be eligible for this credit, you must have the property under contract no later than April 30, 2010.

It has also expanded the credit to current home owners. Anyone who has used their residence as a primary residence consecutively for 5 our of the last 8 years are also eligible for a tax credit when making their next home purchase. This is a $6,500 credit and the same deadlines still apply; April 30, 2010 for homes to be under contract, and July 1, 2010 for the sale to have closed.

Many of the details are explained in the following PDF document- please contact me with any specific questions!

Click here to download the November 7, 2010 Extended and Expanded Tax Credit.

Forbes Names Virginia as Best Business State

October 4, 2009 by Sasha C. Farmer, REALTOR ® · Leave a Comment 

According to Forbes Magazine, Virginia is the best business state yet again (for the 4th year running), “booming compared to the rest of the nation.”

http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/23/best-states-for-business-beltway-best-states.html

Forbes attributes this to our highly educated workforce, low energy usage, and business-friendly incentives.

Regional Housing Conference 2008

March 1, 2008 by Sasha C. Farmer, REALTOR ® · Leave a Comment 

From today’s press release:  A broad coalition of organizations has come together to plan a regional housing conference to grapple with issues and develop an action agenda for our region. The Regional Housing Conference “Finding Common Ground” will provide opportunities to participate in in-depth discussions on a variety of topics, including:

• Emerging housing approaches
• Density & Sprawl
• Community Design
• Possible Partnerships
• Community Land Trust
• Proffers
• Lending and Finance
• Mixed Use/Mixed Income

The keynote speaker for the event will be Joseph R. Molinaro. Mr. Molinaro is the Managing Director for Smart Growth and Housing Opportunity for the National Association of REALTORS in Washington, DC. In this capacity, he oversees NAR’s Smart Growth, Diversity, and Housing Opportunity Programs. These programs include REALTOR training, technical assistance on land use regulation to state and local REALTOR associations, and voter surveys and research on housing, growth and development issues. He is editor of On Common Ground, NAR’s smart growth magazine. Prior to joining NAR in 2000, Mr. Molinaro was Director of Land Development Services for the National Association of Home Builders. In this position, he introduced New Urbanism to the educational programs for builders, and organized conferences and tours of New Urbanism projects in several cities. He also was editor of Land Development magazine. He holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech; is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners; and was a 2005-2006 Knight Fellow in the Knight Program in Community Building, based at the University of Miami School of Architecture.

The information and registration page can be found here.

 Coming this Thursday- should be very interesting. 

The Virginia Foreclosure Market

January 19, 2008 by Sasha C. Farmer, REALTOR ® · Leave a Comment 

Courtesy of Virginia Business Magazine, here is a good article on how Virginia’s housing market has fared in 2007, despite trouble nationwide with foreclosures. As stated in the article,

“At a time when foreclosures are soaring and some mortgage lenders have gone out of business, plenty of homebuilders would gladly trade places with Genuario. And homeowners in other states can’t help but look at their counterparts in Virginia with envy, because home prices here continue to outperform the nation’s. That’s one piece of encouraging news in what has been a bruising year for the housing industry.”

Additionally, click here for a very bad scan of a nice chart that was included in the article on Virginia Foreclosures FILINGS By County.

As you can see from the graphic, about 1 household out of every 196 households are subject to filing for foreclosure. However, in Virginia, only 1 out of every 411 homes are subject. Virginia has avoided quite a bit of the foreclosure mess. The two closest counties to Charlottesville that are listed- Orange and Culpeper counties- have 1 foreclosure FILING for every 132 and 96 households, respectively. Our local area hovers at about a 1% foreclosure FILING rate, which really is not a terrible statistic. Following the trend that the majority of foreclosures are a result of subprime loans, failures at flipping, and unscrupulous lending practices, it is probably safe to say that most of our neighbors here in the Charlottesville area will be relatively protected from impending foreclosures or short sales.

Over 80% of all foreclosures are in 5 states – and Virginia is not one of them. Currently, the top 5 foreclosure states are California, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and Texas, with Virginia currently falling at #21 in the nation. Compared to 148,000 in California; 86,000 in Florida; 47,000 in Ohio; and 44,000 in both Michigan and Texas; Virginia looks great with it’s mere 8,000 foreclosure sales in 2007. With an estimated 3,300,000 households in Virginia, this would leave us with less than a 0.01% ACTUAL foreclosure rate in the state. Back to the first article, on median home prices, we see

“Still, compared with states such as Florida, Nevada and California — which experienced huge building booms and busts — Virginia is holding up well. For instance, the median price for a Virginia home was higher in September than for the same time in 2006, a stark contrast to what’s happening nationally. In September, the national median existing-home price for all housing types dropped 4.2 percent to $211,700, while it rose by 5.53 percent in Virginia to $229,000. In fact, the Virginia Association of Realtors reports that a Virginia home purchased in 2002 at the median price of $144,480 appreciated 58 percent in the past five years.” 

However, all is not rosy.

“Virginia has one of the highest year-over-year increases (in foreclosure filings) in the past months. It’s catching up with some of the other states,”

says Daren Blomquist, a spokesman for RealtyTrac. While the bulk of these filings are occurring in Northern Virginia, Charlottesville will certainly see some evidence of the shift as well.

CAAR 2007 Year End Market Report

January 14, 2008 by Sasha C. Farmer, REALTOR ® · Leave a Comment 

The full 2007 Charlottesville/Albemarle Association of Realtors Year End Market Report can be found here.

Admittedly, 2007 was a markedly different from the handful of years preceding it, where the market was on fire and if you had a home to sell, you had a sale. We are now finding a strong advantage towards buyers that we will expect to see for several months, until the market is able to adjust itself. If we had continued moving ahead at rocket speed we would be even further from the prospect of affordable housing than we already are- this shift in the market may seem bad for sellers, but in truth it is good for everyone. I think that the most important point of the 2007 Year End Report is that made towards first time homebuyers urging the to buy, NOW. First time home buyers have to enter the market and release some of this inventory upwards in order for the market to return to equilibrium. The rates are historically low, buyers will likely never have as many options to choose from, and if you will be able to stay in the house for a minimum of 3-5 years, you should be able to hold the property long enough to ride out this wave of real estate chaos.  As quoted by the author of this article, Dave Philips;

As this report points out, the market is down from the records of the last few years, but we will still end up with the 4th highest sales total in history for our MLS. …This is an extraordinary time to buy a home in our area. Interest rates are amazing, the selection of homes is fantastic, and prices are low. For first time home buyers, this is the best market we have seen in years. There are over 500 homes on the market for under $200,000 and there are special financing options for first time buyers.