There has been a high level of activity in Woodburn Village this year. Unfortunately, a majority of the sales are foreclosures and short sales. In the few regular re-sales that did take place the prices and appraisals were heavily influenced by the distressed sales. 19 homes sold to date this year. 3 were regular re-sales, 11 were bank sales and 5 were short sales.
Homes on average sell for 95.4% of the original list price. They sell for 97.4% of the final list price. So, if you are looking to purchase in Woodburn odds are that you will be paying close to the current asking price.
If we look at the number of pending home sales in Woodburn Village as of 08/10/2009 we get a number of 10. They range in asking price from $125,000 to $220,000. 7 of these are short sales that may or may not close - the success rate for short sales seem to have gone up a bit lately though.
Four homes are currently available for sale in Woodburn Village. They range from a 2 bedroom short sale at $125,000 to a three bedroom short sale listed at $210,000. If you would like the current list of homes for sale, please email me.
To get a better understanding of the overall price development in the neighborhood I have put together a small graph with the various models separated out. This makes it much easier to see what the trend is as the mix of homes sold continuously changes skewing the min, max and average sales price.
As can be seen from the above graph, the average sales price is trending downwards and are back to 2003 levels. Based on the last few sales, the number of pending properties and the limited supply I do not see the prices currently going much lower. Rather, if the current market conditions persists towards the end of the year, the price should trend upwards (average for the year will still be down quite significantly.) This could change if there are a lot of foreclosures coming up and would also depend upon whether appraisals will keep coming back low.
Looking at the upcoming foreclosures on Realist I found 2 pre-foreclosure, 4 upcoming auctions and 6 bank owned properties. Most of the bank owned ones may already have been listed or already be under contract/sold.
Moving on to rentals the prices have gone down a bit on average. There are currently 4 properties listed for rent ranging from $1,095 for a 1br/1ba to $1,500 for a 2br/1.5ba. As can be seen on the below graph, the rents for most of the units went down a bit this year. Rents are pretty seasonal so the average for the year could change by the time we get towards 2010.
For investors the GRM is getting better and better. The rents may be stagnant but with the price fall the first few months this year the ratio of rents to purchase price are now back to 2002 levels.
Woodburn Village is a great neighborhood and the prices have not been this low in many years. Coupled with the low interest rates and the potential to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit this is an excellent time to buy. If you would like to discuss selling or purchasing in Woodburn Village please give me a call.
Are Andresen Broker, Soldsense Realty LLC "Your sixth sense in real estate"
This seems to be THE NUMBER ONE question I get. Unfortunately there are several answers and which is correct for you depends on the Circumstances. I will address the common scenarios in this article.
Policy in my office is to never "tell" - as in "instruct" - our borrower client to pay or not to pay their mortgage. Paying or not paying has a lot of collateral effects and the borrower needs to know what they are before making the decision. We don't make the decision for the borrower (our client) because the effects of paying or not paying are not going to affect me - but they will affect the client, so it is the client that must make the final decision.
Let me make one issue clear - when we are hired to help facilitate a short sale or loan modification it is far easier for us to negotiate with the lender if the payments are late, but it is almost never a requirement. The exceptions to which will be discussed later in this article. Additionally, internal rules change at the banks constantly. A new client came in totally frustrated. They called their bank to help with a modification and the bank said they could not address their situation until they were at least 60 days late. So the near perfect (800+) credit score couple stopped paying for 60 days and then called the bank back. Now the bank says that because they are 60 days late they cannot speak to them about a modification! The point is, if you don't have to be late then why voluntarily create a late payment credit history that will adversely affect your credit-dependent life almost immediately and for years to come?
SO LET'S GET INTO IT - Danger - this is a long article and it covers a lot of ground!
Short Sale:
A borrower that is current and contemplating a short sale wonders if they should stop paying their (first) mortgage. They are upside down and until now they have been current. However they are paying the mortgage at a cost of not paying other bills. (Other or different facts may be that they are paying all their bills but taking the money from savings or a pension fund to make those payments, or they are borrowing money from another equity loan).
Generally, it is not a good idea to get into debt to pay your mortgage, unless you have a solid plan to both (i) keep the mortgage current and (ii) repay the additional indebtedness you are creating. It is not like taking from one pocket to put into another - it is more like taking from someone else's pocket to pay your bills. This would include credit card loans as the source of funds. It all has to be paid back, so if you don't have a plan to pay it back, don't borrow it in the first place! You are only digging a bigger hole for yourself and making it harder to get out of the hole.
If you are taking from your pension or savings money, again you better have a rock solid plan to get that money back into those accounts, or there is no sense in giving up that hard earned and usually irreplaceable retirement money, especially considering these are monies that are usually protected from creditors' judgments including those your mortgage lender could obtain (deficiency judgment)..
Of course the "amount" of money you have "in reserve" comes into consideration. If you have 2 million dollars in reserve and you decide to spend 10% of it to keep the loans current until you can short sale the property, that plan has a basis that the 10% is not going to make a difference in the way you run your life over the remaining time you have left as a mere mortal.
Sometimes, but rarely, we run into a lender that says they won't approve a short sale or modification because the borrower is current with his payments. When we have encountered this it is in most cases associated with a government backed loan, (but later on we will show you why this may be motivated by plain greed on the part of a loan servicer). A properly compiled financial snapshot of the borrower should show why they are current and what will happen if the short sale or modification is not approved.
Your decision on how to proceed should be based on what goal you are trying to accomplish and how you plan to get to that goal (see how to determine your goal).
Mortgage Modification:
Apart for some voluntary government programs regarding (Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac) government involved mortgages, I know of no lender that absolutely will not deal with a borrower who is current with their mortgage payments. Lenders deal with all sorts of situations and "absolutely not" is just not in the vocabulary. A typical borrower calling a lender may hear that they must be late, but that is more of a "vetting" statement than an absolute policy.
The exceptions are some government program guides for modification. The first step to seeing if your loan comes within this exception is to see if it is a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan. You can do this online at the Making Home Affordable site. Many servicers and lenders whose loans are not "government backed" are now choosing to follow this government plan (known as the Home Affordable Modification plan or more affectionately called the "Obama Plan" - see below) for the simple reason that they are being compensated by the government for each successful modification they execute within its guidelines, and either the servicer or lender receive a residual bonus for the loan staying current under the modification. In these cases we have seen non-government backed loans insist on the borrower being late to qualify for modification as well. What is confusing on this point is that when the plan was introduced it included modifications (and compensation for such) for current loans as well. However, we are told time and time again from the lenders directly that they must be late to qualify. There is no such rule in the guidelines.
While this is contrary to what has been published by the government about the plan, keep mind that following the plan and any of its various aspects is entirely voluntary and up to the Lender or servicer. They can pick and chose from this plan as they see fit for their own internal reasons. Here is a more interesting twist - a servicer that modifies a delinquent loan is paid more under this incentive plan than if the borrower were to modify while the loan is current! If the borrower is current, the servicer can receive up to $3,500 in incentive fees from the government. If the borrower is delinquent, the servicer can receive up to $4,000 in incentive fees from the government. Thus it seems that it pays ($500 to)the servicer to encourage a borrower to be delinquent!
We often see a client that fits the profile for modification under this government plan. Some of these plans are said to require that to be qualified the borrower must be late 60 days (see Guidelines page 5 at bottom). But in fact, being late is not a requirement, but only one factor of many (see Guidelines page 16 at the top - "However, a NPV (net present value) positive result is not necessary to qualify a loan for a Home Affordable Modification"). If the goal is to qualify under such a plan as put in place by the lender at that time, then to accomplish that qualification the borrower may need to make themselves late, but that cannot be determined in a 2 minute telephone call with a lender representative. I cringe when we go this route because just like these "plans" came into existence, I can see them change the plan thus leaving the now 60 day late borrower with ruined credit scores that occurred needlessly.
Generally about a quarter of our modification clients never go late and still get a modification offer from the lender. However, keep in mind that nearly all lenders put up as their first line of defense the policy that going late is a necessity to qualify. We can only speculate this is done to deter the enormous inflow of loan modification requests from borrowers that would come in if this was NOT said to be a requirement. It also helps address those in the most dire amount of need first.
The Pro's and the Con's:
The general rule of thumb we use is if you can pay your mortgage and maintain your life's necessities, you may consider keeping the loan current, taking the points in this article into account. However, if you need to choose between buying food or medications and paying the mortgage, the decision that should be made is clear: your life necessities take precedent.
Here are the pro's to consider when in the short sale or modification process. Keeping the loan CURRENT has the following benefits:
a) Your credit score is not dinged until the short sale transaction occurs (and not at all in most loan modifications) and your overall credit score reduction will be minimized, and b) You will remain in good standing with your lender without worry of penalties, fines, or a foreclosure.
The "con's" of keeping the loan current are that:
(a) You will be out of pocket for the monthly mortgage payment (monies which you may or may not need to survive), and
(b) Your lender may question the sincerity of your claimed hardship, and you may be spending funds that would otherwise be potentially (but rarely) forgiven by the lender. In addition, occasionally the lenders in a short sale may require a lump sum payment above the sale amount from the borrower to forgive the debt. Coming up with that money is sometimes the difference between a deal or no-deal. If you can put your mortgage payments aside and stockpile them, it will help you cover that potential lump sum.
A similar pro/con approach applies to GOING DELINQUENT with your mortgage. In favor of going late is being able to keep the unspent mortgage payments in your pocket (or applied towards other necessities as the case may be) in which event your hardship may appear more sincere to the lender. On the other hand, there are very real consequences to going late with your mortgage payment:
a) You WILL incur late fees and other penalties on the late interest. Usually this is not a large issue as it is part of the forgiven debt in a short sale and usually forgiven in a modification, but it is something to consider,
b) Your credit score downgrade will be harder as you will compound the short sale hit with a 30 day late, 60 day late, etc, (and if this is a modification you will make a non-negative credit score event turn into a negative credit score event), and
c) You will eventually cross a threshold (typical industry standard of 90 days late) where the lender will initiate a foreclosure action in State court.
Going Late on Your Second Mortgage:
Often a borrower comes to us and says that they are late on the first mortgage but current on the second mortgage. The second mortgage is almost always totally upside down with no equity left in the property to secure that financial obligation. The borrower says they paid the second mortgage because they had the money for the smaller payment (second) mortgage but not the larger amount first mortgage. Our answer - if you don't pay the first mortgage they are going to foreclose it and then paying the second mortgage is not going to save your house.
Lately we have seensecond mortgage lenders with 90 day late mortgages skipping the foreclosure process (since if they cause a sale of the house it is sold subject to the first mortgage, and thus any buyer still has to pay the first mortgage, which usually makes no economic sense). Instead the second mortgage lender sues the borrower on the promissory note only and gets a money judgment that they can keep for a long time (20 years in Florida).
So if a client says they are paying the second mortgage but not the first mortgage, we usually suggest they look at the common sense approach and what are they likely to gain or lose by doing so.
Effect of Non-Payment / Late Payment on Credit Score:
This is a big question and nowhere is the answer clear cut. Definitely if you get a report on your credit that you were "late" (in mortgages that means 30 days or more late) then your credit has been "dinged" and your credit score is adversely affected.
Credit scores are used for many purposes, including the amount of credit you can get on a credit card, the interest rate you get on credit cards, car loans and mortgages, your ability and price of life and disability insurance and even car or house liability insurance, your ability to get a certain type of job, or to establish business relationships, and your ability to rent a place to live, to name a few. So credit scores are important. If you want to better understand credit scoring you can see the Federal Reserve Board's Report to Congress from April 2008.
How much your credit score is affected by a 30, 60 or 90 day late report depends on a lot of other factors about your financial well being, your past credit history and myriad other issues. Generally though we have our clients reporting drops of as little as 50 points for a no late payment short sale or up to 150 points for a short sale with multiple late payment reports. We have seen an 800 go to 720 and we have seen a 740 go to 500. It all depends on too many uncontrollable credit issues to be able to give a formula that works for everyone. For a discussion on credit scores this our past article.
Confused?
Rightfully so. The fact of the matter is that we are in uncharted waters and there is no industry standard for Short Sales or Loan Modifications, which makes pinning down exactly what the Lenders may do near impossible. Pile on the fact that there are a large number of lenders out there and each have their own internal policies which change as readily as the tides. The best anyone can hope to do is make an educated decision, set a plan, and be ready for anything.
Copyright 2009 Richard P. Zaretsky, Esq.
Be sure to contact your own attorney for your state laws, and always consult your own attorney on any legal decision you need to make. This article is for information purposes and is not specific advice to any one reader.
It seems investors and homeowners are finally realizing the value of Idylwood Towers this year. There has been 6 homes sold in the first 5 months of 2009. The lowest price was a 1br/1ba at $190,000. The maximum price was an updated 3br/2ba property at $315,000.
The average price YTD for a 1 bedroom unit is $190,000. The average price YTD for a 2 bedroom unit is $206,250. As mentioned earlier, a 3 bedroom unit sold for $315,000.
Homes on average sell for 89.8% of the original list price. They sell for 96.7% of the final list price. So, if you are looking to purchase in Idylwood Towers it is important that you work with a Realtor that knows the buildings and can help you determine if the asking price is reasonable.
If we look at the number of pending home sales at Idylwood Towers as of 06/03/2009, we get a number of 4. Two of those are 1 bedroom units and two are 2 bedroom units. One of those appears to be a short sale.
Three homes are currently available for sale in Idylwood Towers. They are all 1-bedrooms ranging in price from $165,000 to $225,000. If you would like the current list of homes for sale, please email me.
To get a better understanding of the overall price curve in the neighborhood we can take a look at the sales history of the various models. As there has been few sales of the 1 and 3 bedroom units, the price trend is probably most accurate for the 2 bedroom units.
As can be seen from the above graph, the average sales price is still trending downwards and are back to pre 2004 levels. The three bedroom model seems to keep its value well but will need more sales to see what the long-term difference is in price between that and e.g. the 2 bedrooms. There is interest in units for sale in Idylwood Towers and reasonably priced units do sell quickly.
The current market situation could change if there are a lot of foreclosures coming up, so looking at the upcoming foreclosures on Realist, I found 1 pre-foreclosure, 0 upcoming auctions and 0 bank owned properties. Some bank owned properties have already been listed and sold over the last few years. So, there does not seem to be a flood of foreclosed on units coming up over the next few months.
Moving on to rentals, the prices have come down a bit from last year. 4 properties rented so far this year. There are currently 6 properties listed for rent ranging from $1,200 for a junior 1br/1ba to $1,850 for a 3br/2ba. As can be seen on the below graph, the rents have declined for all the models (remains to be seen for the Jr 1br.) Rents are typically a bit higher in the summer so we may see a bump in the average by the time we get to the end of the year.
For investors the GRM is flattening out. Even though prices have kept falling the rents have also fallen.
Idylwood Towers is a great place to call home and the prices are now lower than what they have been for a long time. Coupled with the low interest rates and the potential to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit this is an excellent time to buy. If you would like to discuss selling or purchasing in Idylwood Towers please give me a call.
Are Andresen Broker, Soldsense Realty LLC "Your sixth sense in real estate"
There has been a reasonable market activity at the Gates of McLean this year. It seems investors and homeowners are realizing the value of the community - on the last few homes I inquired or put in offers on we have competed with multiple offers with the sales price ending up at or above asking price. There has been 7 homes sold in the first 5 months of the year. The lowest price was a 1br/1ba at $195,000. The max price was a 3br/2ba property with granite countertops at $354,750.
The average price YTD for a 1 bedroom unit is $207,500. The average price YTD for a 2 bedroom unit is $301,600. As mentioned earlier, one 3 bedroom unit sold for $354,750.
Homes on average sell for 91.1% of the original list price. They sell for 94.2% of the final list price. So, if you are looking to purchase in Gates of McLean, it seems that you will be able to get a slight break in price. However, the market has picked up lately and unless you are willing to purchase one of the units up against I-495, you may have to pay closer to the asking price than the statistics indicate.
If we look at the number of pending home sales at the Gates of Mclean as of 06/02/2009, we get a number of 3. Two of those are 1 bedroom units in the low $200's. One of those appears to be a short sale.
Four homes are currently available for sale at the Gates of McLean. They are two 1-bedrooms at $240,000 and two 2-bedrooms in the low $300's. If you would like the current list of homes for sale, please email me.
To get a better understanding of the overall price curve in the neighborhood we'll need to do some comparison on a model basis. As there has been two sales of the Danielle model(1br) and two sales of the Dalton model (2br) I put together a graph showing those sales in the neighborhood over the last couple of years. It makes it much easier to see what the trend is as the mix of homes sold continuously changes skewing the minimum, maximum and average sales price. I left out the 3 bedroom model as the price has varied a lot on that model.
As can be seen from the above graph, the average sales price is trending downwards and are back to pre 2004 levels. One bedroom models could be purchased from the developer from the low $200's back in 2003, so many are upside down at this point. There is interest in the Gates of McLean homes for sale and reasonably priced units away from I-495 do sell quickly and with multiple offers.
The current market situation could change if there are a lot of foreclosures coming up, so looking at the upcoming foreclosures on Realist, I found 0 pre-foreclosure, 3 upcoming auctions and 4 bank owned properties. Some of the bank owned properties have already been listed or are already under contract/sold. So, there does not seem to be a flood of foreclosed on units coming up over the next few months.
Moving on to rentals, the prices have remained pretty steady, especially for 2 bedroom units. 20 properties rented so far this year. There are currently 16 properties listed for rent ranging from $1,200 for a 1br/1ba to $2,400 for a 3br/2ba. As can be seen on the below graph, the rents for one bedrooms has declined while it has increased slightly for 2 bedroom units. Rents are typically a bit higher in the summer so we may see a bump in the average by the time we get to the end of the year. Due to the large amount of non-owner occupied units (likely more than 50%) there will continue to be a competitive rental market at the Gates.
For investors the GRM is getting better and better for 2 bedroom units. Due to the 1 bedroom falling rents the GRM is about unchanged from last year despite falling prices.
Gates of McLean is a great neighborhood and the prices are now often lower than what the developer sold them for back in 2003. Coupled with the low interest rates and the potential to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit this is an excellent time to buy. If you would like to discuss selling or purchasing at the Gates of McLean please give me a call.
There has been reasonable activity in Pimmit Hills this year. It seems like investors and homeowners are realizing the value of the community. The last few offers I made on Pimmit Hills homes competed with multiple offers from other competing agents with the sales price ending up at or above asking price. There have been 16 homes sold in the first 5 months of the year. The lowest price was a 3br/1ba rambler at $279,900. The max price was a 5br/4.5ba new construction foreclosure at $720,000. The average price for all homes sold was $374,646.
Homes on average sell for 94% of the original list price. They sell for 99.3% of the final list price. So, if you are looking to purchase in Pimmit Hills odds are that you will be paying close to the current asking price.
If we look at the number of pending home sales in Pimmit Hills as of 06/02/2009 we get a number of 22. This indicates quite a jump in the activity as the average closing time is in the 45 day range. 10 of these are short sales though, so the majority of these may not be closing. On the other hand the success rate for short sales seem to have gone up a bit lately.
Eleven homes are currently available for sale in Pimmit Hills. Of these only three are listed below $400,000. If you would like the current list of homes for sale, please email me.
To get a better understanding of the overall price curve in the neighborhood we need to compare apples to apples. I have therefore tracked sales of 3br/1ba 1 level ramblers in the neighborhood over the last couple of years. It makes it much easier to see what the trend is as the mix of homes sold continuously changes skewing the min, max and average sales price.
As can be seen from the above graph, the average sales price is trending downwards and are back to 2003 levels. Based on the last few sales, the number of pending properties and the limited supply I do not see the prices currently going much below $300,000. Rather, if the current market conditions persist, the price should trend upwards. This could change if there are a lot of foreclosures coming up, so looking at the upcoming foreclosures on Realist I found 1 pre-foreclosure, 3 upcoming auctions and 6 bank owned properties. Most of the bank owned ones have already been listed or are already under contract/sold.
Moving on to rentals the prices have remained pretty steady. There are currently 7 properties listed for rent ranging from $1,700 for a 4br/1ba to $5,500 for a 6br/8ba(...). As can be seen on the below graph, the rents for a typical 3br/3ba 1 level rambler has remained at about $1,550. Rents are pretty seasonal so the average for the year should get back to normal when we get some good summer months in to bump the average a bit.
For investors the GRM is getting better and better. The rents may be stagnant but with the price fall the first few months this year the ratio of rents to purchase price has been getting better and better and are now back to 2002 levels.
Pimmit Hills is a great neighborhood and the prices have not been this low in many years. Coupled with the low interest rates and the potential to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit this is an excellent time to buy. If you would like to discuss selling or purchasing in Pimmit Hills please give me a call.
Based on some websites I have run into lately, there seems to be some misunderstandings in regards to the $8,000 homebuyer credit.
The confusion may have been fuelled by Mrs. Barbara Corcoran on NBC's Weekend Today last Sunday. On the program she stated to Jenna Wolfe that the $8000 could be used as part of the down payment of a qualifying purchaser.
While creativity is all well and good, this is incorrect. You have to have closed on the home and be the new owner (or have moved into a home you are building) BEFORE you can claim the credit (see section 3 below.)
1) There is NO MINIMUM DOWNPAYMENT required. In earlier versions of the bill (that was not enacted), there were provisions that a minimum of 5% down payment is required. The bill that was passed in the end did not have such a requirement. So, no problem using FHA and get the credit (after closing...)
2) It is a TAX CREDIT, not a deduction. If you don't pay any taxes and purchase a home, you can get up to $8,000 back in the form of a check. If you closed on the home before January 1, 2009 you may still qualify for the earlier $7,500 tax deferral. However, as it implies, that money has to be paid back over time.
3) The possibility of a sizable check from the United States Treasury has made some get a bit, ehm, "creative". So, they apparently have filed their taxes, taken the deduction AND received their money BEFORE they purchase the home - even using it as a down payment. NO NO NO - YOU CANNOT DO THAT!!!! Please look at the IRS form and read the very clear instructions. From the 5405 form: Enter the date you acquired the home. This is the date you purchased it (or the date you first occupied it if you constructed your main home).
(Yes, there are special rules that may allow you to purchase a home this year and get the deduction on your 2008 tax return...)
5) You will have to keep your home at least 3 years.
6) If you make too much money you will not qualify (if you make above $75,000 per individual/$150,000 per couple, your credit will be reduced and quickly goes to $0 as you move up the pay scale.)
There are lots of other rules and exceptions. Contact me for more details.
From The Economist Feb 21st article title "Can't pay or won't pay?":
"Some 5M homes have entered foreclosure in the past three years. Credit Suisse estimates that over 9M more will enter the process in the next four years. (In normal times, new foreclosures run less than 1M a year.) Mr Obama predicts his plan will prevent up to 4M foreclosures. In a separate initiative, up to 5M borrowers will be able to refinance their mortgages at lower rates even if their equity is less than the 20% usually required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the now nationalized mortgage agencies.
Previous, less ambitious, efforts have flopped. George Bush's first plan aimed to help 240,000 delinquent subprime borrowers refinance their debts into government-backed fixed-rate mortgages. Only 4,000 did so. A Democrat-inspired $300 billion plan to guarantee 400,000 mortgages attracted just 517 applications, as lenders balked at the requirement that they first write down the principal. Private-sector programs have achieved higher numbers, but their success is mixed. Of 73,000 loans modified in the first quarter of last year, 45% were again delinquent eight months later."
As the article puts it later - the question is not only if borrowers can afford the payments on their mortgage - it is if they want to make the payments at all. With millions of homeowners having negative equity, and few or no ramifications for non-payment, homeowners that can afford the payments are defaulting and walking away as well (see my Buy and Bail blog entry.) A lowered credit score does not seem to be deterrent enough these days - and with a spouse there may be ways to work around the damage.
My solution is simple: Set up a task force to prosecute criminally real estate agents, mortgage brokers, lenders and homeowners that aided in and committed loan fraud (remember those notices on the mortgage papers about it being a federal crime to lie on the application?) For people that can afford the mortgage but choose to walk away, convert the outstanding loan balance to a judgment against the person and their other possessions. For people that were mislead, defrauded or is in a bad situation due to unforeseen circumstances, show compassion by allowing all or part of the remaining debt to be forgiven or deferred after a foreclosure or personal bankruptcy.
A bankruptcy court should be allowed to (and probably already is allowed to) discharge the remaining balance on a loan after a foreclosure if the person subsequently files for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court can also force the sale of a home I believe. The nonsense that a bankruptcy judge should be able to write down the balance on an existing loan (and then keep the home) goes against all contractual law and what capitalism is about.
Enough nonsense - No to more bailouts and yes to larger sticks to make sure the unethical individuals among us have incentive to behave. The market will take care of the rest.
Woodburn Villageis located about where Gallows Road intersects with I-495, tucked behind Fairfax Hospital. It is convenient to major roads like I-495, I-66, Rt-29 and Rt-50. The nearest metro stop is up Gallows Road to the Dunn Loring/Merrifield metro. Metrobus is available from Gallows Road and Fairfax Hospital.
Woodburn Village was built in the late 1960's and is a garden style community. Throughout the community and nestled between the buildings are landscpaed grounds with grill and picnic areas, paly areas and walking paths. There are about 600 condominium units total. Tennis courts, basketball courts and a swimming pool.
The community has 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units. The buildings are 4 stories with a common laundry room and individual storage units in the basement. The reasonable condominium fees include all utilities.
In 2008, a total of 42 units were sold in the MLS. 4 units sold were one bedroom units, 31 units sold were two bedrooms units, 5 units were three bedroom units and 2 four bedroom units sold. The price range of solds start at $118,000 for a 2 bedroom and tops out at a 4 bedroom unit sold for $265,000.
Like most places in the area, the prices have kept dropping steadily over the last few years. There were quite a few foreclosures in 2008. Due to the lower prices and the convenient location the community still offers a great value.
At Woodburn Village a typical rent for a 1 bedroom unit is in the $1,100-$1,200 range and 2 bedrooms at $1,300-$1,400.
As you can see from the GRM graph - now is a great time to purchase investment real estate. With falling prices, stable/increasing rents and low interest rates the time is better now than in many years.
Are Andresen, Broker Soldsense - your sixth sense in real estate
Pimmit Hills is ideally located in Falls Church minutes from where you want to be. Minutes to the north is Tysons Corner with great shopping and entertainment. It is also one of the major employment centers in the area with major presence of financial and defence companies (Capital One, SAIC, MITRE, Fannie Mae etc.)
Pimmit Hills is further surrounded by popular destinations like McLean and Falls Church. Washington DC is less than 10 minutes away and Dulles airport is about 15 away via the Dulles Toll Road (Rt 267.)
Built in the 1950's, the 1,500+ single family homes typically have a quarter acre lot. Home prices range from the low $300's for a rambler with 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom and upwards to $1M homes.
In 2008, a total of 45 homes were sold in the MLS. They took an average of 112 days to sell. The sold homes range from a 4br/1ba rambler at $281,000 to a 6,300 sq/ft, 5br/4.5ba colonial that sold for $935,000.
Like most places in the area, the prices have dropped steadily over the last few years. The community still offers a great value in an excellent location. If you want an affordable home with a yard and want to live close to Tysons Corner, Pimmit Hills is probably your best bet.
In Pimmit Hills, typical rent for a 3br/1ba rambler is in the $1,500-$1,600 range.
As you can see from the GRM graph - now is a great time to purchase investment real estate. With falling prices, stable/increasing rents and low interest rates the time is better now than in many years.
Are Andresen, Broker Soldsense - your sixth sense in real estate
Fountains at McLean is located in McLean, Virginia. Located in Tysons Corner, it is ideally situated next to one of the major employment centers in the area.
The Fountains at McLean consists of multiple buildings of two styles: mid-rise and garden. The mid-rise style has controlled building access and underground parking available. The garden-style has open hallways and there is surface parking only. There are numerous 1 and 2 bedroom models available.
In 2008, a total of 22 units were sold in the MLS. 15 units sold were one bedroom units and 7 units sold were two bedrooms units. The price range of solds start at $215,000 for a 1 bedroom and ends at a 2 bedroom unit sold for $357,000.
Like most places in the area, the prices have kept dropping steadily over the last few years. The community still offers a great value in an excellent location.
At the Fountains at McLean, a typical rent for a 1 bedroom unit is in the $1,200-$1,400 range and 2 bedrooms at $1,600-$1,700.
As you can see from the GRM graph - now is a great time to purchase investment real estate. With falling prices, stable/increasing rents and low interest rates the time is better now than in many years.
Are Andresen, Broker Soldsense - your sixth sense in real estate
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Fountains at McLean
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