The Arlington condo market is really hot!  Condos are selling throughout Arlington with multiple offers and the inventory is very low.  Here's some stats about Arlington Virginia condominium sales and inventory for February 2012.

Currently there are 207 condos on the market for sale in Arlington.  That may seem like a lot, but considering that 216 Arlington condos sold in the last 90 days, 207 is not that many...  54 sold in the last 30 days alone.  Based on the 90 day numbers, there's only about a 2.875 month inventory of Arlington condos.

The condos for sale in Arlington range in price from $79,000 to $4.15 million with an average listing price of $512,397 (considerably higher than neighboring Alexandria).  Here's the breakdown by size of the condo:

One Bedroom Arlington Condos

69 on the market

Price range from $79K to $855K

Average listing price $329,287

Two Bedroom Arlington Condos

107 on the market

Price range from $170K to $2.05 million

Average listing price $536,038

Three Bedroom Arlington Condos

21 on the market

Price range from $350K to $4.15 million

Average listing price $1,072,521

Over the last 30 days the average final sales price of Arlington condos that sold was $444,413.    On average Arlington condo sellers are obtaining 95.03% of their original listing price -- showing that there's still quite a bit of room for negotiation. 

Condos sold in an average of 53 days on the market.  From surveys that have come back from sellers that have worked with my office, the average expectation for a sale is 60-90 days, so Arlington condos are selling fairly quickly which is pleasing to sellers!

The chart below shows the condominium complexes in Arlington with the highest number of units on the market. (Note: Jefferson Retirement is a 55+ retirement community in Ballston)

Interested in buying a condo in Arlington?  Search for Arlington condos here.

Thinking about selling your Arlington condo or just want to know the value?  Confidential and free market analysis of your condo's market value.

The Alexandria condo market is hot!  Condos are selling throughout the city and the inventory is quite low.  Here's some stats about Alexandria Virginia condominium sales and inventory for February 2012.

Currently there are 176 condos on the market for sale in Alexandria.  Considering that 185 Alexandria condos sold in the last 90 days, 176 is not that many...  46 sold in the last 30 days.  Based on the 90 day numbes, there's only about a 2.85 month inventory of Alexandria condos.

The condos for sale in Alexandria range in price from $100,000 to $2.1 million with an average listing price of $363,058.  Here's the breakdown by size of the condo:

One Bedroom Alexandria Condos

62 on the market

Price range from $100K to $450K

Average listing price $255,627

Two Bedroom Alexandria Condos

93 on the market

Price range from $135K to $1.45 million

Average listing price $375,819

Three Bedroom Alexandria Condos

19 on the market

Price range from $179.9K to $1.55 million

Average listing price $561,955

Over the last 30 days the average final sales price of Alexandria condos that sold was $269,469.  From this you can see that the lower end of the market is selling more readily and briskly than the higher end of the condo market in Alexandria.  On average Alexandria condo sellers are obtaining 93.49% of their original listing price -- showing that there's still quite a bit of room for negotiation.  However, some of that number for January is likely skewed from price reductions that occurred towards the end of 2011 or the beginning of the new year.

Condos sold in an average of 70 days on the market.

The chart below shows the condominium complexes in Alexandria with the highest number of units on the market.

Interested in buying a condo in Alexandria?  Search for Alexandria condos here.

Thinking about selling your Alexandria condo or just want to know the value?  Confidential and free market analysis of your condo's market value.

REALTOR Magazine gets mailed out to over 1 million subscribers.  That's a fairly strong subscription base making it the publication for our industry.  Published by the National Association of REALTORS, the magazine calls itself "The Business tool for Real Estate Professionals" 

So, when you're extensively quoted in a publication of this magnitude, it's a pretty big deal, particularly when the writers have over 1 million REALTORS who they could come to as sources for their articles.  It's an even bigger deal when the article is a featured article mentioned on the cover.

Warning: Shameless horn-tooting here!

One of the cover articles in the January/February 2012 issue of REALTOR Magazine (currently in the mailboxes of REALTORS around the country and online) is "Real Estate's Strongest Sectors for 2012" -- take a look at page 24 if you have the magazine.  Inside the magazine, the article is actually entitled "The Year Ahead: Real Estate's Best Bets in 2012." 

Here's a link to the online version of the article so you can read it in full: REALTOR Magazine article "The Year Ahead: Real Estate's Best Bets in 2012"

I'm excited to be quoted throughout the section on residential real estate trends for 2012.  It's always an honor to be relied upon by the media as a trusted source of real estate information.

Here's just one sample quote from the article:

"Affordable housing in inner-ring suburbs or center city areas may be real estate's sweet spot in 2012, Block says, because buyers today aren't looking just for bargains, they're looking for convenience and lifestyle amenities."

Check out my other recent press coverage at my online newsroom.

NEWSFLASH:  Buying a Home May Be One of the Best Ways to Achieve Happiness!

The pursuit of happiness... It's what we all seek isn't it?  After all this ideal finds prominence in the founding document of our country thanks to Thomas Jefferson who borrowed from John Locke and changed property to "pursuit of happiness."

People try many things to try to find happiness.  And there are many paths to achieving happiness.  You may find it at church, at synagogue, on the sports field, or the dance floor.  Some find it through charitable endeavours and others pathways include Zen meditation.  Helping others, finding new and exciting challenges, life-long learning... any of these things can lead to a happy life.

It's been said that "Money Can't Buy Happiness!"

Well, last week I read an article called "8 Ways that Money Can Buy Happiness" and I concluded that buying a home for the reasons I'll cite below may just be a great way to help achieve happiness!

Why Buying a Home Can Make You Happy:

"Buy more experiences and fewer material goods." -- the article states that:

Asked which of the two purchases made them happier, fully 57% of respondents reported that they had derived greater happiness from their experiential purchase, while only 34% reported greater happiness from their material purchase.

What?  You might say that a home is a material good!  Whatch'a talking about Brian?  And yes, technically a home is a material good -- it's made up of bricks and siding, a roof, plumbing, electrical systems, appliances, etc.  However a home is much more than that.  Homes are much more than the sum of their material parts.  You make memories in your homes.  You raise your families in your homes.  You have good times (and bad) in your homes.  You entertain, you wine, you dine.

Before you buy it, it's a house -- you have an inspection, you make sure everything's working, you negotiate a price.  Once you've been living there, it becomes a home -- or the sum of all the experiences you have there.  No wonder selling it can be such an emotional experience.

Ready for some happiness?

Search for Homes in Northern Virginia

It was just here.  Now it's gone.

Ooohhh.  Here's another one.  Looks promising. Gone too! 

Okay... Don't blink.  Don't turn the other way for even half a second. 

Gonna find that home.

Wait, could've sworn this one was still available.  After all, it was on Zillow, Trulia, and REALTOR.com.  But, yet... it's gone.

What's happening? 

Where'd that home go?  That was our dream house!  Will we ever find one?

...

If you're like many home buyers today, you've had a fairly similar internal dialogue while searching the dearth of homes on the market in Northern Virginia. 

A quick look at inventory numbers tells the story.

Taking the current inventory of homes on the market in each jurisdiction and dividing by the average amount of monthly sales during the last 12 months, here's the state of Northern Virginia housing inventory expressed in number of month's worth of inventory:

Alexandria City:              2.11 months
Arlington County:           2.32 months
Fairfax County:               2.05 months
Falls Church City:            1.37 months
Loudoun County:             3.02 months
Prince William County:  2.28 months

Wow! Considering that a balanced market is defined by 5-6 months' worth of housing inventory, there's almost nothing available.  If no other homes were to go on the market for sale in Falls Church for example, houses would completely sell out there by mid-February 2012!  It's no wonder that homes are nowhere to be found. 

As a Northern Virginia homebuyer, you've got to be prepared to jump when the right available home comes along.

Take a look at the chart below which compares the average days on the market recently with the same statistic 4 years ago (blue line represents recent time period). Boy, has the market changed!  Houses in Northern Virginia are selling on average a full 30 days or more faster than they did back then.

Advice for Buyers:  Search for Northern Virginia homes today!  Contact me to see them as soon as you see something you like so that you don't miss out.

Advice for Sellers:  If you are serious about selling your Northern Virginia home, let's price it right, put it on the market and watch the buyers swarm!

Thinking about living in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia? Get a feel for this vibrant historic area just 7 miles south of the Nation's Capital. Brian Block, a real estate broker with RE/MAX Allegiance provides a guided tour to the sights, sounds and highlights of Old Town.

Search for homes in Old Town Alexandria

Alexandria Virginia Real Estate Market Statistics

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Before looking ahead, it's important to take a look back at real estate sales for 2011.  At the start of 2011, inventory of homes on the market was way down from 2010, the federal homebuyer tax credit was over, and the economy was still in flux. The home sales news for 2011 in Northern Virginia was a mixed bag.  Prices were up in most areas and the market has generally stabilized.  However the overall number of homes sold was down in almost all jurisdictions.

Whether you are planning to sell your home in 2012 are are interested in purchasing a home this year (I know it's on some of your New Year's resolutions lists), it's necessary to understand some numbers -- the number of sales and the amount of inventory available.

How many homes sold in Northern Virginia in 2011?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          % Change from 2010
ALEXANDRIA CITY                 1,970 Homes Sold in 2011                    +3.6%
ARLINGTON COUNTY              2,355 Homes Sold in 2011                     -9.1%
FAIRFAX COUNTY                 12,541 Homes Sold in 2011                    -8.7%
FALLS CHURCH CITY                   193 Homes Sold in 2011                  +36.0%
LOUDOUN COUNTY                   4,773 Homes Sold in 2011                    -2.5%
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY    5,752 Homes Sold in 2011                   -12.2%

In almost all markets with the exception of Alexandria and Falls Church, volume of sales were down.  Prince William County sales numbers dropped by the largest amount.  Overall there were 2,234 less home sales in Northern Virginia in 2011 as compared to 2010 or a total decrease in volume of 7.5%

How many Northern Virginia homes will sell in 2012?  Pull out your crystal balls.  There's a ton of variables this year and the experts and prognosticators vary widely on their predictions of a real estate recovery, the economy, how much foreclosures and short sales will continue to impact our market, the job market, and the new Congress.

INVENTORY ALERT!!

As of the start of 2012, here are the inventories of resale homes listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service:

                                                                                        % Change from 1/1/11
ALEXANDRIA CITY                    347 Homes Available                                 -32.9%
ARLINGTON COUNTY                 455 Homes Available                                  -5.0%
FAIRFAX COUNTY                   2,142 Homes Available                               -14.4%
FALLS CHURCH CITY                     22 Homes Available                                -15.4%
LOUDOUN COUNTY                  1,202 Homes Available                                 -4.2%
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY    1,094 Homes Available                               -19.1%

Overall, inventory numbers are way down from already low inventories at the beginning of 2011.  This could be very good news if you are planning to sell your home this year.  If 2012 home sales continue even at the sluggish 2011 pace, most jurisdictions currently have less than 2-3 months of inventory supply! Incredibly good news if you plan to sell your home and price it right!

IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO NORTHERN VIRGINIA BUYERS AND SELLERS:

You can't control the market.  You can't control the prices or the number of sales. 

The market is constantly changing. 

2012 IS THE TIME to get expert advice, a skilled negotiator, and a savvy real estate broker who knows how to navigate this market to help you with your real estate goals.

Curiously, if you drive by almost any gas station, convenience store, or grocery store, you'll see posted the current price of a gallon of milk, and the cost of a pack of cigarettes.  Since I don't consume either product, these prices don't mean much to me.  However, for others these staple items are benchmarks of the economy as a whole.

So, what do you think?  Should real estate offices post the average sales price each month for homes in the neighborhood right above the entrance?

• A gallon of milk this week was $2.99 at the local gas station. 

• The average sales price for a home in Arlington, VA last month was $512,725.

Would you like to pick up a house on your drive home from work?

Here's the average sales prices around the Northern Virginia area for homes sold in November 2011:

ALEXANDRIA          $450,602

ARLINGTON              $512,725

FALLS CHURCH        $476,768

GREAT FALLS       $1,279,767

MCLEAN                     $851,102

WASHINGTON DC   $514,274

Perhaps we should post a price range, since while the average price in McLean is $851,102, homes sold between $185,000 and $3.5 million.

What's Happening today in the Arlington, Virginia Real Estate Market?

The chart below details all of the closed home sales activity in Arlington, Virginia for November 2011:

And, here's a snapshot of Arlington Virginia home sales in the last 30 days from the middle of November through now:

ARLINGTON VIRGINIA HOME SALES:

• Active homes for sale: 530 -- 119 of those have come on the market within the last 30 days.  Compared to previous months, inventory and listing activity is down significantly.
  
  
• Average listing price in Arlington: $719,806.  Homes are available in Arlington from $59,900 to almost $7 million.  Do you want to see available homes in Arlington by price range?  Click on one or more of the following links (updated every day):
  

  Under $200,000
  $200K to $300K
  $300K to $400K
  $400K to $500K
  $500K to $600K
  $600K to $700K
  $700K to $800K
  $800K to $900K
  $900K to $1M
  $1M to $1.5M
  $1.5M to $2M
  $2M+

• Arlington homes sold in the last 30 days: 175.  At this rate, it would take just 3.03 months for the current Arlington inventory to sell.  If you're considering selling your home in Arlington, the odds are certainly in your favor!
  
  
• Average sales price: $536,012
  
  
• Median sales price: $487,514
  
  
• Average days on market: 45 -- homes are selling on average quite quickly in just over 6 weeks
  
  
• Average sales price/original listing price: 95.18% -- there's some negotiating room.

The highest priced Arlington home sold in the last 30 days was for $1,775,000.

Arlington Virginia Market Statistics Charts

Find a Home in Arlington

You should take your time when searching for a home. 

That's worth repeating:  You should take your time when searching for a home. 

If such an important project is rushed too quickly then you're susceptible to making mistakes not achieving good long-term results.  A home search and home purchase ranks really high on life's priority list.  If you're like most people, you (and your family) will be spending many waking hours and almost all of your sleeping hours in that home for the next 5-7 years.  You don't want to screw this decision up -- the consequences are much farther reaching, much more costly, and much longer-lasting than simply picking the wrong item off the menu at Ruth's Chris (as if that's possible) or bringing home a wrong sized shirt from Macy's.

That being said, there's no reason to waste time either when you are out on a home tour looking at potential homes.  Real estate is a process of elimination.  Working with a good REALTOR and viewing photos, descriptions, and virtual tours online, you've likely eliminated a good many homes before you physically go to view the remaining candidates. 

Take your time and linger in the homes that you like.  Test things.  Search around.  Explore.  That's what the home tour is all about.

In the spirit of eliminating homes from your list of potentials and not wasting time, keep reading below:

HOW TO SIZE UP A HOME IN 8 MINUTES OR LESS

• You Hate The Neighborhood:  Keep on driving!  The home looked perfect online and in the description, but then you got to the neighborhood.  Uh oh.  Abandoned cars.  People storing boats.  Pink flamingoes on the neighbor's lawn.  This is not your idea of the ideal neighborhood.  You can fix up the house but you can't do much about the neighborhood.  No need to get out of the car.  Your REALTOR will understand and will not be offended.  No need to waste your time looking at this house!
  
  
• Match up your priorities:  You've got your wants and needs list.  There are certain things you'll compromise on but others that are dealbreakers.  If you walk into a home and see a dealbreaker, walk right out.  There's no reason to keep looking and to keep saying to yourself "if this home only didn't have..." or "if only this home had..."  Move on.
  
  
• Quick Cursory Glance:  Walk the main floor first -- kitchen, dining room, living room -- these are the important rooms where you'll be spending a lot of time.  Head upstairs.  Look at room sizes, closet space, bathrooms.  Unless you like these areas and want to see more, skip the basement.  If the main levels pass the "smell" test, then explore further.
  
  
• Same floor plan. Look for differences:  Often times when viewing numerous homes, you'll come across similar floor plans.  Don't waste time looking at the same stuff.  Look for differences between this home and others you've seen.  It's the little (and big) differences that matter.
  
  
• Split up:  Want to really save time?  If you're searching for a home with another family member or friend, split up and view different parts of the home simultaneously.  If one of you sees something you love or hate, call the other one over to see it.  If one of you sees a dealbreaker, call the other one and scram.
  
  
• Realize that your first impressions are usually right:  Whether you love the home or you hate it, you'll likely know pretty quickly.  Learn to trust your first impressions.  If you love it, or even really like it, keep exploring the home.  Don't bother pulling out the tape measure and flushing toilets if the home doesn't have the walk-in closet or is in the wrong school zone.

You're on your own timetable.  There's no rush when purchasing a home, but wasting time is an anathema, isn't it?  My favorite home inspector likes to say "Festina Lente -- Make Haste Slowly" -- look it up.