Oh yes, we all better get use to short sales since they will be around in large volumes for at least the next three years. In the not so distant past, agents and buyers have shunned the short sale property's as the red headed step child of the sought after REO property (a foreclosed home). With the REO's now selling at a break neck speed in Prince William and Fairfax county short sales have stepped into a more favorable light than in the past.
......A side note for those who have not read my previous blogs, if you are not at the court room steps buying property then the correct term to use is Real Estate Owned or REO. A foreclosure is the legal proceeding initiated by a creditor to repossess the securing collateral for a loan in default.

A short sale is when the owner is selling their home or property for less then what is owed on the loan secured by said property. The challenge with this process is the fact that the mortgagee or lender has to approve the acceptance of less money then what is owed to them to release the lien. This process can be a very long one, for more on how long a short sale can take in Northern Virginia refer to my article Please Do Not Give Up: Short Sales Do Close.

There are two reasons that short sales have become more of a viable option for buyers and agents over the past few months in Northern Virginia. The first one is the fact that REO's appear to be in a shorter supply recently because they are so aggressively priced which brings out deal seeking investors or buyers. This causes them to generate multiple offers and sell fast, and creates more aggressive buyers who loose out on multiple properties. With most buyers once they have lost multiple bids on real estate they become more aggressive with the next property negotiation. This is good for our future economy as long as it does not create another irrational exuberance that got us here in the first place. These buyers look more to other options to purchase and low and behold short sales become that option.

With short sales becoming a better option for distressed sellers then foreclosure, more are being listed everyday. This combined with the fact that buyers are willing to make offers on short sales, aka pre-foreclosure, banks have been forced to approve more and more short sales. This leads me to the second reason why these sales are a more viable option for buyers, banks are getting better and more open to approving these deals. When the real estate market started to collapse banks and/or lenders did not know how to deal with short sales nor were they staffed to handle the volume. Now that we are several years into this mess, the banks/lenders have staffed the loss mitigation departments and have processes in place to approve these kinds of deals.

The real estate market in Northern Virginia as a whole is near or at the bottom when it comes to prices. Refer to my article Home Prices Hit Bottom, so I can impress upon you the fact that real estate is local. There are still many people who are out there making their payments but are very upside down on the value of their home. This is due to the fact they pulled money out of their equity or purchased the home when prices where at or near their peak in 2006. Prices will eventually start to increase again at a normal rate so unfortunately many people may be upside down for several more years. This means over the next few years the owners who get a divorce, transferred, or loss of a job will have to short sale. All the professions associated with real estate including buyers and sellers will have to become familiar with this kind of real estate transaction because they will be around in large numbers for a while.

Joey Remondino is a full time Realtor and Broker with StoneHouse Realty Inc. Specializing in residential homes in Northern Virginia including Manassas City, Manassas Park, Prince William, Fairfax, and Fauquier County. Trained and experienced expert in Relocation, Short Sales, REO's, foreclosures, investments, and any other residential real estate. Joey can guide you through the home buying or selling process.

To search the MLS for a home please click, Search The MLS.

For a free market report on listings and sales in any neighborhood in the Northern Va. area with no sales calls from an agent, sign up here MLS Market Snapshot

      I prefer to sit down with all prospective buyer clients before we ever look at any homes in order to set their expectations of the home buying process. Most people watch the news, talk to their neighbors and chat with co workers about the real estate market and where it is heading. This makes it easy for most to draw simple conclusions on how to negotiate or what should or shouldn't happen while attempting to buy a home, foreclosure, REO, short sale or investment property. Home shoppers conclusions are therefore normally drawn from inexperienced people who get their information from other uninformed people, national news or HGTV. Home buyers should be aware of two critical points, the first is to hire a knowledgeable Realtor and always, always remember real estate is local. 

      Everyone is aware of the current economic collapse and the volatility of the stock market which was evoked by the real estate debacle. What most do not know or keep up with is exactly when did this precipitous fall in prices begin? The answer to this is as vague as a politician during elections since real estate is local and it depends on the individual market to determine exactly when prices began to fall. We can see the first signs of the market beginning its downturn in Manassas City, Manassas Park and much of Prince William County about April of 2006 when home inventory skyrocketed. We do not see this begin in any part of Fairfax County until late in 2006 and even later inside the beltway. When you do more detailed analysis and take a deeper look you can even see dramatic sale price difference from neighborhood to neighborhood in close proximity. This is one reason why it is detrimental to utilize the services of a knowledgeable agent who is familiar and can effective analyze the local market.

      Now that I have explained that that markets can be dramatically different and change quickly we will touch on the main point of this article. Believe it or not, for at least the past 6 months homes in Manassas, Manassas Park and much of Prince William County have been generating multiple offers. A townhome in Manassas that clients I represent, who are investors, made an offer on was priced aggressively and generated 28 other offers in only 10 days. This is very unexpected and hard to believe for many home buyers and investors looking to buy over the past few months. This kind of market can generate asking price or above asking price for aggressively priced homes. Some buyers I have worked with made offers on several homes before they realized that the well priced homes were selling for at least asking price. There are homes on the market that are overpriced so it is important to employee an agent you trust. In case you do not trust your agent have them put together a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) to show the details on the specific neighborhoods current home sale trends.

    There are many opportunities in the Manassas and Prince William real estate market to search for the perfect home or investment property at a great price. With the right agent, a little research and some patience it will not take long to take advantage of the current prices.

To search the MLS for a home please click, Search The MLS.

For a free market report on listings and sales in any neighborhood in the Northern Va. area with no sales calls from an agent, sign up here MLS Market Snapshot.

Joey Remondino is a full time Realtor and Broker with StoneHouse Realty Inc. Specializing in residential homes in Northern Virginia including Manassas City, Manassas Park, Prince William, Fairfax, and Fauquier Counties. Trained and experienced expert in Relocation, Short Sales, REO's, foreclosures, investments, and any other residential real estate. Joey can guide you through the home buying or selling process.

I do get asked the question a lot whether a new home is a good deal or is resale the best rout to go. The answer to this is based off individual needs but when it comes down to just price a resale home normally wins out. This is not the case when it comes to the pricing of the new condo subdivision Lee's Commons being built in Old Town Manassas. The current pricing on these units are very aggressive and are just priced slightly above Foreclosures, REO's and short sales in the area.

Ryan Homes the builder of these condos have not sold many units lately and that is what I believe the reason for the aggressive pricing. I believe the lack of sales has to do with the simple fact they do not have a model on site yet. This will change soon since the model should be done and decorated by the start of next year. I of course recommend before stopping in to any new builder sales office to employee a Realtor to go with you. There are many reasons why a buyer should have an agent and they can be found in this article, Negotiating with New Home Builders in Northern Virginia.

The resale value should remain strong on these units in the future due to the fact of all that Old Town Manassas has to offer. Those commuters that do not want to fight traffic have the VRE within walking distance to these condos. There are also plenty of attractions and restaurants that are within walking distance which makes it attractive to those who want to save on gas. The popularity of True walkable Communities have increased of the past few years and will continue to do so, For more information on the Old Town Manassas area take a look at this article, Relocation information on Manassas Va.

Those buyers looking for a good value on a new condo should consider the Lee's Commons community. Please contact me if you need to employ an agent to help negotiate and understand the pitfalls of the builder's sales contract. Remember the builder will pay the agents commission.

To search the MLS for a home please click, Search The MLS.

For a free market report on listings and sales in any neighborhood in the DC Metro area with no sales calls from an agent, sign up here MLS Market Snapshot.

Joey Remondino is a full time Realtor and Broker Specializing in residential homes in Northern Virginia including Prince William, Fairfax, and Fauquier Counties. Trained and experienced expert in Relocation, Short Sales, REO's, foreclosures, investments, and any other residential real estate. Joey can guide you through the home buying or selling process.

The Federal Reserve cut rates on October 29th to 1% to help the struggling market, but how does this help the consumer?
This is lowering the short term interest rate which in turn will cause banks to lower their prime rate, usually within a few hours or days. This directly affects most car loans, credit cards, student loans, home -equity lines of credit, and home equity loans (aka second mortgages). The one type of loan this does not directly affect is the fixed rate mortgages many people use to purchase homes. These loans are tied to the 10 year treasury bound which fluctuates based on economic outlooks and/or inflation. What this means is even if the Fed lowers short term rates fixed mortgage rates can go up or down, and with this cut they did take a modest up tick.

Arm's, Adjustable Rate Mortgages, are influenced by either Treasury averages or LIBOR depending on the loan and bank; Therefore, many of these loans lowered by their next adjustment in November. These are the basic principles that cover the majority of consumer loans but in no way encompass all loans products available.


Let's hope this helps the struggling market because with the rate now at 1% there is not much lower it can go.
To search the MLS for a home please click, Search The MLS.

For a free market report on listings and sales in any neighborhood in the DC Metro area with no sales calls from an agent, sign up here MLS Market Snapshot.

Joey Remondino is a full time Realtor and Broker Specializing in residential homes in Northern Virginia including Prince William, Fairfax, and Fauquier Counties. Trained and experienced expert in Relocation, Short Sales, REO's, foreclosures, investments, and any other residential real estate. Joey can guide you through the home buying or selling process.

The late summer and early fall have been a blur for me with all the buyers and investors looking for foreclosures, REO's, short sales, or whatever deal they can get their hands on. With the credit crisis and the prices that have rapidly declined over the past year or so the deals are plentiful and ripe for the picking. Many agents in the heat of the market can attest to the fact that many properties are receiving many offers and getting over asking price. This however is a result of banks pricing homes so low in order to create a bidding war among aggressive buyers. I personally have several investors and buyers who have lost bids on multiple homes due to the competition that is growing ever larger.

The question I am sure you are asking, is this the bottom of the housing market collapse? Unfortunately the answer to this is as ambiguous as the two Presidential Candidates are when asked a direct question. The answer is yes and no and depends on one obvious but important factor. It depends on the neighborhood.

Many of the home prices in Prince William County, Manassas City, and Manassas Park have been driven down more and faster then most Northern Va. areas because of the huge number of foreclosures and short sales. The reasons for the large numbers of distressed properties are many and very depending on opinion. Whatever the reason the point is some neighborhoods and areas have higher concentrations of distressed homes which cause these areas to be priced lower due to competition. An analysis on how much some of these homes would cost to build shows a price higher then the current list price which makes a good buy.

People are now realizing that some property is selling at prices that are equal to or cheaper then renting. For example there are townhomes in Belmont Station in Manassas Park selling around $175,000 that were selling just a few years ago in the $380,000 price range. (You can find a mortgage calculator here to find your monthly payment.) These homes are within walking distance to the Manassas Park VRE station which makes them more desirable for renters or buyers. I believe that the bottom of this neighborhood has been reached. In the past 4 months homes that were aggressively priced from 155,000 to 175,000 in this neighborhood have gone under contract in the matter of days. Many of these homes had multiple offers placed on them and generated contracts at or above asking price. These homes last sold in this price range in the year 2000 and 2001 before the "irrational exuberance" in the housing market. I have also discovered that in the last three months the average days on the market for homes sold in this neighborhood has been only 26 days.

This is an example of just one neighborhood, I am aware of many more in the area that are without a doubt at or very close to bottom. Please remember this may very based on neighborhood and condition of the home and there are areas that have more room for a price decline. You can also find a report I was interviewed for in the Washington Post discussing the same topic.

To search the MLS for a home please click, Search The MLS.

For a free market report on listings and sales in any neighborhood in the DC Metro area with no sales calls from an agent, sign up here MLS Market Snapshot.

Joey Remondino is a full time Realtor and Broker Specializing in residential homes in Northern Virginia including Prince William, Fairfax, and Fauquier Counties. Trained and experienced expert in Relocation, Short Sales, REO's, foreclosures, investments, and any other residential real estate. Joey can guide you through the home buying or selling process.

Those of you who have read My Blogin the past are aware that I have been away for 5 months.  This is forever in the fast moving no stop world of blogging, but it was required for the benefit of my clients.  In this time I have been very busy selling and buying real estate in Northern Va for my clients who are first time home owners, investors, home sellers, and yes selling foreclosures for the banks I work with.  The most time consuming client I work with these days are my short sale clients.

I have continued this past spring and summer working with owners who have found themselves upside down in their home.  This is a very upsetting for those owners who have to sell their homes due to job loss, divorce, transfer, medical challenges, or many other reasons.  I have been working with these clients in Prince William County and the buyers who want to purchase a short sale.  The process of getting these sales approved has not become any easier and even with some lenders like Countrywide and Citi Mortgage it has even become more difficult.  I have written posts in the past about What is a Short Sale and What Price to Offer on a Short Sale and in all of them I have stressed patience.

 The most important aspect of short sales for buyers, sellers, and agents alike has been and will continue to be patience.  Lenders, investors, loan servicing centers and banks are slow to respond, loose paperwork, disconnect calls, and plain just do not care for the plight of the individual home owner.  This puts the burden of responsibility on the home owner and Agent to be tenacious and constantly call the bank for daily updates on progress of the approval.  Sellers need to make sure they hire a local short sale expert who will work hard to get the home under contract and the deal approved by the note holder.  The seller also needs to be involved with the process by calling and sending requested paperwork, multiple times.

The home owner who wants to attempt a short sale also has to have a legitimate reason to have to sell their home. These reasons I mentioned earlier including divorce, income loss, rate adjustment, medical bills, transfer, or just can't afford the payment.  The agents who are putting short sales on the market just because the owner does not want to be upside down are hurting the rest of the market.  These short sales will not get approved and will waste the time of buyers, their agents and is leaving a bad taste for short sales.

I have closed every short sale I have put on the market up to the writing of this article. (I hope I didn't just jinx myself)  Each of them had a legitimate reason to sell and the owners were involved in the long process of getting them approved.  I have only had one that was relatively simple and that loan was serviced by Aurora Loan Servicing but the rest were very challenging and time consuming.   The longest approval process has taken me 150 days to get the property approved and settled and took a great deal of patience and hard work the owner and my part.  This deal just closed last month and if you want to see his recommendation letter just click here.

 Short Sales do close and will continue to close as long as the listing agent is tenacious and all parties are patient.

 To search the MLS for a home please click, Search The MLS.

 For a free market report on listings and sales in any neighborhood in the DC Metro area with no sales calls from an agent, sign up here MLS Market Snapshot.

 Joey Remondino is a full time Realtor and Broker Specializing in residential homes in Northern Virginia including Prince William, Fairfax, and FauquierCounties.  Trained and experienced expert in Relocation, Short Sales, REO's, foreclosures, investments, and any other residential real estate.  Joey can guide you through the home buying or selling process.

Here is a recommendation from a recent client, I hope I can live up to it.

 This letter is to recommend Joey Remondino as the realtor of choice.

I came to Joey after a web search for realtors who perform short sales. I placed calls to several realtors, leaving voice messages for each. Joey responded immediately and we engaged in a lengthy conversation during that initial phone call. I was impressed with his detailed knowledge and professional manner from the start. I also contacted three references, all of whom gave Joey high praise. Joey is personable and he knows his business. He is a consummate professional who understands the market and is aware of current trends and factors that could affect the sale. I interviewed several realtors in my home. Joey was the most well prepared of them all. He was early, impeccably dressed, and had prepared a detailed market analysis and strategy of his approach to sell my home. I had a list of prepared questions and he answered them all. He arranged his schedule to fit my needs, not only for the initial interview, but during our entire relationship. He and I were a team, working together for a common goal. He is excellent with communication, always returning messages in a timely manner and keeping me informed of the absolute latest developments, something that is critical in conducting a short sale. In short sales, there can be many tripping points that can derail the process, and Joey stayed on top of things during some challenging periods.

After a review of his plan and my decision to go forward with Joey, we placed my home on the market in February 2008. After receiving an immediate offer, Joey went into high-gear. Due to the sheer volume of short sale requests, lenders are overwhelmed with paperwork and cases to process. There are frequent missed phone calls and incomplete faxes, with the consequences being delays in processing and approving the short sale as the foreclosure deadline approaches. Joey is keenly aware of this and is a tenacious agent for his clients. He spent countless hours on the phone staying on top of the lender and negotiating deadlines and agreements with the lender and buyer. It is no exaggeration to say that Joey was the glue that held together the delicate short sale that led to my successful outcome. I cannot state in strong enough terms my complete satisfaction with his handling of my sale, and I offer my highest possible recommendation for Joey Remondino for any real estate needs you may have.

Please feel free to contact me at any time - it would be a pleasure to answer any further questions you may have.

Sincerely, 

Jed C. Kane

To search the MLS for a home please click, Search The MLS.

 For a free market report on listings and sales in any neighborhood in the DC Metro area with no sales calls from an agent, sign up here MLS Market Snapshot.

  Joey Remondino is a full time Realtor and Broker Specializing in residential homes in Northern Virginia including Prince William, Fairfax, and Fauquier Counties.  Trained and experienced expert in Relocation, Short Sales, REO's, foreclosures, investments, and any other residential real estate.  Joey can guide you through the home buying or selling process.