Real Estate Blog - Prince William County- The Real Estate Madness Escalates

Home : Blogs : Cindy Jones-Northern Virginia Real Estate & Military Relocation Services : Perspective and News On Northern Virginia Real Estate

Prince William County- The Real Estate Madness Escalates

If you are thinking of buying a home in Prince William County (VA) then you need to get a move on it! Buyers have realized that the price is right and interest rates probably won't get much lower and are snapping up homes in Prince William County faster than they can be listed.

Buyers searching through the MLS on their own see dozens of homes that fit their search criteria. They get excited about all of the listings and think WOW look at all of the possibilities. Won't they can't see is the agent remarks that say "multiple offers received", "best and final only", "contracts sent to the lender" and "no more offers being considered."

So the list of dozens of homes that you think you want to see may turn out to be only one or two homes that are actually available. Does this sound familiar? We have returned to the crazy days of real estate when as soon as a home was listed buyers swarmed to take a look. Yesterday my buyers and I ran into 4 agents in one home that had just come on the market. The price was fantastic but the water covering the basement floor sent us running for the door. I'm willing to bet though that it will be under contract by the middle of next week.

One property on our must see list, came on the market in Lake Ridge on Thursday already had 5 offers on it and another one had 15! Yes you read that right 15 offers in 3 days. What does this mean if you are a buyer in the lower price brackets? It means that you need to have your financing in order and be ready to make an offer when you see the property you want.

A recent review of recent SOLD properties in the Lake Ridge neighborhood in Prince William County shows that many properties are selling for more than list price and the average days on the market was 13.

Lake Ridge List to Sales Price Ratio 2009

If you aren't working with a buyer's agent then give the Cindy Jones team a call at 703-346-2213. We have been helping our buyers sift through the stacks of available foreclosures, short sales and regular sales in this 2009 spring market. No hassle, no pressure, just straight talk about buying a new home in today's current market.

Posted by Cindy Jones-Northern Virginia Real Estate & Military Relocation Services on 04/12/2009 02:03 PM

Comments (14)

Prince William County Real Estate in the Home Buying Channel

woodbridge va, buying a home in lake ridge, prince william county real estate, woodbridge foreclosures

This post has been included in Virginia Information Prince William County, VA Information Woodbridge, VA Information
Post is included in group: VIRGINIA
Post is included in group: RE/MAX Active Rain Bloggers
Post is included in group: Market Updates
Post is included in group: Market Reports
Post is included in group: Local Expert

14 Comments on Prince William County- The Real Estate Madness Escalates

APR

Indeed. I ran into an interesting phenomenon recently that I'll write about shortly.

Cindy: The buyers market is over. The prices and rates are still great, but more and more buyers are competing for fewer and fewer properties. Can really drive a buyer nuts if they don't have an agent preparing them for it. All you need to do is point them to this blog.

Lets add into the mix the tons of homes that show ACTIVE, (with no remakrs)..but really arn't.. :) Then we have to spend a good part of an hour calling the agents to hear.....sorry...under contract.. :)

I'm experiencing the same thing down here in Atlanta. This seems to be a sign that things are starting to turn.

Lenn-saw your post. I have two buyers right now who haven't been successful in getting an offer accepted.

Chris Ann-I would be surprised if we will find many properties below 150K soon accept for some that just need so much work that the bank is going to have to offer some crazy incentives to get them sold.

Konnie-that is a whole different kettle of fish. The MRIS and agents need to start changing the status to either TEMP OFF or some other status instead of leaving them ACTIVE and putting in the agent remarks "contract accepted waiting for bank approval". It is a waste of everyones time including our buyers who are getting automated listings and most of them aren't available.

Tim-certainly hope your market is picking up too.

APR

Cindy,
I love to hear news like this!

Cynthia-it is a good news/bad news situation. I have buyers now who may once again be priced out of the market or forced into a bidding war. It is back to making sure that they are well informed about the process and their decisions. It is good news in that prices should start to rise and hopefully stabalize in some areas.

15 offers, wow!!! Have you been able to write contracts recently for your buyers, and if so, did you have to go over asking price?

Penny-I've had a couple of re-sale offers not make it through the rounds recently. My latest closings have all been new construction and those are going forward with negotations of upgrades and price reductions.

Cindy - you are so right about houses being 'priced right' now. I found myself just yesterday in the position of having to forcefully stick up for my price to the agent who claimed my seller had to come down even though it was priced right because "it's a buyers market". We didn't and they still bought. If you have the prettiest apple in the stack and the buyer wants it...

For that reason I am saying to buyers right now, do you want a deal on a great house right now or do you want to wait for the 'leftovers'?

APR

SarahGray-you are right. If you have it priced right most buyers "get it" but if they don't in our current market it will be gone.

This blog does not allow anonymous comments