No, I did not go to Chris Cooley's house, but his house does tell us a good story about the Northern Virginia Real Estate market. Purchased a couple years ago for nearly $3,000,000 the home is now estimated to be worth under $2,000,000 according to a recent article in the Washingtonian. At nearly $1,000,000 underwater most would be scampering for solutions or ways out. Obviously Chris Cooley is uniquely positioned to handle this problem should he be traded (how likely is that, really?), but unique income stream aside his housing situation is not actually unique and does answer a common question for Northern Virginia Real Estate.
In the $1m+ pricing tier this situation is actually quite common in this area. I have seen formerly $1.5m homes sell for less than $800k, $2.5m homes sell for $1.2m, and $6m homes sell for $3m (all general ball-park numbers). A series of facts that also answers this most common of questions, "if housing is so bad how is this area still so stinking expensive?"
When looking at luxury property in these price ranges it is easy to see what IS, and overlook the comparison to what WAS. Yes, a home on Georgetown Pike may sell for $2.5m, but it may have been listed three years ago for $4m. If that is not a major hit to someone's value I don't know what is. Not only that, it is an amazing opportunity for someone who is financially capable of capitalizing.
The moral here is that, yes, Northern Virginia Real Estate is still posting some shocking numbers price wise. However, what someone can get for their money has changed dramatically in some pricing tiers, and especially in the luxury market. Further proof of this is that, percentage wise, the luxury home tier in Northern Virginia has a rapidly growing rate of foreclosure and a constant stream of short sale listings.
For a sample of luxury short sale and foreclosure properties have a look at the listings below.
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