Bristow, VA

Braemar Property Values for September-October 2009 have just been calculated for the Carriage Series homes. What's a Carriage Series home? That's easy. These are single family homes with detached garages. (Of course, not all Carriage home have a garage. Some homes chose to have only asphalt where the garage would normally sit.) The models that make up the Carriage Series homes are: Maplewood, Norwood, Oakdale and Parkdale.

Braemar Property Values for the Carriage Series this report are an average of the past two months sales. In September and October there were three resales. One Norwood and two Parkdale models. This gives us a mix of smaller and larger Carriage Homes.

Sadly, the average Property Value for a Braemar Carriage home is $262,000 this report. That's a 10.6% decrease in value since last report (july-August 2009), and the lowest property value since I began this report in mid-2005.

During the decline our real estate market, Braemar Carriage Homes have maintained their position as a top performing house. They neverlost the same ground as the larger homes around them. That's probably because Braemar Carriage Homes were a great alternative to townhouses, and much less expensive than the larger homes around them. Now, as the larger homes begin their recovery, the Carriage Homes are declining steeply.

If you put your Braemar Carriage Home on the market today, and priced it to current market condition, this latest report indicates that you can expect to have your home under contract in about one week's time. You can also expect to be asked to pay an average of 2.5% of the buyer's closing costs.

The next Braemar Property Value Report will be out in January. Until then, you can check back into average sale prices dating back to 2005 on my website: www.nvarealestate.net. Click the link on the left for Braemar Property Value Report Online and scroll down until you see the heading Carriage Series. The page will look like this:

Braemar Carriage homes will continue to be in demand as they are great alternative to townhouses for first time buyers. And with the extension of the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit, there will be many first time home buyers looking for a home like a Braemar Carriage Home. If you'd like to put yours on the market, give me a call. No one knows Braemar better!

Chris Ann Cleland, Realtor, Licensed in VA, Long & Foster

703-402-0037, chrisann@LNF.com

I LOVE doing inspections on old, historic homes in Alexandria, Virginia.

The city is so full of history, virtually everywhere you go.

Over the years I have done many inspections on many historic homes there.

Yesterday was no exception.

This is a carriage house to a mansion directly behind. It was built in 1860. While nobody could tell me who the owner(s) of the mansion were over the years, it was fun nonetheless to have a look at the place.

While a bit hard to see in this photo, there have been many repairs to the brick work over the decades. There has been settling.

There were serious repairs evident in the crawl space below. Everything appeared to have been done very well.

While there were a few things to bring up on the report, nothing too severe to be easily fixed.

The buyer wants to do remodeling too, so some of the things can be done when that is underway.

Next to this house there is one of the two original cobblestone streets preserved by the city. It is fun to walk on them and know they have been there a long time.

Doing the inspection was a pleasure.

This is what you see looking out a rear bedroom window.

The house on the left is the historic mansion for which this is the carriage house. It is located on a famous thoroughfare in Alexandria.

The house on the right, I was told, is Robert E. Lee's childhood home. His front door faces the mansion. You can see that when his house was built, they had duplexes!

From this angle you cannot see how pretty the back yard is. It is narrow and long and a little park.

The walls surrounding it are eight feet high.

They have been there a while too.

This is the view of the side of the house. It shows the pathway between the two houses, all the way to the mansion seen behind, about 50 yards away.

Question:

Look carefully and you can see four stars.

WHAT ARE THEY FOR?

Home inspectors probably will know what they do.

Hint: The stars are NOT decorative!

Hint: There are four more stars on the other side directly opposite these.

Hint: You will not find them on new structures.

You can pick this little puppy up for just under $1 million! Well, that is, if the new buyer is willing to sell. Likely he is not. But who knows? Maybe you can cut him a deal.

My recommendation: When you purchase an old, historic property, try to find out the history. That will make the whole experience come alive. Who knows - a Founding Father may have slept in your bedroom!

Why don't I?

Because either way I go I take it on the chin. But if I don't mention it, sooner or later I will be bitten in the hiney.

Bring up what?

The two small, decorative roofs over the front porch roof window are not level - look at the trim. The right side is much worse than the left, but you can see that neither is level.

And the guardrail is not level either.

The buyer did not even notice it. If the building supervisor did, he had not tried to correct it. But I am a purist and I look for things like that, particularly on new homes.

Why don't I like to bring these kinds of things up? Because once the buyer sees it, it will always be noticed. And it will eventually be a bother!

If I don't bring it up, one day the buyer will notice, or the neighbor across the street will bring it up. Then I get the phone call - perceived structural problems (when there aren't any)!

So it was brought to the buyer's attention and put into the report. The mention got heads shaking.

Overall it was a nice house, with just a few mentionables. But...

At least it has American drywall!

My recommendation: It is always best to be complete and thorough. Sometimes, though, that causes problems in and of itself!

At a home inspection yesterday on a brand-new house, my client was buying a home built by one of the companies that has installed Chinese drywall in the past.

They are having obvious problems because of that installation.

My client wanted assurance that there was no Chinese drywall in this house.

I was able to find a spot where the stamps were visible to show that this drywall, in fact, was American made!

While I cannot guarantee that there is no Chinese drywall in the house, it is a pretty good bet that there is none! This builder likely wouldn't open that can of worms again, a scant couple of years later. Especially since it's in the news.

Although Chinese drywall is showing up in more and more states and locations, it is apparently not in this neighborhood in Northern Virginia.

My recommendation: if you have concerns when selling a house built any time from 2004 on that there may be Chinese-made drywall, have your inspector try to find the stamps on the backside that demonstrate where it had been manufactured. Peace of mind is worth a million bucks... and a picture says a thousand words.

Braemar Proerty Values for September-October 2009 have just been tabulated for the Arista Series. The Arista Series consists of the large, single family homes built by Brookfield Homes and will be one of three models: Allister, Buckingham or Canterbury. If you have one of these models, this Braemar Property Value Report pertains to you.

Braemar Property Values were impacted by only one resale in the Arista Series this report, so there was no averaging necessary. One resale means the average market value is the sale price of the one sale. That resale was a loaded Allister, comparable in square footage to the average size Canterbury. Braemar's average property value for Arista homes is now $410,000, up 1.7% since last report (July-August 2009).

That puts us EXACTLY where we were one year ago. That is actually something to be happy about since we have been losing ground year after year since I started this report in July 2005. You can't gain any ground until you stop losing it.

If you needed to sell your Canterbury or Allister model homes, and priced it to current market conditions, you could expect to have your home under contract in less than one month's time. Whether a buyer would ask for closing cost assistance...well...with just one sale, it's hard to know.

The next Braemar Property Value Report will be out in mid January. Until then, if you would like to view average sale prices for Breamear homes dating back to 2005, you can visit my website: www.nvarealestate.net. Click the link for Braemar Property Value Report Online and the Arista Series numbers will be the first you see. It will look like this:

If you are thinking of selling your Braemar home, please give me a call. No one knows Braemar better!

Chris Ann Cleland, Realtor, Licensed in VA, Long & Foster

703-402-0037, chrisann@LNF.com