Time to Buy a Home in Northern Va. Especially Prince William County and Manassas.

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.

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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.