Danilo Bogdanovic-Real Estate Consultant -Loudoun and Fairfax County

Every home buyer and investor in Loudoun County as well as the rest of the world is looking for one thing - the best possible deal. Whether it's an appreciating or declining market, the goal of every home buyer and investor is to buy a property that fits their needs for less than any other comparable property currently for sale or that has sold in the area.

But what if there were more home buyers and investors than great deals? This creates more demand than supply and translates to multiple buyers and multiple offers on the same property.

Think I'm crazy for making these claims in this market? Well, let's look at my personal experiences over the last few weeks as an agent working with buyers and investors in Loudoun County...

Out of the eight offers I've written for home buyers and investors in Loudoun County so far this month, seven of them were competing against at least one, if not up to four other offers.

In addition, I ended up not writing two other offers because the properties that my clients were interested in went under contract inbetween the time they saw them and when they decided to present an offer.

I'm not saying that you should be foolish and make any decisions you're not really ready to make. Nor am I saying that you should get wrapped up in the emotions of a competing offer situation and pay more for the property that you set out to spend.

What I am saying is, be prepared.

• Be prepared to be in a competing offer situation and have the highest price you're willing to pay for the property in the forefront of your mind prior to presenting any offer.
• Be prepared when your agent contacts you asking for your "best and final offer". Your agent is simply doing their job by passing on the question they were posed by the seller.
• Be ready to walk away and move on to another property when the other offers go above your "best and final offer" and you get the call or email saying that the seller accepted another offer.

And don't take it personal.

The moral of the story? Understand that there will be other buyers who will also think that the property is a great deal and be prepared for what comes along with that. If you're prepared and have a game plan in place ahead of time, you will be able to keep a cool head and make smart and timely decisions should this type of situation present itself.

For more Loudoun County buyer tips, stats and resources, check out LoudounStats.com and LoudounForeclosures.com.

A quick look at sales activity in January for Loudoun County shows that foreclosure activity continues to increase. As of today, 148 of the 272 sales in the county are bank owned, reo, foreclosure, short sale or some other form of distressed property.

These properties now account for 54% of the total number of homes being sold. That is up from 46% in December (106/229) and 38% in November (107/280).

A couple of observations about these numbers:

Non-distressed sales (124) are down from 173 in November and flat versus December (123). This number should be up significantly over December numbers. Last year there were 93 more non-distressed sales in January vs December. This tells us that buyers are continuing to look for values and are searching out the distressed properties to find them.

Note: Two houses in Beacon Hill went under contract this month. Both were foreclosures.

39% of the total listings that have come on the market this month are foreclosures or short sales. This compares to only 11% versus January of last year, but it is less than the 49% in December.

33.7% of current listings are foreclosures, short sales or some other form of distressed sale (827/2456).

For more information on foreclosure/REO, short-sale and distressed properties in Loudoun County, VA, check out Loudoun Foreclosures.

For statistics, data, resources and general information on the real estate market in Loudoun County, VA, check out Loudoun Stats.

If you missed it, there was an article on the front page of the Washington Post as well as LoudounExtra.com about a week ago regarding the effect of subprime loans and foreclosures/bank-owned properties on property values. It compared the different cities and counties within the Washington, DC metro area, including Sterling Park. It also compared the DC metro area to other areas of the U.S. such as Nevada and California.

According to the article, areas outside the Beltway have been hit the hardest. We would have to agree with that statement. In Northern Virginia, Prince William County has been the hardest with regard to foreclosures with Loudoun County a close second. But it's not as bad as Prince George's County, Maryland, where 42 percent of the home-purchase loans made in 2006 were subprime.

The article also goes on to say how foreclosures/bank-owned properties are dragging the prices of "regular" resales down. This is being felt by everyone in this area as well as the rest of the country. Until this trend reverses, prices may not be able to rebound and may continue to go down.

According to one source, Pulte Homes is merging their metro area operations including Baltimore and Northern Virginia into one in response to the current conditions of the local real estate market. Pulte just laid off (an undisclosed number of) employees this week and cut bonuses and pay increases for 2008.

With the local and national real estate market in turmoil and new home sales way down, I'm sure that Pulte is not the only builder following this route. According to a Washington Post article that came out yesterday, new home construction dropped 24.8 percent in 2007 from 2006. This is the biggest drop since 1980. Builders are cutting back until they reduce inventory to levels that properly reflect lower buyer demand.

What affect does this have on consumers? Well, so far, neither my clients or I have seen or felt any negative affect in the level of service during our dealings with Pulte Home here locally in Loudoun County. And, in the process of trying to unload inventory, Pulte and other builders have been lowering base prices and/or offering huge buyer incentives, which many buyers are taking full advantage of.

I would like to formally announce my move from the CC Sells Team/Keller Williams Realty to Market Advantage Real Estate, LLC. After a great 4 years with the CC Sells Team/Keller Williams Realty, it was time for me to move on.

Market Advantage is also located in and focused on Eastern Loudoun County so the move will not affect my primary area of focus nor level of service. In fact, I will now be able to provide buyers and sellers with a greater variety of services to choose from as well as more flexibility in other aspects (more to come on this soon).

I wish the best to everyone at CC Sells and look forward to working with CC Sells on my buyer deals that involve their listings and vice versa.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our move, please email or call me. I'd be happy to chat with you at any time.