Nancy Pav

GO GREEN

SAVE GREEN

Help our world while not spending a lot of money!!

Where: Long & Foster Ashburn

43490 Yukon Dr. #105

Ashburn, VA 20147

When: August 13th

6pm

Why: Learn about common sense solutions for the home to help you save money wile helping our planet

Our presenter is Pete Hampel, a Certified Green Professional

RSVP: Nancy Pav

703-726-3421

by August 5th, please.

I was driving home from work one evening when I was fortunate enough to be able to stop at the light so I could take this picture. I was in my neighborhood of Lansdowne on the corner of Lansdowne Blvd and Riverside Parkway. I thought the colors were so pretty, I just pulled out the camera, rolled down the window and took this picture.

The Spring Lakes neighborhood is located just off of Fort Evans Rd. For commuting purposes, you're close enough to Rte 15 and Rte 7 but yet not close enough that you see and hear the cars whizzing by. Shopping is convenient too. Bloom and Giant are just a quick ride away. If you prefer Harris Teeter, it's a little further away and for all of you Wegman's fans, there will be a new one in November '09 at the intersection of Rte 7 and Rivercreek Parkway.

You'll find both single family homes and townhomes in Spring Lakes.

The neighborhood amenities include tot lots and a pool. Looking for a summer swim team for the kids? You'll find it here too!

Currently, the Spring Lakes Homeowners Association is being managed by Armstrong Management. Click here to get the most current information regarding the HOA.

If you're thinking of buying, selling or renting property...please feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to help.

Everybody bandies about the terms Buyer's market and Seller's Market but do they or more importantly you know what they mean.

The most basic definition of a buyer's market is when the supply exceeds the demand. We see that in lots of places today...I'm thinking cars. That's a good start but how about when it comes to real estate, can we be a little more precise? I found a good article online entitled "How To Spot a Buyers Market" It states that a buyers market is when you have greater than a 6 month inventory of homes.

I decided to take a look at the numbers, using the entire year of 2008 plus January of 2009, here in Loudoun County to see exactly which type of market we're in.

I first looked at Solds -remember though a settlement usually occurs 30 to 60 days after contract signing, so this is not a good indicator of how many people are looking for and contracting homes in the month.

MONTH #OF MONTHS SUPPLY

1/08 14.97

2/08 12.57

3/08 9.79

4/08 8.44

5/08 6.82

6/08 6.04

7/08 5.99

8/08 5.49

9/08 6.19

10/08 7.10

11/08 7.9

12/08 6.03

1/09 8.05

From these numbers, you can see how, as we went through the spring market, the numbers hovered around the 6 month mark and in some cases dipped below a 6 month supply and as we went into the winter months the supply increased. The numbers in December are skewed since many REALTORS enter their new homes sales at the end of the year.

Also note that January of '08 and '09 are remarkably different. The inventory has gone down by about 6 months! And in January of '09, there were 2,288 active listings. The last time we saw a number that low was in August of 2005 which was when the market in our area started to change.

Here's the same information using pendings-homes that went under contract in the month

MONTH #OF MONTHS SUPPLY

1/08 8.53

2/08 7.90

3/08 6.42

4/08 5.35

5/08 5.38

6/08 5.30

7/08 5.35

8/08 4.97

9/08 4.78

10/08 6.37

11/08 6.36

12/08 5.91

1/09 4.94

Wow!! Look at those numbers. For most of 2008, using the classic definition, we were in a seller's market!! I know, I know..you're probably thinking,"it sure didn't feel like it!!" Yes, the prices are down. This is due to the number of bank-owned properties that are out there. But the reason we're seeing these numbers is due to the shrinking inventory. And here's the data , if you're so inclined to look at this information yourself.

So, if you're thinking about buying, what are you waiting for? Everybody else to jump in the pool? THEY ARE!! Want to be one of 12 offers??? THAT'S HAPPENING TOO! Prices to go up? IT WON'T BE LONG!

And, if you're selling, what are you waiting for?

We had, what we in northern Virginia, call a snowstorm....maybe 2 inches of snow fell. And as is the norm here, traffic came to a standstill. The storm moved out just as the sun was setting and left us with a beautiful sunset.

I took this pictures from the back of my home in Lansdowne.