Jay Hurst

Back to the pent up demand-

A lot of agents I speak with say there is a backlog of buyers, just waiting for the right signals in the marketplace. They predict these buyers
will swing into action at the sign of increasing prices.

OK, it sounds reasonable, however if you look at the shear volume of foreclosures and folks that are right up to the ceiling on their debt, I wonder exactly where these buyers will come from?

Surely, you would not include the buyers that must move, like relocation buyers and sellers. These clients have a need that is not driven by a market force.
That leaves basically three remaining groups - First Time Buyers, Investors, and Buyers who are moving up. ( moving down is almost impossible if you are in a pre-foreclosure situation).

Investors are a good group for a market turnaround. If they got out in time to make a profit a few years back, then now would be the time. Still, we have seen a 2500 percent increase in purchases of investment style properties this year. Maybe they have already made their move with the cheap homes in the bank owned market.

First Time Buyers are also in a good position right now, and from our experince, many of our buyers were renters last year this time.

Buyers who are moving up may be the group that is sitting on the fence. Their home equity really took a hit lately. That is impacting what they can do, and more importantly, when they can do it.

So, the bottom line is that until we see a solid home equity increase across the board, the flocks of buyers may still sit on the fence.

JH

Many of my agent friends have been sitting around talking about " the bottom of the market". Interesting. The theory is that at some point,
home prices do cease dropping, and stabilize. Then at some point begin to rise. History tell us this will happen. Why are they waiting for this? They want things to go back to the “bubble” time a few years back. They also feel there is a pent up demand. More on that in my next blog.

Well, I am proud to say that in most of the areas in McLean and Vienna we began seeing this trend towards the end of July.

Does that mean it is time to buy ( for you folks sitting on the fence )?
Sure. But, it is always a good time to buy if you plan to use your home as a home, and not simply as a share of stock.
Here is the rub. We see interest rates heading back up for various reasons. We also see the most active areas turning the corner in home prices. Of course, there was a 21 percent drop in our area before all of this began to settle down. But, if you are living in your home, and the average is 7 years, then you are just fine.

So, our report is that for the most prized locations - such as next to Metro stations and shopping, we are seeing an actual increase in home prices. More so than that, we are seeing an increase in sales. There are still markets, especially the western suburbs, that are in a declining pricing model. But, history also tells us that they are the last to feel an upward trend.

With interest rates still low, it is a great time to buy a home in Vienna, Fairfax, and McLean.

JH

After the success of Talley Hurst Homes and our great year in 2007, we decided to look at where we had most of our business and see what we could do to help both buyers and sellers in certain niche homes. McLean is a relatively small geographic area and offers an outstanding range of well built townhouses in about 24 areas.

McLeanTownhouse.com is the best web site to find a townhouse with the best address in Northern Virginia. From the entry level homes in The Westerlies, to the multimillion dollar investments at Merryhill, there is something for almost every price range. Granted, McLean is not a "cheap" location. Given its close location to Washington, D.C. and access to Tyson's Corner and the large international corporate presense, values here wil always be solid.

If you are looking or getting ready to interview agents for a sale, please add us to your list. Our system of networking, 16 web site coverage, and print marketing helps get things done quickly. In today's market - time is truely money.

See this link to go to our new site:

http://www.mcleantownhouse.com

Long before I was in Real Estate, I worked as a photographer for various types of businesses. Mostly fashion and entertainment. I still do work for some of my close friends and people that need a good eye. In fact, I found my photography training to be useful in selling homes.

Here is the point of this blog entry. I have seen $2 million dollar listings with only one, that is correct, 1 photo online. This is a singular reason for firing your agent. In this day of still cameras on phones, and video almost everywhere, who believes they can sell without media?

Yes, we use offset printed brochures for our upper bracket listings and are convinced they help a buyer get the feel for a home after they leave the residence. But, we also use the maximum allotted images on every web site that we post a listing.

So, if you are considering hiring an agent, you should ask the candidates what type of media they will use, how quickly it will post. Ask to see samples of what your home will look like online and what web sites they use.

Never let someone go "live" with your listing unless these are all in place. We show our clients their home's materials BEFORE the home lists on the MRIS. We also email copies of any brochures for their own use.

This makes a huge difference in the time on market. We just had a upscale rental listing that asked for everything and we had three offers in less than 48 hours.


Jay


the studio site can be found at jayhurststudio.com

Long before I was in Real Estate, I worked as a photographer for various types of businesses. Mostly fashion and entertainment. I still do work for some of my close friends and people that need a good eye. In fact, I found my photography training to be useful in selling homes.

Here is the point of this blog entry. I have seen $2 million dollar listings with only one, that is correct, 1 photo online. This is a singular reason for firing your agent. In this day of still cameras on phones, and video almost everywhere, who believes they can sell without media?

Yes, we use offset printed brochures for our upper bracket listings and are convinced they help a buyer get the feel for a home after they leave the residence. But, we also use the maximum allotted images on every web site that we post a listing.

So, if you are considering hiring an agent, you should ask the candidates what type of media they will use, how quickly it will post. Ask to see samples of what your home will look like online and what web sites they use.

Never let someone go "live" with your listing unless these are all in place. We show our clients their home's materials BEFORE the home lists on the MRIS. We also email copies of any brochures for their own use.

This makes a huge difference in the time on market. We just had a upscale rental listing that asked for everything and we had three offers in less than 48 hours.


Jay


the studio site can be found at jayhurststudio.com