Mark Wozniak - Northern Virginia Real Estate Expert

As we head toward the Spring housing market, it’s helpful to understand what kind of market we’re experiencing in Northern Virginia. Is it trending towards a seller’s market? Is it a buyer’s market? Are we in a well balanced market? The answer for Northern Virginia is “yes” - it just depends on which price range we’re considering. Don’t worry…we’ll explain.

A common way to gauge the overall health and activity of the current market is to determine the home absorption rate. The absorption rate measures how quickly all the current inventory of unsold homes would take to clear off the market if no additional homes were introduced. It’s based on how quickly homes have been selling, and how large the inventory is of unsold homes. The shorter the absorption rate, the faster the home inventory is being cleared off the market, which would tend to favor home sellers. Alternatively, a longer absorption rate signifies that homes are lingering on the market and conditions favor home buyers. In general, an absorption rate of less than 5 months is considered a “seller’s market”, and more than 7 months is considered a “buyer’s market”. A rate of 5-7 months is considered a “balanced market”, where sales conditions overall don’t tend to favor one side of the transaction (seller or buyer).

So how does all this apply to our Northern Virginia housing market? Here are the most recent absorption rates within various price ranges. These statistics are calculated for Fairfax County real estate, but the trend holds true throughout the area:

Home Price Absorption Rate Market Type

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Up to $250K 4.8 months Seller’s market (slightly)

$250K - $500K 5.0 months Balanced, but trending toward sellers

$500K - $750K 7.0 months Balanced, trending toward further balance

$750K - $1M 11.3 months Buyer’s market

$1M+ 14.3 months Buyer’s market

As you can see, different price ranges are experiencing completely different kinds of markets even within the same area. The composite absorption rate for Fairfax County, which again is analogous to the Northern Virginia region, is at exactly 6.0 months – about as “balanced” as you can expect. In reality, though, if you’re selling in the lower price ranges, you may see quite a bit more buyer competition and multiple offer situations than at the higher price ranges. Whether you’re buying or selling, these differences are so important to understand so you can take appropriate steps for the type of market in which you’re dealing. As always, the Equity Rise Team will be happy to analyze and advise on the type of market that YOU’RE dealing with for YOUR specific situation.

If you are searching for Northern Virginia end unit townhomes for sale, you are certainly not alone. End unit townhomes are popular for several reasons:

- More privacy and less concern over “noisy neighbors”, since they only share one wall with a neighbor compared to interior units that have neighbors on both sides

- Potentially more windows and light. The end unit position allows builders to add windows to the side wall, although not all have taken advantage of this opportunity. When they do, the extra windows often make the home brighter and even more inviting.

- Potentially a preferred floor plan. Some builders give the end units a unique floor plan, such as moving the main entrance to the side and really changing up the layout compared to an interior unit. Sometimes these floor plans can be more spacious and have side bump-outs (like a bay window) that just aren’t available on an interior unit.

- More yard, since the end units usually have a certain amount of yard space on the side that belongs to the homeowner. Sometimes this also allows end unit homeowners to add steps to their raised deck that wrap around the side of the home instead of taking up back yard space. Of course, that could depend on what’s allowed by the homeowner association, but it shows just another potential way of taking advantage of that extra yard area.

- More convenience outside going from front to back of home. If you have an interior unit and need to wheel a lawn mower or a trash can from your front yard to back yard, you may need to walk around several other homes to do it. In an end unit, you’re just going back and forth in your own yard.

- More likelihood that you’ll be next to common area (field, trees, landscaping, pond, etc). Just by the nature of how townhome communities are designed, the end units often have an increased chance that they might be next to some common area element. Sometime this can add further spacing between homes or give more feel of privacy or provide an enhanced view. This is certainly not always true and is on a case-by-case basis…but it’s something to keep an eye on when searching for Northern Virginia end unit townhouses for sale.

- Potentially better resale value or a faster resale. All of the advantages discussed above can make end unit homes more appealing to buyers, plus they are certainly more rare than interior units. As such, end units homes often have a price premium compared to their interior neighbors, and often garner more interest from buyers. Of course, there are no guarantees of that, and condition and amenities are crucial. But all other things being equal, end units can have distinct resale advantages.

The links above in this article will take you directly to a fantastic search tool that focuses strictly on Northern Virginia end unit townhomes for sale. And please contact the Equity Rise Real Estate Group – we can save you time by showing you just the types of townhouses you want to see.

If you have Northern Virginia homes for sale or may be relocating to Northern Virginia, it’s certainly important to keep a close eye on trends in the local housing market. The following brief video gives an overview of market conditions using the most recent available Northern Virginia aggregate housing data from November 2011.

So, should you be enthusiastic about this news? As always, we strongly encourage you to consult a Realtor in Northern Virginia who can help you to further interpret this data and determine how it applies to your specific situation.

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One of the tremendous advantages of living in Northern Virginia is that we have so many businesses and local amenities available nearby – restaurants, stores, parks, entertainment centers, schools, hospitals, banks, etc. In daily life, the question comes up as to how convenient all these amenities are to a certain home location. When buyers are looking for Falls Church homes for sale, they may want to know if they’ll need a car for everyday outings. When buyer are looking at Bristow homes for sale, they may want to know if they can walk to some amenities from a particular home, or perhaps bike, or if most trips will require a car.

WalkScore.com is a website that tells you how "walkable" your current or prospective home is. You can enter the address of your current home or a home you're thinking about buying. This website then shows you how close various amenities are and calculates the property's "Walk Score". You can also get a map with different icons that show exactly where these amenities are in relation to that home address. There’s a selection list so you can view just the amenities you want to see. If the amenity you want to see isn’t on the pick list, you can even try searching on your own custom amenities (with varying degrees of success).

Another great feature of the site is the “Your Commute” tool. This allows you to enter a destination address from the home and it will provide a map and time estimates for walking, biking, and driving to that location. So, if you want a rough estimate of how easy it will be to get to the grocery store or your office, you can just plug in the destination address and you’ll get estimates from the home address location. Now keep in mind – these are just estimates, and the further the destination from the home, the more likely that the estimates might not hold true (especially in rush hour!). However, it’s still quite useful to see if walking or biking MIGHT be reasonable from a home location.

For those who can’t visit neighborhoods in person – such as those relocating to Northern Virginia – the Walk Score site is an excellent way to get a feel of how convenient and compatible an area or specific home location may be with your lifestyle.

Finding a commuting strategy is simply a way of life for homeowners in Northern Virginia. Aside from driving yourself all the way to work, there are multiple options available – metro rail, buses, carpooling, Virginia Rail Express (VRE), and more.

For those who want to take a bus to work, or take a bus to a rail station, or want to meet for a carpool, a common challenge is where to leave your car all day so you can take advantage of those options. Luckily, there are a large number of commuter park & ride lots throughout Northern Virginia to provide a solution. If you’re relocating to Northern Virginia and you’re not familiar with our commuting situation here, it will be important to get a good grasp of how these park & ride lots might fit into your commuting strategy. The same can be said for anyone looking for Northern Virginia homes for sale who may want an alternative to driving all the way to work.

The concept of a park & ride lot is quite simple – it’s a designated place where you can park your car and where buses come to serve commuters or you can meet up for a carpool. In some cases, these lots are situated next to metro rail or VRE stations. All lots that serve the WMATA metro rail stations have a fee associated with their parking lots. Otherwise, the park & ride lots are typically free of charge.

For more information on park and ride lots in various locations, please consult the following links:

Arlington County Commuter Park & Ride Lots

Fairfax County Commuter Park & Ride Lots

Loudoun County Park & Ride Lots

Prince William County Park & Ride Lots

These sites offer varying levels of information, including number of parking spaces. For the Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince Williams sites, you’ll be able to see maps of each lot and bus routes served, plus other helpful information.

Your Northern Virginia Realtor should be able to assist in pointing out commuting options, such as park & ride lots, from the neighborhoods you’re considering.