Vicky Chrisner

On Halloween night, I lost my keys. I was in the Leesburg Parade, and was convinced I had lost them somewhere along the parade route. After days of trying to find them, I finally resolved myself to the thought that they were gone forever. I was thinking of the hassle and money it would cost to replace those silly fobs and tokens, car remotes, changing the locks on my house...ugh.

This morning, my husband came back from taking my daughter to the bus stop, and he had a notice in his hand. It was a posting about a set of keys that had been found. Even though I was convinced that the keys had not been lost in my own neighborhood, I called. Sure enough, a neighbor had my keys! Coincidentally, it was the neighbor that moved into a house on the other end of my street, one I sold just a few months ago. In talking to her, she said she had newspaper ads coming out this week... she was so worried about returning those keys to the rightful owner (who she assumed was a stranger). Knowing what is involved with losing a set of keys like that, she was determined to find the rightful owner. Wow, these are the kinds of neighbors you want.

I was really touched... you simply don't see people taking that much time to worry about a stranger. Yet again today, I had another reason to be thankful for the people that touch my life.

It reminded me of our first weekend in this neighborhood, 8 years ago. We didn't have cable hooked up yet, so we had rented movies from Blockbuster. Apparently, while getting the kids in the car to run errands, my husband placed the movies on the top of the SUV, and forgot them. When he drove away, they fell into the street behind him. After getting to Blockbusters, and realizing he didn't have the movies, he was confused. He returned to the house to search high and low for the now missing movies(and, remember, we'd just moved, so the house was total chaos). He found them nowhere. Retracing his steps, we realized he must have left them on the top of the SUV, but they were gone now. On Monday, my husband went to Blockbuster with his tail between his legs to beg forgiveness and pay the fine. Imagine our surprise when he was told someone had returned them, and on time! (This was amazing because in those days, the movies had to be returned by noon to be "on time" and we didn't leave the house until 11 that morning.) A random person, a stranger to us then (years later we found out who it was), had gone out of their way to return the movies on our behalf.

In the 8 years we've lived here, many such episodes have occurred. And, yet, when I am selling homes in my very own neighborhood, I've yet to figure out how to truly convey to people that, somehow, we here in Ashton Downs live in a sort of oasis,

Everyone - and I mean EVERYONE here is just good. They're the kind of neighbors you want. How can you put that into a property brochure or explain it to a buyer? I still haven't found the right approach, but I am trying.

Months ago I wrote a blogpost about renters who were losing their homes to foreclosure. Yes, RENTERS. In 2006 and 2007 many homeowners who could not sell opted to rent their homes. But, in many cases, the rent didn't cover the mortgage. After a year or two of trying everything possible to cover the difference, many homeowners simply threw their hands in the air and allowed the homes to be foreclosed upon.

Mostly out of shame, these landlords did not tell their renters, who were finding out when notices were posted in the newspaper, on their doors or when a real estate agent knocked on their door and told them that a bank now owned the house and they needed to move.

This trend is continuing all over the country. Renters are shocked to learn that landlords have no obligation to pay their mortgage with the rent they are receiving, and that they have no real possession rights after a foreclosure. In addition, renters are losing the security deposits they had paid to their landlords.

In addition, for a while there was a rash of people breaking into vacant homes, posing as the landlord and renting the home on Craigs List or another web site. After collecting the security deposit and first month's rent, the "landlord" would disappear.

Given this climate, I encourage all renters to beware of the risks. Nothing is fool proof, but there are some questions you can ask and precautions you can take to reduce the risks of this happening to you, and I can help. Call me for free advice on pre-screening a landlord.

Some homeowners being forced to sell today are faced with a challenge because their value may be lower than the mortgage they owe. In these cases, agents, attorneys and other professionals are stepping in to assist homeowners in negotiating with their banks to permit the sale. For months, banks failed to realize the advantage to working with these homeowners and their agents. But, finally, the tides are slowly turning and short sales are being approved! This is reducing the number of home loans in default and offering options to foreclosures.

In cases where there has been a hardship (forced relocation, death or disability of a family member, divorce, job loss, etc.) and where the homeowners are truly indigent and unable to pay, lenders are forgiving the remaining debt. In other cases they are permitting the mortgage deficit to be paid in installments after the sale. But, for every successful short sale, banks are controlling their losses.

Buyers are getting good deals in return for the added patience these sales require. Sellers are able to sell and get out from under a mortgage they would not have been able to continue to pay. Neighbors and communities are avoiding another foreclosed home which may sit vacant for months, racking up unpaid taxes and HOA fees, and becoming a liability to the community as a whole.

Successful short sales ARE a win for everyone. For more information about how you can be a winner, whether buying or selling, please contact me.

MRIS reports an increase of 53.92% in the number of home sales in Northern Virginia (Fairfax & Arlington Counties and the cities within them) when compared to the same month last year! It seems that much of the market has finally corrected, with home prices in September down about 22% from the prior year. In general, it seems that the sellers that sold dropped their prices about 10% in September, and buyers managed to bid them down ANOTHER 8%, from their listing prices. Also fueling the urgency this past month was the change in legislation requiring any buyers planning to buy "no money down" through the FHA and seller funded down payment assistance programs to be fully approved by October 1st. Over 50% of the homes that sold in this area sold using an FHA loan. Although there is not a quick reference report that would be able to show how many of those buyers used this program, I would venture to guess there were A LOT. Knowing the transactions I had this past month, and those of other agents and lenders that I work closely with, I'd guess that about 50% of those FHA buyers were using the seller funded down payment assistance programs. That means on top of the 10% price drop, and the 8% further reduction in the selling price, the NET to the sellers was even less - probably another 5% on average. That's a buyer's market!
Even so, many sellers are just happy to have sold. And, with good reason. With the current economic news, many potential buyers in Fairfax & Arlington will be putting things on hold for a while. On an up note, with elections come "changing of the guards" and those of us who have been living in the shadow of the Nation's Capital for awhile know that means real estate activity... homes being bought, sold and rented, especially if there is a change in parties.

So, stay tuned for more news affecting the real estate market.

See the MRIS reports, available by region, county, and zip code at http://www.mris.com/reports/stats/monthly_reti.cfm.

For the most specific and detailed report impacting YOUR HOME... order a FREE, AUTOMATED MARKET SNAPSHOT by clicking here. You will need to enter your real physical address, as that is used as the geographic point of origin for the report. It takes 5-30 minutes to generate, and it will be automatically sent to the email address you use to log in.
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Note: Effective October 1st, FHA buyers must have a down payment, and effective January 1st, the minimum down payment increases. I am happy to help you learn about FHA or other financing options. I can be reached at 703-669-3142.

Finally, a good news headline! MRIS published their regional statistic reports this morning; and they actually showed that, in September 2008, sales in Loudoun were up 56.6% when compared to the number of sales in September 2007. I had predicted a continued increase in sales activity; but I will admit that this number exceeded even my own expectations.

A contributing factor to the increased volume of sales is the change in FHA, with a large number of buyers trying to take advantage of the final opportunity to use the seller funded down payment assistance programs. This change required that all loans be fully approved by September 30, and most lenders were requiring the loans close by that deadline, too. As of October 1st, FHA buyers must contribute a minimum of 3% as a down payment, and as of January 1st, that minimum increases to 3.5%. These changes began adding urgency to the first time home buyer market in August. In September, the number of FHA purchases were approximately 35% of the sales.

THE TALE OF TWO MARKETS -There is a distinct price point at which homes in Loudoun are selling.

Under $500,000, we have only about a 4 month supply of inventory available. These homes are seeing fast contracts, and multiple offers which sometimes result in a sales price higher than the asking price. One might say that for a seller of a home priced in the lower half of the market, it has been a seller's market for the last several months.

For mid-priced homes in the $500,000 to $700,000 range, we have almost a 9 month supply. For higher priced homes, above $700,000, the supply level increases to almost 22 months. It's definately a buyer's market at those price points.

The message here is that there is a definate benefit to "trading up" in this market; where you can sell a $400,000 home and buy a $600,000 home and have the advantages of market conditions in your favor on both transactions!

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE NEAR FUTURE

You can't miss the headlines everyday, one scary thought after another. What will happen in the short term to our overall economy? I really can't even guess. But, I have a lot of faith; and I know, long term, it will all work out. As for how all of this will impact the real estate market, here's my prediction... I suspect we'll still close what we have on the books for October, but the number of new contracts will be reduced. I think after the elections - regardless of which candidate will be our next president - with the media's focus switched, the public will feel a renewed sense of cautious optimism; and people will slowly start thinking about moving and investing in real estate again. That is always somewhat deterred by the holidays, and my prediction - for the moment - is that January will be our next BIG month in real estate locally.

Watch and see; and I'll keep you posted. Sign up for an automated, and personalized Market Snapshot by clicking here.