About Arlington's Clarendon

Nov. 12, 2008- Arlington, VA Real estate Market Observations:

Found several N Arlington condos heading for foreclosure auction in the next two weeks. The disturbing thing is that these are coming on from the most prized areas of N. Arlington. Saw one 2bdrm/2fba at the Odyssey heading for the auction block later this month. That building was popular and expensive when delivered in 2006. This was also a period in our credit markets where credit was cheap to say the least. I'm sure many if not most of these units were financed using now the infamous "100% financing"! And needless to say, are under water! But among the rubbles, there are gems to be found in the foreclosure markets:

Found a 2bdrm 2fba unit in Lexington Sq. will be going to auction for the 1st trust amount. Since the owner purchased this back in 2001, pre-bubble era?, the 1st trust amt. should be in the mid $200K.

There's a similar 2bdrm 2.5 fba unit at the newest delivered condo complex in Clarendon for a price you haven't seen, even from the builder back in 05 when they were selling this stuff...

Email or call me for more information on this gem or if you are in the market for a property and would like to catch a bargain, rather than a falling knife, please see below for ways to contact me.

**Ask to be on my sifted list for Arlington or DC's Pre-Foreclosures!

Theresa Kim, Real Estate Specialist

Licensed in VA, DC and MD

Re/Max Allegiance-McLean Office

6226 Old Dominion Dr.

McLean, VA 22101

M)703-725-4585

F)1-866-735-2557

Do you know anyone who will be moving in or out of the DC metro area? Your referrals are really appreciated!

Foreclosures in the Newly Delivered condos in Clarendon, Courthouse... all over N. Arlington are worrying home owners who have bought in the last 12 months thinking they got a great deal- not realizing that the market could go down further in the most prized areas of Northern VA. But that's where the prices and sales are the best and most brisk even in this credit crunched real estate market.

Station Sq. the newest delivered condo complex in Clarendon- has had a handful of shorsales and foreclosures. One 2 bdrm 2.5 bath over 1100 sqft about to go to auction in 2 weeks for the 1st trust amount! Currently listed in the $600Ks with 1st and 2nd trusts combines.

Contact poster for more information on this property or others in the DC metro areas!

**Ask to be on my list for Arlington or DC's PreForeclosures!

Theresa Kim, Real Estate Specialist

Licensed in VA, DC and MD

Re/Max Allegiance-McLean Office

6226 Old Dominion Dr.

McLean, VA 22101

M)703-725-4585

F)1-866-735-2557

Do you know anyone who will be moving in or out of the DC metro area? Your referrals are really appreciated!

So the stock market is crashing to the worst week ever (I think due to off books Enron style account, see 07 warning).

So how will that affect the housing market for luxury homes?

Don't care? Then don't read this.

I had a theory- albeit obvious - that those buying Virginia luxury homes over $1 Million in Arlington and the DC area would come to a halt since these buyers most likely "had" their money in stocks.

Who is going to unload their stocks down 25-45% to buy a house? With a 20-25% down payment (5%-10% down is much harder, if not impossible, now) that can make that $2 million property feel like $2.2M overnight, and without another wing on the home.

My data-pull results (not regurgitated data):

I pulled up homes in the DC area from $1 Million to $4 Million that went under contract (more reliable than solds) for a 4 day period and compared it to the one and two weeks before.

• 9/21/2008-9/24/2008 26 under contract
• 9/28/2008-10/1/2008 25 under contract
• 10/5/2008-10/8/2008 13 under contract

For homes from $800,000 to $1,000,000:

• 9/21/2008-9/24/2008 24 under contract
• 9/28/2008-10/1/2008 25 under contract
• 10/5/2008-10/8/2008 12 under contract

That doesn't look good, to say the least. Will this become a longer term trend in the higher end luxury market? Dunno.

What if you are high end buyer?

Know the stats, know that 50% of your competition just flew the coop. This allows you to be more aggressive. As for waiting, that is obviously your call, I don't believe in market timing. Heck it could get MUCH worse, or things might stabilize and the buyers might come back.

What if you are a high end seller?

Read above, but know that it isn't your agent slacking off. Also if you do get an offer... man, you have to have some serious cohones to try and get much better. Sure next week might look better, but you really never know.

If you have any specific questions about a marketplace or price bracket, let me know and I can run some specific numbers.

If you know somebody looking at high end homes, forward them this email and make sure they subscribe to Blog.FranklyRealty.com .

-Written by Frank Borges LL0SA Broker FranklyRealty.com

Image is a photo of a $3.3M property sold previously by FranklyRealty.com

Please report typoes

ActiveRain members, join the new Virginia Luxury Homes group.

First my thoughts on the $700,000,000,000 bail out... I told you so!

Read my blog post from 12-2007 entitled: SIV= Imagine Enron, Bank Wide. (I posted it on my more frequent, but less polished blog on ActiveRain) The #1 problem is OFF-BOOKS accounting! All of these sub-prime loans are hidden. Nobody knows how much exposure all the banks have.

Secondly, people have been emailing me asking what I've been up to and why I haven't posted more frequently. Well, as some of you might know I'm in night school at Washington College of Law at American University. (I should be reading right now actually)

Oh and I also got married!

Anyhow, don't fear. I'm still sharing my thoughts, but more so over at my WheelEstateCam on Youtube. I attached the camera to my steering wheel and I take you for a spin as I head over to class. The "Video Blog" was featured in Friday's Washington Times. Make sure you subscribe to Youtube.FranklyRealty.com

Here is a round up of my recent Video blogs:

• Lending Tree blows. How to Pick a Lender & today Close call closing.
• 4 Bank Tales: 22 Offers, Destoyed HVAC, Verbal counters, Bank Required lenders
• FranklyMLS.com 101 New E-mail Alerts. NO Passwords! How-To Video. This video is particularly cool. I have been constantly upgrading FranklyMLS.com. No MLS search site site comes close in terms of speed and massive amounts of data at your fingertips. Even other buyer agents use it!

• "Wheel" Estate Cam- Bank Foreclosure Bidding Wars (the first one!)

• Redfin- Debating their "Real Estate Science"
• Need to Sell before you can Buy? Some Options.
• And a little shout out to NVAR (Northern Virginia Association of Realtors) for their new Youtube channel to promote Realtor classes. Watch (the class is on Nov 12 2008)

So if you don't have a Youtube account, you can sign up for free and subscribe to my Youtube Channel and get emailed when I post something new.

Oh, and yes, I'm still doing real estate! (plug: in case you need a Realtor)

Written by: Frank Borges LL0SA Broker FranklyRealty.com

ps. Please send me any typos