I thought it might be a good idea to let you see the July 2010 real estate market statistics for Spotsylvania County. Bear in mind that the statistics for the Fredericksburg area (City of Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, King George County, and Caroline County) were not something to rave about.
Selling a home in Spotsylvania county right now could be a problem. Reason being that there are so many short sales and foreclosures that have sold for less than true market value. My advice to many people to whom I have sold a home, is to wait out this market before placing their homes on the market. I really believe that time will heal this deflated market but the question remains when? Homes for sale in Spotsylvania County are many. Unfortunately, not many are “arms length” transactions.
As mentioned in one of our previous blogs, we have discovered a new website that provides us with information about real estate sales in the Fredericksburg Virginia area.
Beginning this month we are going to share those statistics with you in the hopes that we will entice you to call us or email us for more information on either buying or selling a home in Fredericksburg Virginia.
Remember that our area of expertise is the City of Fredericksburg Virginia, Spotsylvania County Virginia, Stafford County Virginia, King George County Virginia, and Caroline County Virginia. We are ready to assist you in providing you information on each of those jurisdictions.
Time after time I receive calls or emails from past clients asking who they could contact about getting their _____ repaired.
Over the many years we have been practicing our craft of assisting people buy and sell homes in the Fredericksburg Virginia area (this includes the City of Fredericksburg, Caroline County, King George County, Stafford County, and Spotsylvania County) we have been fortunate to meet many tradesmen who do an excellent job and are reasonable in their prices.
If you were not one of those who purchased a Homebuyer’s Warranty and find yourself having to repair or replace something in your home, please give us a call and see if we can provide you with some recommendations on tradesmen who we know will do a good job for you. These are people who have done work for us or for our clients in the past; people who do a good job for a reasonable price.
A GREAT WAY TO LOOK AT THE FREDERICKSBURG REAL ESTATE MARKET
The Fredericksburg Areas Association of Realtors (FAAR) uses the Metropolitan Regional Information Services (MRIS) as our multiple listing service (MLS).
One of the services recently added for our members is RBI (Real Estate Business Information) data concerning the real estate market for several areas in our coverage area. The reports I use deal with information about home sales in the Fredericksburg area; this includes homes for sale in Fredericksburg, Stafford County, Spotsylvania County, King George County, Rappahannock County, Madison County, Orange County, Culpeper County, and Caroline County.
In one of our earlier tips we advised you agains following prospective purchasers around your home or giving them a guided tour. Give that you have done that, you should do this . . .
Talk to them before you let them leave the home. Thank them for coming and ask them if they are willing to share any comments about your home that would help you get the home sold. Sometimes they do not want to insult you and they will be reluctant to give any feedback. Accept that this may happen and don’t be too “pushy” to get feedback.
Be polite and thank them again and ask them if they would like you to contact them if anyone else shows interest in your home. If they are interested they will probably answer with a “Yes.”
Good luck!
By the way, if you are considering having a Fredericksburg Virgina real estate agent assist you in selling your home, please contact us at (540) 368-3900 or by email at
FBurgRealty@gmail.com
A few minutes ago I spoke with a financial advisor who works in the same office building as I do. He informed me that this afternoon, after the Chairman of the Federal Reserve gave a speech, the stock market plummeted. He said “Sometimes people should keep their mouth shut.” Since I did not hear the speech, I cannot quote what the Chairman said but, apparently, it did not sound good to the ears of stock traders.
Recently, a learned real estate market guru made a statement that the best thing that could happen to our economy was for the banks, and other lien holders, to get rid of all the foreclosures. That may be sage advice but what would be the impact on local real estate markets?
My area of interest is the Fredericksburg Virginia real estate market; this includes the following: City of Fredericksburg, Stafford County, Spotsylvania County, King George County, and Caroline County. In general these jurisdictions are located midway between Washington DC and Richmond VA.
There are 188 foreclosure properties for sale in our MLS. 72 are in Spotsylvania County, 65 in Stafford County, 24 in Caroline County, 18 in King George County, and 9 in the City of Fredericksburg. Recent census data indicates that the populations of those places (from largest to smallest) are Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George, and Fredericksburg.
There are some 300 short sales in those same jurisdictions. I believe that one could accurately predict that at least half of those homes will eventually end up in foreclosure. I base this on observing that sellers (those owners who feel unable to keep up making their monthly mortgage payments) are trying to sell at what they feel is a reasonable market value but the lien holder(s) see it from a different perspective. They are trying to get as close to the amount owed them as they can. Often this works against both because the market value of a home is predicated on recent sales (which includes all distressed properties). The recent sales prices are slow to get in to the hands of those making decisions on what is the market price of a specific property. Could it be an endless circle?
If your home is in a pretty setting (e.g. nice backyard, beautiful home to the front of your, lovely garden seen from a side window) take advantage of the situation. By the same token, if you have a window on the side of your home that looks out on the neighbors air conditioner, play it down.
If you have a lovely garden with many beautiful flowers that are not now blooming, take pictures of them and place them on a table in your home. If your flowers are blooming, bring some into the home. Clean up your yard, take out any dead plants or flowers, re-mulch your flowerbeds, and trim your hedges.
Open the shades if the view from a window is pleasing. If it is not pleasing, close the shades.
Be sure to turn off your TV while people are visiting; people will be distracted by it.
Be sure to turn on all the lights if it is a dark or dreary day.
Hope these few hints will help you.
If you are thinking about selling your home in either Fredericksburg Virginia, Stafford County Virginia, Spotsylvania County Virginia, King George County Virginia or Caroline County Virginia please give us a call at (540) 368-3900 or contact us at fburgrealty@gmail.com
If you would like information about homes for sale in any of those areas, we can provide you information on them too.
For some reason, I neglected to give you my update on the real estate market for the Fredericksburg Virginia area; this encompasses the City of Fredericksburg, Caroline County, Spotsylvania County, King George County and Stafford County.
For months “short sales” and foreclosures accounted for nearly 50% of the sales in our area. In May they accounted for 36% of the total real estate sales.
This is certainly good news. Hopefully, the percentage will continue to decrease. There are many, however, who have written that there are millions of homeowners who are in serious default on their monthly mortgage payments. Apparently, it is only a matter of time before mortgage holders initiate foreclosure proceedings. You may want to check the Free Lance-Star classified to see how many foreclosures take place each week. This may be a good indication of things to come.
Remember now, I am writing this post after I wrote the one describing the June 2010 market.
Yes, I know you have heard it before “Burn some candles.” “Put some potpourri on the stove.” “Bake some cookies.”
My advice is to forget all of that! Unless, however, you want to leave some fresh cookies out on the kitchen counter for the prospective buyers to enjoy while they are viewing your home.
Prospective buyers, and the real estate agent(s) that may (or may not) be with them are onto the other scents suggestions. Most suspect that you are trying to mask the smell of something. Pet odors are particularly offensive to some people and they suspect there may be issues with urine on the carpeting when there is an overpowering smell of air cleaner. Mildew is often the culprit that is trying to be masked. Tobacco smoke smell turns off more people than you think. Perhaps airing out your home (if you have smoked in it) real well will help but, too frequently, the odor is in the carpeting, stuffed furniture, and on the walls. You may have to repaint and professionally clean the furniture and carpeting if the smell is strong.
My advice: forget the candles and other devices that really don’t do a good job in taking out the smells you want to get rid of.
In the month of June 2010 there were 458 homes sold in Fredericksburg Virginia, Stafford County Virginia, Spotsylvania County Virginia, King George County Virginia, and Caroline County Virginia.
Of those 458 104 were foreclosures and 76 were short sales.
Foreclosures and short sales accounted for 39.3% of the total sales.
One could interpret this to mean that the foreclosure and short sale market is declining and the “normal” sales are increasing and, therefore, the market is getting healthy again.
Hopefully, this is the case since I have many former clients who would like to sell their current home and move on to another. Personally, I think it may be a bit soon to conclude that the market has improved; this is one month of decrease in the number of foreclosures and short sales sold in our area. Improvement yes, a positive indicator for the months ahead? Not yet.
We will continue to monitor this in the months to come; keep returning to see the reports.
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