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Friday, May 9, 2008
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10 comments:
I slug. With the gas price run-ups over the past month, the number of people who drive and pick up slugs has decreased dramatically.
This will make most of the traffic issues further out worse in the long-run. Particularly if HOT lanes get finalized.
This may actually support prices closer in, but it will continue to decimate prices in PWC and points south.
For most people the price of gas going up affects them linearlly. For people with commuting situations like that it is geometric.
Interesting article in the latest Economist magazine: Map of Misery.
http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11325709
"By most measures, prices are still above the levels implied by the fundamentals. Using a model that ties house prices to disposable incomes and long-term interest rates, analysts at Goldman Sachs reckon that the correction in national house prices is only halfway through. They expect an 18-20% correction overall, or another 11-13% decline from now. But their models suggest that six states—Arizona, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, California and New Jersey, could see further price declines of 25% or more."
Just took a great seminar on Short Sales. I have always hated them and called them FAKE listings. But now there appears to be hope. A new process to get 90% of them sold. (instead of 5%)
Frank
Blog.FranklyRealty.com
I could use some advice. [This sounds like a strange request, but I'm serious]:
Where are the most stereotypical McMansions in NoVA? For about 400-700k, where are the most typical examples of "McMansion chic"? I'm talking fast-construction cookie cutters crowded on small lots with granite counters & steel appliances, ABSURDLY overdone facades and foyers, large family rooms, cathedral ceilings, etc. I want to find big farms of them...the uglier the better.
Background: My husband and I have started visiting open houses twice a month to get a feel for neighborhoods around here. We want to buy a SFH in 2-3 years somewhere in Fairfax or Loudoun County, but we would also consider Prince William, Clark, etc if we found a great deal. I keep telling him that I'm not sure what style house I want but I refuse to buy a McMansion. The problem is that he doesn't really know what I'm talking about since all the neighborhoods we have visited tend to have 1930s - 1980s era houses and we don't socialize with anyone who owns a house built in the last decade.
He said he wants to "see what this McMansion-thing is all about." So, I figure for our next open-house outing I would plan a tour a half dozen garish monstrosities.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
PS: When I wrote "we don't socialize with anyone who owns a house built in the last decade", I meant that our friends and family all just happen to own older houses. We don't ostracize people in new houses or anything. Sorry! ;-)
"Any suggestions would be appreciated."
Well, it depends just how much of a mcmasion you want.
There are the McMansions that were targeted at midrange buyers and then there are the truly horrific things that were sold in the 700K+ range.
Here is an example of the latter...
http://tinyurl.com/68kacg
Mansions spouting out of a field like mushrooms.
This is probably a more typical example...
http://tinyurl.com/65mlrn
Hi Jill,
Personally, i think your husband might appreciate them more if he sees a few in a neighborhood of mostly small/older houses.
Here are two on Magarity Rd in Pimmit Hills (near Tysons Corner):
http://tinyurl.com/4jdquc
That link should bring up the bird's eye view on maps.live.com. Check out the little house sandwiched between them.
Enjoy.
hog
Jill,
Your request is so easy to fulfill. Come on down to PWC. Drive down the Prince William County Parkway past Manassas, and look up at Mayfield Trace on your left. Then make a left onto Prince William Parkway extension that goes towards Woodbridge, and look at Coles Run on your right. Make a left onto 28, drive through Manassas, and head into Bristow. Check out New Bristow Village on your left. The just drive around Bristow for a while.
There's plenty of random McMansions scattered around Manassas, but if you are looking for the full effect, no trees, houses two feet apart, dinky backyards that are really drainage ditches, planners that crammed a house into every available inch, those are a good place to start.
At least New Bristow Village has pretty houses and a community center. Coles Run and Mayfiled Trace don't have any amenities, are clinging to cliffs, and back to a major road.
Harriet--did you see Razzi's column on short sales today? Our realtor is still trying to convince us that our short sale is about to come through.
Happy Mother's Day, all!
What do you all know about these Foreclosure bus tours?
Have any of you been on them?
I'm trying to get somebody to take photos of the interior of all of these homes and post them online.
Frank
Jill - you need to take him on a short tour in the zip 22031 where I leaving. A perfect example in RT 50 near Annadale road. On Cedar from RT 50 to Lee Hwy has some examples.
And if you take Nutley from Lee Hwy towards Vienna and look to the right just before you get to I66 you will see how the blight of oversized homes for the community look.
BTW there is nothing wrong in wanting a larger home. Times do change, once there was a time that a large yard was the end all be all. Now it seems to be (or was) about the biggest house on the smallest property.
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