H/T Ben Jones from the Housing Bubble Blog:
From the McLean Connection:
"By all accounts, Ali and Shanaz Alavi bought their new home in Great Falls for a bargain basement price. The couple purchased the five-bedroom home sitting on five acres of gated woodland for $1.1 million. The property owner, Jennifer Lynne Ridley, had been trying to sell the house for just under $2 million for the past 18 months.
. . .
“Almost all Realtors would admit the housing market, even in areas like Great Falls and McLean, has slowed. ‘There are more homes in the market than there are buyers for,’ said Realtor Sepideh Farivar, who added, a person has to be motivated to sell in this market.”
“Joe O’Hara, a Realtor with Washington Fine Properties, said he expects to see prices drop on many of the homes in and around Georgetown Pike. ‘Most of the homes along Georgetown Pike are very expensive. There are a limited number of buyers and lots of sellers.’”
From the Star Exponent:
“In 2007, banks foreclosed on 182 properties in all in the town and county of Culpeper.”
. . .
"Nancy Heflin, president of the Greater Piedmont Area Association of Realtors, said she has never seen anything like it in her 19 years in the business. And she doesn’t expect the picture to improve anytime soon.”
“‘We are anticipating another flood of foreclosures in the fall,’ said Heflin of Front Royal.”
11 comments:
Another blurb from that story in the McLean Connection:
"Those who can afford to buy a home in Great Falls may also be looking for something different. With the rise in gas prices and utilities, many people are looking for smaller homes on smaller lot that are closer to where they work — which is why the markets in Arlington and Washington D.C. have remained fairly stable, he said."
I saw somehting about this about the wealthy in California too. Leaving places like beverly hills for close downtown or pasadena. Clearly it cant be all about gas prices - whats up (other than a conspiracy to keep me from seeing a real price drop in Arlington)???
People who can afford $1M-$2M houses are not the people who are upset about $4/gal gasoline.
Now; if they can't actually afford that $1.1M mammoth house they bought, $4/gal gasoline and other peteroleum products will probably help them realize their mistake a little faster.
Anyone who thinks that prices in Great Falls are decreasing because of gas prices is clearly delusional.
I agree with the others... gas prices are all but meaningless to someone who buys a million+ dollar house in Mclean.
For that matter... Mclean isn't even far out. We aren't talking about Loudon County here. Mclean is situated right next to Tyson's Corner and has easy access to the GW parkway.
so after all the foreclosures land onto the banks balance sheets, and when the banks start failing, will the FDIC/receiver just sit on the foreclosures or will it actually have a firesale and drop the price to where they're affordable and sell?
There ain't gonna be any real price drop in Arlington -- at least in neighborhoods within walking distance of Metrorail stations on the Orange Lina. For those neighborhoods, what's happening now -- sky-high gas prices, traffic jams 'round the clock outside the Beltway -- is a perfect storm of good news that has the effect of bolstering property prices. No matter how slowly housing in the outer suburbs recovers, these Arlington Metrorail-accessible neighorhoods will continue to be protected. Current events are a permanent game-changer for these neighborhoods.
"Tom said...
There ain't gonna be any real price drop in Arlington -- at least in neighborhoods within walking distance of Metrorail stations on the Orange Lina."
you don't have to look hard for condos/THs throughout Orange Line with reduced prices. but perhaps they're overpriced to begin with, and they probably will not drop to pre-05 level.
SFHs are not seeing much downward movements, I agree.
Current events are a permanent game-changer for these neighborhoods.
Uh huh. A new paradigm. Permanently high plateau. Where have I heard that before?
If rents go up in those neighborhoods to match the price rise in purchased housing, I'll believe that prices are not going to retreat. As it is, as belief in the 'housing always goes up' nonsense dies people will prefer to rent as an easy way to live in the neighborhood they prefer, while saving capital and avoiding risk.
"Uh huh. A new paradigm. Permanently high plateau. Where have I heard that before?"
Yep, this is little more than wishful thinking. There has been no fundamental shift in the last few years that has resulted in Arlington's value skyrocketing relative to the rest of the region.
tom said: "There ain't gonna be any real price drop in Arlington -- at least in neighborhoods within walking distance of Metrorail stations on the Orange Lina."
Tom, I have to give you credit because you have perfected the art of the hit and run (the hit being where you claim prices aren't falling and the run being where you run from the factual rebuttal showing you are wrong - see what follows).
Zip Code 22201 (Clarendon area) for May 2008
Average Sold Price: $ 454,009 $ 564,742 - 19.61 %
Median Sold Price: $ 388,000 $ 440,000 - 11.82 %
You claimed orange line prices weren't falling just a week or so ago and then hid when presented with the above facts. And here you are again posting the same nonsense. Have you no shame?
"You claimed orange line prices weren't falling just a week or so ago and then hid when presented with the above facts. And here you are again posting the same nonsense. Have you no shame?"
I think he is just underestimating the readers here. Anyone who has read this blog for more than a few weeks has a pretty good understanding what his agenda is and is going to give his predictions the weight they deserve.
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