Please post your local house search updates, MLS finds, on-topic ideas, and links here.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Northern Virginia Real Estate Statistics
REAL ESTATE SEARCH
County Assessment Websites
Buy/Sell Without an Agent
Local Real Estate Agents
Housing Economics Blogs
Local Interest
Housing Bubble Links
Eastern Regional Blogs
Western Regional Blogs
- Bakersfield Bubble
- Bay Area Real Estate Blog
- BubbleInfo (N. San Diego)
- Burbed (San Francisco)
- Dr. Housing Bubble (SoCal)
- Patrick.net (San Francisco)
- Portland Housing Blog
- Professor Piggington's Econo-Almanac
- Rancid Truth (Orange County)
- Sacramento Land(ing)
- Seattle Bubble
- SoCal Real Estate Bubble Blog
- Socket Site (San Francisco)
Real Estate Blogs
REAL ESTATE AUCTIONS
31 comments:
There's a story on CNN.com listing the top 10 Worst Housing Markets for 2009.
D.C. is # 10, while the top 9 are all in Cali.
What! D.C. beat out Florida??
Bad sign kids...
Prince William County has all the "worst markets" beat. Down 5% in 2006, down about 20% in 2007, down about 40% in 2008. According to the Post, there were 7,672 foreclosures this year through November, up from 3,344 in 2007 and 282 in 2006. And there are the hot spots within PWC, where prices were down 55% YOY some months:
20110 Median Sale Price:
October 2008
-54.14% October 2007
-22.67%
PS Did anyone attend the foreclosure auction covered in the Post this weekend?
Nope, Miami was #4.
But, yeah, otherwise 8 out of 10 places listed were in California.
Whoops - you are right Nova Watcher
I guess we still beat out:
Detroit
Las Vegas
Phoenix
SCARY any way you look at it, IMO
I was struck by how similar the reader comments to this blog post (linked from Patrick.net) on the SF area were to many that have been made here, concerning how the price drops have varied by area and what will happen in the future.
http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/2008/12/18/bay-area-home-prices-plummet-44-to-2000-levels/9694/?ref=patrick.net
So DC has another 20% to drop in 2009 and another 5% to drop in 2010. Good thing that doesn't apply to Arlington. Or at least north Arlington. Or at least north Arlington single family houses. Or at least north Arlington single family houses within walking distance to the metro. Or at least north Arlington single family houses within walking distance to the metro on streets whose names begin with consonants....
no. what's scary is many homes are routinely priced at $300K-$400K over the last sale prices in '01 to '04 - some even without visible updates!!! how long does it take (or will it ever) for those sellers to come to terms with market reality? i'm not blaming Frankly but ever since he put the last sold $$$ on the search results i once again felt doom and gloom on my seemingly endless pursuit of an affordable home. and no i'm not in my mid-20s anymore!!!
sorry, rant over.
$1.5 million for a hut on a busy street near the metro.
Whoops, make that $750k.
Crap, make that $500k.
We'll show you lazy buyers! It's now up to $680k [wtf?].
http://www.franklymls.com/FX6838190
mm said: "how long does it take (or will it ever) for those sellers to come to terms with market reality?"
I'm convinced there are a fair number of "sellers" in my neighborhood, Lyon Park, who aren't seriously interested in selling their houses, but rather have listed their houses at "make me move" prices. A "make me move" price is one where the owner says, "Sure, if someone is dumb enough to pay me $XX, I'll go ahead and sell to them and move."
A few examples include:
http://franklymls.com/AR6835218
http://franklymls.com/AR6835218
http://franklymls.com/AR6376720
http://franklymls.com/AR6908894
novawatcher, it's interesting how they plan on carving that lot up into three parcels based on the photo of the blueprints. they are making the center parcel a keystone shape to get three lots out of something that should probably be two lots. i, for one, wouldn't want a back yard of that shape with two houses essentially in my back yard.
NoVAWatcher, yes, but those ARE lovely window AC units. Buyers will pay a premium for them.
MM, you're talkin' my language. I guess those folks are absolutely sure that once the spring buying season starts up, with the help of 4.5% interest rates, buyers will be stampeding like Wal-Mart shoppers to their doors. Hope you can take some pleasure and validation in the fact that those houses are (mostly) just sit, sit, sitting.
JF, I toured that one near Route 50. It looks and smells as if no real work has been done on it for many years except that they slapped together a low cost kitchen reno to try to move it. It does have a big back yard. But it's grossly overpriced. That first one you posted is very pretty, though. But if it were worth $2.2M, someone would have snapped it up long ago.
ps: Ya think someone looking for a $2.2 million house just might want at least a one car garage?
The builder might have considered making the house just a little smaller and putting in a garage (or building the same rooms over one). More than 95% of currently marketed Arlington houses > $1 M. have garages.
Ace, that $2.2 million house was builit in 1920, with the left side contemporary addition completed within the last year. Thus, no garage.
To me, the most troubling aspect of the house besides it's sky-high price tag is the lack of a back yard. It used to have a nice back yard, before it was purchased by Mickey Simpson (a local builder) in 2006. He promptly divided the single large lot into two lots. Now, a new in-fill house sits almost within reaching distance of the back door of the $2.2 million house. I don't think someone spending $2.2 million for a single family house wants to look out their window and see into their neighbors house just a few feet away. But maybe that's just me.
Funny MLS "remarks section" of the day:
"Bank owned beauty...No low offers, please."
http://franklymls.com/FX6939951
Please don't lowball us, please. Pretty please. We're just a poor bank. We can't afford to take a haircut on this one. Do us a favor and pay full price, okay?
"Ace Said...
Hope you can take some pleasure and validation in the fact that those houses are (mostly) just sit, sit, sitting."
Ace apparently you didnt get the memo, high end capitulation is here! This house I showed you this summer thats been on & off the market for a decade is finally under contract!!!
http://franklymls.com/AX6528713
All joking aside, I cant believe this thing is under contract. Ill be curious to see what they get for it. Because of its location (rte 1), I assumed its future lay as a converted business instead of a SFH, but that seems unlikely in this environment.
Im kind of sad to see it go. It was on the market when I first moved here in 1998, couldnt sell during the bubble run up, and now only has sold long after the bubble has burst. It was one of the things in life I could count on -- death - taxes -- and the creepy old house would never be sold!
Ugh, the bank can keep that house. That's one of the ugliest mish-mashes of styles I've ever seen.
Throw in the ubiquitous brick-front/vinyl-siding that screams "half-assed", and you have one of the best examples of the poor architectural decisions made during the bubble.
I'm referring John Fountain's "Please don't low-ball me houese", not the "creepy old house that will never be sold".
"Throw in the ubiquitous brick-front/vinyl-siding that screams "half-assed", and you have one of the best examples of the poor architectural decisions made during the bubble."
I absolutely hate that "style."(Is that what it is?)
Nothing will make a house look cheaper faster than leaving the sides and back looking unfinished. I will take a house with no brick at all over that look in a moment.
Which banks are giving you the best rates? FHA or conventional home loans. Thanks!
JF,
That's priceless. the second half is just as bad:
"Verbal offers accepted. No low offers, please. This property is definitely worth the viewing. If this property is in your pricepoint, go see it; OR, call me to show it. This could be YOUR home."
Um, so what they're saying is... we're a bank who had the money to spend on the best finishings (yeah, right) but who doesn't have the money to deal with official offers, but has a policy that requires us to assess every written offer, so they'd rather not "waste their time" with offers they know they will decline, and would prefer those verbally so they can ignore them.
That's my translation.
And a big me too, to all who hate the brick front, 3 vinyl sides "look". Indeed a legacy that this bubble will long be living down.
JF, re: the $2.2 mill place, I agree that having a yard is important, especially with a house like this. I agree that the greed of developers and their inability or unwillingness to shift gears when the bubble started bursting (e.g., that maybe it's not such a good idea to cram a huge place on a small lot anymore) contributed to the problem. It looks as if Mickey Simpson already sold the place on the other half of the lot so they couldn't completely backpedal re: the decision to subdivide the lot. But they could have scaled down the size of this house a bit.
But re: the garage, the year of original build is really irrelevant most of the time. As the statistics I cited earlier showed, nearly all Arlington houses in that price range (and even much lower) have a garage, and many of them were built many years ago and added onto. If there was room for an addition, then it is highly likely there was room for a garage. No one in this price range wants to leave his/her car outside, and everyone needs a place to store gardening tools, etc. I'm sure both of these factors (and several others that we all know about) contribute to why this pretty house is likely to sit longer.
I'm not sure how many other houses in the neighborhood are in this range either, which is a factor for some buyers. The one next door sold in the $1.3 mill range.
re: the bank-finished house, I agree with all of you about the brick veneer facade not fooling anyone and looking worse than a house that was consistently one exterior material. If you bought it, you'd have to tell all your guests not to walk up from the side of the house but only directly from the front so they'd never suspect that it wasn't 100% brick veneer.
I also hate that stucco (?) portion and the fake quoins, which don't fit this style of architecture.
Arch. students probably make fun of houses like this in their classes.
Awww, the Anonymous, my condolences. Next time, maybe you won't drag your feet! Buy now, or be priced out forever!
And I can't believe no one has pointed out the lovely concrete block fence to the side of the bank house. Wouldn't your teenagers (or their friends or enemies) love to add their own creative spray paint graffiti to it?
Oh. My. Goodness. Are there many houses like that in Alexandria? Was that a sought-after "look"? The mindless rows of McMansions out here don't look quite so offensive anymore.
RE: siding vs brick. Some developer in Manassas was building horrendously tall and ugly townhouses right across from the county judicial center and jail ("walking distance to the VRE!"). I remember when their sign said "starting in the $500s!." The last time they had a sign, it said "starting in the low $200s!" I heard the builder's gone under, and the city made them slap some vinyl on the exteriors of the few they had started to actually build; they were supposed to be brick exteriors. So what happens now? Do I need to drive by partially built ugly vinyl townhouses and empty muddy plots in perpetuity?
"Ace Said...
you'd have to tell all your guests not to walk up from the side of the house but only directly from the front so they'd never suspect that it wasn't 100% brick veneer. "
LOL - Ive often thought this before. I mean who is fooled by a brick front/ vinyl sided house? Unfortunately, these things have become commonplace to the point that theyve almost become the accepted standard. Ive heard there are some men who see so many women with fake breasts, they prefer them over the real thing. Could that be happening with the brick front home?
PS - thanks for condolences on the old creepy place - next time I will have to get my act together!!!
John Fountain, funny stuff as always. No comment on the fact that essentially EVERY reasonably priced house in Lyon Park, Lyon Village and Ashton Heights without fatal defects has sold at 2005 prices or higher? I mean, have you looked at the Ashton Heights houses on the market? There are basically none now.
fd said: "No comment on the fact that essentially EVERY reasonably priced house in Lyon Park, Lyon Village and Ashton Heights without fatal defects has sold at 2005 prices or higher?"
I don't follow; can you explain your point.
The Anon - theres an element of truth to the acceptance of a lesser building standard over time.
For example, nowadays, when we think of a "brick" home, we think of brick veneer. In reality a brick veneer is really a wooden frame house with face bricks on all outside surfaces to serve as siding.
Prior to 1950, a "brick" home meant solid brick - at least 8 inches thick. Take a look again at the old creepy house you found:
http://franklymls.com/AX6528713
If you look carefully, those arent just face bricks - they are laid in varing courses such that the bricks constitute the frame of the house (no wood). Also look carefully at the fanciful courses of brick near the roofline & windows. In nearly all cases these are not only decorative but essential in the structural integrity of the place.
Its a shame in the standards of building are lessening over time. The solid brick house will last for 300 years or more with minimal maintenance. The brick facade about 100 years. It remains to be seen how long the brick front/vinyl side construction we see today will last.
Post a Comment