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Saturday, December 11, 2010
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14 comments:
what are the reasonable bands in $/SF for properties in Arlington today?
Condo
Townhouse
SFH?
harriett
the links to statistics NVAR and MRIS are busted
pat-
Have you considered buying a foreclosure at the court? It sounds like you are willing to do a lot of work on a property and don't mind if a property is in rough condition, so foreclosures might fit what your looking for. I think you can usually get pretty decent deals at the court, because some banks don't want to spend the money/time to get houses ready to be a REO. It also saves them 6% in realtor fees to sell at the courthouse.
Also I would think you need to give tighter criteria for your property question. Are you talking about places near the metro (Ballston, Clarendon) or places south of rt. 50, because there is a huge variance. Also seeing that land is most of the value in Arlington properties I would think for SFH (and maybe townhouses) you would need to give a rough size. For example ~1000 sq. ft. SFH usually sell for $500/sq.ft, but the huge new construction houses often sell for 200-300 sq.ft. even though they are in much better condition.
Pat, I don't think that metric works in most parts of Arlington. In the first place, because the land prices are so high you aren't really paying for square foot of house space. So, if spread over the size of the typical small house, the price per square foot would appear enormous when compared with a larger house on the same lot. Second, the land value varies enormously by location and to a lesser extent, the size and characteristics of the lot. Third, houses vary a lot in how updated and how well designed they are, and in some cases in ages.
The metric may work in newer subdivisions where land costs are low and similar, and houses are essentially the same, but in Arlington, it's a bit like trying to compare the price of cars per pound.
HB
you might have a point there.
Any good posts that explain that process?
Pat,
From the other thread I would also suggest your estimate of 2-3% of property value for taxes and insurance is off. My own experience is that this value is very close to 1% even in Arlington.
.02
i usually budget 1% insurance, 1% taxes
arlington county is .865 add in
various other taxes (Sewer system fee,
BIDs,) and you are at 1%.
there you go.
Pat I hate to tell you this but what you want is what every other investor is looking for in Arlington. My church tried to buy a short sale duplex on Arlington Blvd a few weeks ago and were blown away by investors who had all cash and no contingencies. There was another 3 unit building on Utah St we had been hoping would come down in price but it sold fairly fast. Another building off Columbia Pike in Penrose was a de facto boarding house, but it was grandfathered in so investors jumped on it. If you don't have the cash and the stomach to jump off the cliff, you are probably better off going after the foreclosures as VA Investor suggested. In areas where there is always a decent demand for rentals, you do have to take some risk and not try to perfect items which just can't fit into the neat little boxes you might be able to do if you were a portfolio manager for high end rental properties or commercial office buildings.
http://franklymls.com/DC7331969
sells in 07 for 432K, moves now for 326K.
reecon
I've been looking in DC as well, because Arlington seems impossible.
negative cash flows, zero yields.
i always view that as a sign of impending trouble.
Thanks Pat, they're fixed now.
Pat If you are looking for an owner occupied deal in DC that is one thing, but if you want to be an investor with tenants, you should get very familiar with the District's tenant landlord laws. Unlike Virginia they are very pro-tenant and landlords are very restricted in the tenant landlord relationship.
Reecon
Hence my slow desire to pull the trigger
I would like a quadlpex or a triplex
Where I can make two units into a big apartment and
Have tenants in the bottom two
reecon,
I've never ventured into DC because of it's tenant-friendly environment.
pat,
If what you are looking at won't cash-flow at these rates...then I'd guess you are searching for the impossible.
I lost out on 2 reo's last week and I was cash, no contingencies, as-is, etc. I had a day to get each contract in. Don't expect something to magically appear. Those places in DC are probably the only places that meet your expectations number-wise AND will allow you the opportunity to have an inspection and financing contingency.
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