Parts of our local market are still going strong. Two weeks ago, a townhome in Vienna was listed at $599,000. Within 48 hours, there were multiple contracts registered. We understand it sold for $16,000 over the list price AND the buyer waived ALL contingencies (including a home inspection - not something we normally recommend doing in today’s market). (Note: The final price will not be verified in the MRIS until settlement. And the buyer we represented was not comfortable with this price & cirumstances and he happily bought a different home.)
On the other hand, there are currently 201 homes on the market in Vienna. And the average days on market for these homes is 133 days (four and a half months!). Many of them have been price-reduced over time. And this bears out one of the “truths” of real estate that is born out by statistics: the longer your home is on the market, the less it will sell for.
I think the Sellers of the townhome were smart. By pricing their home aggressively, they solicited multiple offers & not only got a good price, but excellent terms in the contract - no home inspection to worry about, no appraisal to worry about, no radon test to worry about, no financing to worry about. By listing below the $600,000 price point, they appealed to a much larger pool of buyers. And they appeared very attractive. If they had “tested the market” (like many Sellers try to do) at $625,000 (with thoughts of trying to generate a contract of $610,000 to $615,000) - our experience is that they may not have even generated even one contract. The likelihood is that they would have ultimately ended up reducing to $599,000. But at this point, the home would be stale on the market and offers would likely have been below the $599,000 list price.
How long will this last? Nobody knows!
But here’s this week’s report from MRIS:
- “Buyer demand in the MRIS region continues to look very strong as autumn progresses.
- For the week ending October 24 there were 2,650 pending sales, up 61.5 percent from the 1,641 sales seen during the same week in 2008.
- Over the last three months there have been almost 9,000 more signed purchase agreements than there were during the same period last year.
- With sales up and new listings on the market down (behind last year’s pace by 6.3 percent over the last three months), the total inventory of houses available in the region has dropped over 24,000 units in the last year.”
When you are ready to buy or sell a home, make sure you contact The Belt Team for a specific analysis of the neighborhood you live in or the neighborhood you want to move to. Buyers Markets & Sellers Markets can vary by town, price range, school district & more!
The Belt Team . . . Serving all of your real estate needs in Vienna, Oakton, McLean, Great Falls, Arlington, Reston, Fairfax and the entire Northern Virginia Region! Contact us today for a FREE home valuation or buyer counseling session!
on November 6th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
[…] Now that the leaves are falling & Thanksgiving is around the corner, it’s time to update you on the statistics for Vienna Oakton real estate.There are currently 194 homes for sale in Vienna and 78 homes for sale in Oakton. We are still seeing a very segmented market - with well-priced homes under about $800,000 to $1,000,000 experiencing multiple contracts & quick sales - and homes over $800,000 sometimes languishing on the market for months. (Read our blog entry from earlier this week for a “real life” example of what’s happening in this market.) […]