Ask Eli

This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: Is the single-family home market still as intense as it was earlier this year?

Answer: In January I’ll do a deep dive into the 2021 market performance with a focus on home values, but this week I wanted to dig into some key supply and demand metrics for single-family, townhouse and duplex homes in 2021 to highlight how the intensity of the market has shifted over the course of the year.

I’m focusing on the single-family, townhouse and duplex (non-condo/apartment-style) market here because that was the market that exploded locally and nationwide in the wake of COVID. It’s important to note, however, when looking at the Arlington market that we didn’t experience nearly the extreme change as many other regional or national markets because things were already competitive thanks in part to Amazon HQ2 and because COVID-based demand tended to favor less expensive markets and markets that offered more space (land and house).

The trends for Arlington can be summarized below, highlighted by charts to follow:

Supply

• Supply usually follows a familiar seasonal trend with low supply early in the year, lots of supply coming to market in the spring, followed by a consistent downward trajectory from summer through the end of the year. This year supply did peak in the spring, but maintained a more consistent volume of new supply through the rest of the year, with a surprisingly high number of homes offered for sale in Q4. My best guess for the strong Q4 numbers is that homeowners witnessed such impressive appreciation of their homes in the first half of the year (and second half of 2020) that they wanted to take advantage of current prices instead of timing the market for peak spring demand. It will be interesting to see if this negatively impacts listing volume in 2022.

Demand

• Demand trends were consistent with their normal seasonal trends, albeit above average through the course of the year. Demand picked up quickly in Q1 and peaked in the spring, followed by a tapering of intensity in the 2nd half of the year. I believe that the tapering of the demand metrics in the 2nd half of the year was a combination of factors including, but not limited to, sellers raising prices based on first-half market performance, many of the most desperate buyers finding homes, buyers dropping out, and buyers focusing less on their home search as vaccines allowed people to return to travel and other plans. I expect strong demand in 2022, but without the crazy price appreciation we had in 2021.

The charts below highlight my supply and demand findings. A few notes on the data that makes up the charts:

• The data is based on when a property was listed for sale, not when it sold. This gives us an accurate assessment of how the market performed at specific times during the year vs a trailing indicator of demand (using date sold).
• I broke the year into two-week periods because I think it gives the right perspective on the information we want from the data.
• To aid your reading of the charts Period 5 starts on February 21, Period 10 starts on May 2, Period 15 start on July 11, Period 20 starts on September 19, and Period 25 starts on November 28.
• I removed new construction from the data because the way it’s listed often doesn’t reflect actual market conditions.
• I removed homes with zero days on market because it generally reflects a pre-market/off-market deal and they aren’t helpful in this type of analysis.

The Market Moved Quickly, Gave Buyers Little Time to Think

Many buyers were forced to make significant purchase decisions in a matter of hours or even sight unseen to secure a good home. During peak spring demand, less than 20% of homes listed for sale sat on the market for more than two weeks and nearly 60% went under contract in less than one week.

Most Buyers Paid Over Asking Price

On average, buyers paid .2% over the asking price this year and for those who went under contract during a home’s first week on the market, the average buyer paid 2.8% over asking, peaking at an average of 5% over ask in the 9th Period (homes listed April 18-May 1). Remember, these are averages, there were plenty of people paying significantly more than that over the asking price.

Things have gotten slightly more manageable for buyers in the 2nd half of the year with a lot more homes selling at or below asking price, but even with tapering demand, buyers in the 2nd half of the year who go under contract in the first two weeks a home was listed paid an average of 1.5% over ask.

Supply Unusually High in 2nd Half, Average Days On Market Increasing

As noted above in my summary, supply volume broke familiar seasonal trends with a consistently strong flow of listings coming to market through the 2nd half and even into Q4. Thus, slightly less demand and unusually high new supply has led to modest increases in average days on market and less fierce competition.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at 703-539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. 703-390-9460.

This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: What do you expect from mortgage interest rates in 2022?

Answer:

Historically Low Rates

The first thing to understand about mortgage interest rates is that they are market-driven and forecasting comes with the same amount of unpredictability as any other economic/market-based forecasting (GDP, Unemployment, Stocks, etc). So take predictions/forecasts with a grain of salt.

Higher Prices Still “Manageable”

For perspective, the chart above shows the average 30yr fixed rated mortgage in the US since 1971. Historically low interest rates have been one of the main drivers of the rapid housing price appreciation we’ve witnessed over the last 12-18 months.

The charts below, courtesy of the National Association of Realtors, show that low interest rates have kept affordability, based on mortgage payments vs income, lower than the ’05-’07 housing bubble despite housing prices soaring relative to income; even higher than ’05-’06 peaks.

Forecasting Future Rates

For years, we’ve been reading/hearing pundits say that it’s hard to imagine mortgage rates getting lower, often coupled with overly salesy messaging from the real estate industry that you must buy now because rates have never been so low and likely will not remain this low much longer. The problem with those claims is that mortgage rates have been dropping for about 40 years now (with relatively minor fluctuations along the way)…

With that said, even small fluctuations in rates in the near/mid-term impact affordability and buying decisions, making forecasts for the upcoming 12-24 months relevant to those currently, or soon-to-be, active in the buyer/seller market. The chart below shows the latest 30yr fixed mortgage rate forecasts from four leading housing research sources:

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This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: How has the cost of new construction single-family homes changed over the last few years?

Answer: First, thank you to everybody who voted in last week’s poll to decide how we would donate to locate charities. Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) received almost 2/3 of the vote and thus a donation of nearly $1,000 to help feed our neighbors in need. Now on to this week’s real estate topic…

The cost of a single-family home has skyrocketed locally and nationwide, with the average cost of a single-family home in Northern Virginia increasing 31.6% from October 2019 to October 2021. This data includes resales of existing homes and new construction, with the majority of the sales being resales. Let’s take a specific look at how the cost of a new single-family home in Northern Virginia has changed over the last three years (hint: they also got much more expensive!).

A few quick notes about the data:

• The data is limited to what has been entered into the MLS (Realtor database of record) and not all new construction makes it into the MLS, but the majority does and thus gives us an accurate reading of the market
• Northern Virginia aggregate totals includes Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties plus the Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax and Manassas Cities
• In the table below Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax and Manassas refer to the County, not City, portions

Here are some highlights from the data I reviewed:

• The average cost of a new single-family home in Northern Virginia increased a staggering 25.9% to an average sold price over $1.6M from 2019 to 2021
• The biggest increase from the localities I reviewed was in Aldie, which increased 37.5% to an average cost over $1.25M from 2019 to 2021
• The most expensive County for a new single-family home is Arlington, coming in at an average sold price just over $2M in 2021, trailed only slightly by Fairfax County, with an average sold price about $100,000 less than Arlington
• The best value, on a price per square foot basis, for new construction in 2021 is in Manassas ($173/SqFt) and Dumfries ($183/SqFt) and the least value, on price per square foot, is McLean ($380/SqFt) and Arlington ($379/SqFt)

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This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving week everybody!

The Eli Residential Group will be donating $1,500 towards three fantastic local food charities based on your votes. We will distribute the donations in proportion to the total votes received for each of the three charities below. Thank you for your participation and have a wonderful start to the holiday season!

Arlington Food Assistance Center
AFAC is rated 86.34/100 on Charity Navigator.

“Our mission is to feed our neighbors in need by providing dignified access to nutritious supplemental groceries. Since 1988, the Arlington Food Assistance Center remains dedicated to its simple but critical mission of obtaining and distributing groceries, directly and free of charge, to people living in Arlington, who cannot afford to purchase enough food to meet their basic needs.”

“While hunger might not seem to be an issue in a wealthy county like Arlington, the high cost of living here combined with the current economic situation causes many families struggle to make ends meet. Supplemental groceries from AFAC mean that families can remain in their homes, workers can stay on the job, children are ready to learn, and mothers and babies have the nutrition they need. We help relieve the food budgets of our clients, thereby allowing them to make other necessary purchases without sacrificing their health and nutrition needs.”

The Lamb Center
The Lamb Center is rated 97.12/100 on Charity Navigator.

“The Lamb Center is a daytime drop-in shelter for poor and individuals experiencing homelessness in Fairfax, Virginia. We provide a variety of services without cost to our guests, including breakfast, lunch, showers, laundry service, Bible studies, housing and job counseling, AA meetings, a nurse practitioner clinic, a dental clinic, and much more. We partner with local groups and organizations who have a passion for serving the homeless.”

SOME (So Others Might Eat)
SOME is rated 94.35/100 on Charity Navigator.

“SOME provides material aid and comfort to our vulnerable neighbors in the District, helping them break the cycle of poverty and homelessness through programs and services that save lives, improve lives, and help transform lives of individuals and families, their communities, and the systems and structures that affect them.”

“The cycle of poverty and homelessness can be broken. SOME’s (So Others Might Eat) comprehensive programs are designed to help our most vulnerable neighbors — people experiencing homelessness and extreme poverty — find pathways out of poverty and achieve long-term stability and success.”

“SOME is an interfaith, community-based service organization that exists to help and support residents of our nation’s capital experiencing homelessness and poverty. SOME offers a variety of services, including affordable housing, counseling, substance use disorder treatment, and job training. In addition, SOME helps meet immediate daily needs by providing food, clothing, and healthcare to those in need.”

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at 703-539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. 703-390-9460.

This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: We are finalizing our condo budget for 2022 and wondering if you can share information on what condo fees are elsewhere in Arlington.

Answer: For those unfamiliar with how condo fees are set, they’re a calculation of the next years projected budget (operating costs, savings contributions, etc) divided by each unit based on a pre-determined ownership percentage (usually based on square footage or bedroom count). The budget is set by the Board, which is made up of condo owners, not by the property management company.

Many condo owners/potential owners have a hard time wrapping their head around paying condo fees and see it as a loss compared to other property types, but it’s important to understand some of the benefits of condo fees, which I wrote about here in 2018. With that said, condo fees that climb too high have a negative impact on property values, which I detailed here in 2017.

So let’s take a look at what average condo fees look like around Arlington! Please note the following about the data:

• I don’t include amenities in these numbers because there isn’t a reliable source for amenities in each building and the data that’s in the MLS suffers from a lot of human error (missing or incorrect info).
• The source for the condo fees is property sales data in the MLS so it is limited to what has been sold/offered for sale, not published condo fee data from each building (that doesn’t exist). While this isn’t a 100% accurate picture, it’s a big enough sample size that we can consider these numbers pretty close.
• I limited the data set to one and two bedroom condos and also did not include cooperatives.
• My reference to “buildings” in the 2nd and 3rd cross-sections refers to condo buildings with 5+ floors and “low rise” refers to buildings with four or fewer floors.
• In some cases you will see a year-to-year decrease in condo fees. It’s unlikely that condo fees dropped in Arlington in those years, rather it’s a result of shifts within the data (more sales of condos with lower fees or fewer sales of condos with high fees).

Fee/SqFt refers to the average monthly condo fee divided by the finished square footage of the unit. It’s a good way to compare the relative value of a building’s fees.

Hopefully these numbers help Boards and condo owners understand where they fall relative to the rest of the market. Keep in mind that there are several factors that cause buildings to be above or below average including amenities, staffing, historical management of reserves, unit mix (buildings with larger units have fewer owners to spread costs across) and many more.

It’s important for each Board to understand how their fees compare to comparable buildings and take a good look at each budget line-item to ensure smart spending with proper savings (primarily driven by the Reserve Study). The budget drives fees, fees should not drive the budget.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at 703-539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. 703-390-9460.

This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Last week I wrote about breaking news in the real estate industry that Zillow was underwater on their home buying/selling business, Zillow Offers. Hours after I published my article, to the surprise of many, Zillow announced it was shutting down Zillow Offers and reducing their workforce by 25% as a result.

The purpose of last week’s article was to discuss what Zillow’s problems meant for the real estate market and Zillow. For those who didn’t read and don’t intend to, the bottom line was that Zillow’s issues are not an indicator of trouble in the broader real estate market or for Zillow’s business overall, they’re simply a bad bet by Zillow that will cost them about $1B since they started Zillow offers in 2018.

However, ARLnow Commenter “Arlington Robin” made a great point that while Zillow’s issues may not be indicative of trouble in the nationwide/D.C. area real estate market, it will likely create problems in local markets like Phoenix where Zillow will be selling a lot of homes, likely with a priority on selling quickly vs extracting top dollar.

Background

Zillow entered the iBuying business in April 2018 (launched in Phoenix) with a home buying program called Zillow Offers in which they’d quickly purchase homes using their internal pricing algorithm (built off the Zestimates algorithm) directly from homeowners for cash. The incentive structure is simple: fast, cash, reliable, no list prep. In 2019 I wrote a column on iBuying and discussed the approach, pros and cons.

Since 2018, Zillow Offers expanded to over 20 markets around the country (mostly in the south and out west) and bought tens of thousands of homes. Three weeks ago, Zillow announced it was freezing home buying through 2021 to focus on selling ~7,000 homes they had accumulated and last week an analyst at KeyBanc found that 2/3 are selling for less than their purchase price at an average discount of 4.5%.

Soon after these reports surfaced and hours after I wrote my article about it, Zillow announced they were shutting down their iBuying program completely (although they still have thousands of homes to sell).

Zillow vs iBuying Competitors

Zillow wasn’t the only one in the business of large scale iBuying. Opendoor and Offerpad both operate in this space with better margins and, at least for now, do not seem to be heading for the same fate as Zillow. Although, based on my reading of their earnings statements, they’re both operating at a loss, like many tech start-ups.

Even though Zillow has access to more resources and data, there are a few good reasons why Zillow has tapped out.

Setting the right offer price (high enough to buy homes at scale, low enough to make money) and forecasting the market 3-6 months out are critical to the success of an iBuying business. Zestimates, Zillow’s market valuation tool that drives these buying/forecasting decisions, was designed to attract and engage consumers, not to drive a massive home buying and selling business. Companies built around iBuying designed their pricing algorithms specifically for the purpose of maximizing margins in buying/selling real estate at scale.

Furthermore, Zillow needs to protect its core business from the high volatility of iBuying at scale ($1B in losses in 3.5 years). Zillow investors likely have less of an appetite for the risks associated with large scale iBuying, but the investors in iBuying focused businesses like Opendoor and Offerpad know exactly what they’re signing up for and are likely more willing to accept early losses.

As a large publicly traded company, Zillow couldn’t just ask itself whether they could make it in iBuying, but whether the payoff in making it in the iBuying business was worth the risk of compromising its core business and brand. Clearly, Zillow leadership decided that it was not worth it.

Opendoor and Offerpad both have earnings calls scheduled for this Wednesday, November 10 so it’ll be very interesting to see how their numbers compare to Zillow’s and what they have to say about Zillow’s exit from their business.

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This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: Can you share your thoughts on the latest news about Zillow’s issues with their home buying program?

Answer: I don’t usually comment on real estate news, but the recent issues reported with Zillow’s home buying/selling program are interesting and worth discussing.

Catch Me Up

Zillow entered the i-Buying game in April 2018 (launched in Phoenix) with a home buying program called Zillow Offers in which they’d quickly purchase homes using their pricing algorithm (Zestimates) directly from homeowners for cash. The incentive structure is simple: fast, cash, reliable, no list prep. I wrote a column on this type of “i-Buying” in 2019 and discussed the approach, pros and cons.

Since 2018, Zillow Offers has expanded to over 20 markets around the country (mostly in the south and out west) and bought thousands of homes (maybe tens of thousands, but I couldn’t find a good source). Two weeks ago, news broke that Zillow was freezing home buying through 2021 as they work to offload ~7,000 homes.

Yesterday, news broke that an analyst at KeyBanc, Edward Yruma, studied a sample of 650 homes Zillow is currently selling (about 20% of their total inventory) and found that 2/3 are selling for less than their purchase price at an average discount of 4.5%.

What Does it Mean for the Market?

Does this signal a falling/collapsing real estate market?

People, especially news outlets, love looking for signs of a market or business collapse and will certainly play-up this angle. However, I think it’s a lot of nothing at this point.

First, Zillow’s i-Buying program doesn’t represent the housing market, so I don’t buy that it’s an early indicator of a downturn. It’s a new technology-driven business model for buying and selling homes and even if you expect i-Buying to find long-term success, you expect bumps along the way as algorithms and processes evolve through different market cycles.

Zillow relies on its Zestimate home valuation algorithm to determine their offer price and they have a published median error rate of 6.9% for off-market sales, which is essentially what a Zillow Offers home purchase is. Zestimates is within 10% of the final sold price on an off-market deal just 63.8% of the time.

Their published, and more visible, 1.9% error rate for on-market sales is misleading because the Zestimate algorithm adjusts to asking prices and days on market data once a listing is posted, which brings Zestimate accuracy for on-market sales (majority of sales) much closer to the sold price.

Combine Zillow’s 6.9% error rate for off-market sales with the difficulty in tweaking their pricing algorithms in a rapidly appreciating market (they’ve had to adjust values higher on the fly for their offers to have a chance of being accepted) and it’s easy to understand how they ended up with too much inventory worth less than what they paid.

This isn’t a housing market issue, but growing pains of a new business model and technology.

What Does it Mean for Zillow?

Did Zillow reach too far from their core business and get itself in trouble?

Business Insider reported that if Zillow sold everything at the current list price in Phoenix (Zillow Offer’s second largest market), they’d lose about $6.3M. Let’s say they take even more losses on these homes and take similar losses in the rest of their markets, we’re probably looking at losses of ~$50M-$100M against a market cap of approximately $22B and ~$3.7B cash on hand as of today. Far from trouble and probably losses they’re willing to accept in return for the lessons learned/experience.

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This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: We are looking forward to buying a home in 2022. Do you have any recommendations on how we should start the home buying process?

Answer: Google “home buyer tips” or “what to know before buying a home” and you’ll find plenty of advice on the topic, so I’ll include some suggestions I don’t see on most of those lists and also put my own spin on others that you have heard before.

Weighted Criteria

It’s easy to come up with 3-5 things that are most important to you, but challenge yourself early to come up with a list of 12-15 things. Then give yourself 100 points and allocate points to each based on how important each item is to you and you’ll end up with a weighted criteria list to help you focus your search and objectively compare properties.

If you want to take it to the next level, bring your weighted criteria list with you on showings and score each house out of the total points allocated to it so each home you see is scored on a 100-point scale.

Length of Ownership

How long you expect to be in your home is one of the most important considerations in defining what you prioritize and how you use your budget. You should focus on the following:

• Likely length of ownership
• Difference in criteria for a 3-5 year house vs a 10-12+ year house
• Difference in budget requirements for a 3-5 year house vs a 10-12+ year house

Appreciation is not guaranteed and difficult to predict, but the value of longer ownership periods is undisputed. One way longer ownership adds value is the potential for eliminating one or more real estate transactions, and the associated costs (fees, taxes, moving expenses, new furniture, etc) and stress that comes with moving, over the course of your lifetime.

If you have an opportunity to significantly increase your length of ownership by stretching your budget, it’s often justifiable. On the other hand, if your budget or future plans restrict you to housing that’s likely to be suitable for just 3-4 years (and buying now still makes sense), it’s generally better to stay under budget.

Influencers (not the Instagram ones)

Family, friends, colleagues… they’re all happy to offer opinions and contribute to your home buying process, but the input can be overwhelming and unproductive if you don’t set boundaries. Try to determine up-front who you want involved in the process and how you’d like them to be involved.

Think about how you’ve made other major decisions in life — what college to attend, what car to buy, where to get married, whether to change jobs — and if you’re the type of person who likes input from your friends and family, you’ll likely do the same when buying a house. Plan ahead with those influencers so their input is productive.

Does Your House Exist?

Before jumping too far into the search process, spend a little bit of time searching For Sale and Sold homes on your favorite real estate search website/app to see if the homes selling in the area you want and within 10% of your upper budget are at least close to what you’re looking for. If not, spend some time adjusting price, location and non-critical criteria to figure out what high-level compromises you’ll need to make and then compare those compromises to your current living situation and/or continuing to rent.

Know Your Market

We’re in a strong seller’s market for single-family and townhouses right now with low supply, high demand and increasing prices, but the condo market is more balanced.

Each sub-market behaves a bit differently and comes with its own unique set of challenges and opportunities, so take time early on to understand the sub-market(s) you’ll be involved in and what you’re likely to experience. This is something your agent should be able to assist with.

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This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: My condo association carries an expensive Master Insurance policy, but my lender is requiring that I purchase my own individual policy. What coverage do I gain from the individual policy that the master policy doesn’t include?

Answer: Every condo association has its own (expensive) Master Insurance policy to cover the common elements, but there are substantial gaps between the association’s policy and what you’re personally liable for without an individual HO-6 policy. Most people shop for the cheapest, fastest individual insurance policy and apply just enough coverage to meet the lender’s requirements, but that may put you at risk.

To explain common gaps between master policies and HO-6 (individual condo) policies, I’d like to re-introduce Andrew Schlaffer, Owner and President of ACO Insurance Group. Andrew is an expert in Master Insurance policies and has helped multiple local condo association’s reduce their cost and improve their coverage since writing a column on the topic last year. If you’d like to contact Andrew directly to review your association’s master policy, you can reach him at (703) 719-8008 or [email protected].

Take it away Andrew…

Increasing Claims, Increasing Coverage Gaps

The condominium insurance marketplace is facing challenges that will impact homeowners in 2021. Water damage is leading this list of challenges — according to the Insurance Information Institute, about one-third of homeowner insurance losses are caused by water damage and freezing. The DMV is home to many aging condo buildings that struggle with mitigating water damage losses and their impact on insurance.

As water damage claims continue to rise and property damage costs increase, many insurance carriers are beginning to make changes to their coverage offerings that may increase your risk exposure.

Master Insurance vs Individual Insurance Policy

Nearly all master insurance policies in this area are written on a Single Entity basis which means coverage extends to general and limited common elements but also extends within individual units to fixtures, appliances, walls, floor coverings, and cabinetry, but only for like, kind and quality to that conveyed by the developer to the original owner.

Items not covered by the master insurance policy and are generally not the association’s responsibility include:

• Personal Property (clothes, electronics, furniture, money, artwork, jewelry)
• Betterments and Improvements (demonstrable upgrades completed after the initial conveyance)
• Additional Living Expenses (the cost to live at a temporary location, storage fees, loss of rents)
• Personal Liability (provides protection for bodily injury or property damage claims arising from your unit)
• Loss Assessment (triggered only if there is a covered cause of loss and the master insurance policy limits are exhausted; this assessment would apply collectively to all unit owners)
• Medical Payments (no fault coverage available for injured guests within your unit)

Condo owners should purchase an individual condo insurance policy (HO-6), which is also required by lenders. This policy can provide coverage for the items listed above.

Review Your Dwelling Coverage

Dwelling Coverage should be included in every HO-6 policy to avoid significant out-of-pocket expenses. Many condo associations can hold you responsible for expenses that fall under the master policy deductible that are caused by the owner’s act, neglect, misuse, or carelessness. Due to the rise in water damage losses, many insurance carriers are increasing their deductibles, which in turn spurs the need for homeowners to adjust their dwelling insurance limit.

In a recent instance, a condo suffering from significant water damage losses was required by its insurance carrier to increase the master insurance policy deductible from $10,000 to $25,000. In this community, each homeowner should have at least $25,000 of dwelling coverage to indemnify them for the deductible expense in the event a claim arises from their unit. If coverage is not available, the homeowner would either pay this expense personally or the association can put a lien on their unit.

Dwelling coverage should also include a homeowner’s betterments and improvements (improvements made above what the builder originally delivered), including those completed by prior owners. Most lenders will require at least 20% of the unit’s market value insured under this coverage as well.

What Information to Share with Your Insurance Provider

You should always review the condo association’s governing documents and understand the applicable statutory requirements (i.e. Virginia Condominium Act) and lender requirements to verify their individual responsibilities, including maintenance/repair and insurance. Along with sharing the association documents, homeowners should also provide their personal insurance agent with the following:

• What is the master policy deductible? ($5,000, $10,000, $25,000)
• What approach is used for the condominium insurance coverage? (Single Entity)

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This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: We bought an older home with original water and sewer lines. Who is responsible for the maintenance and replacement of these lines, and how do I know if there’s a problem?

Answer: You are responsible for the main plumbing lines for water and sewage running between your home and the public lines. In most cases, the gas company is responsible for everything to and including the meter (attached to your home), and you’re responsible for the lines after the meter.

The main lines are usually buried under your front yard and replacement costs (water and sewage) often start at a couple thousand dollars and can easily exceed $10,000. Costs vary based on some key factors including:

• Distance from the public line to your home
• Pipe material
• Type of excavation/installation (difficulty in digging up old plumbing, number of turns in new pipe)
• Cost to return landscaping to original state (this is on you, not the county)

In most cases, Washington Gas will return your property/landscaping to its original condition, including hardscape and your lawn (even your driveway), after excavating for repair or replacement. It’s not a bad idea to find out where your gas supply line is and plan landscaping with that in mind.

Identifying Problems

The life expectancy on many of the most common materials used for main plumbing lines range from 50 to 100 years, but tree root growth, unnatural disturbances like new landscaping, corrosion, and pressure build-ups can cause leaks, blockages, and other damage that you should monitor.

The most effective and most expensive way to look for problems is to hire a plumber to scope the lines with a camera to see if there are any issues. The cost of doing this often exceeds $500 per line, but can give you peace of mind or early warnings of a problem.

If you don’t want to pay a plumber to scope your lines, you can monitor for signs of a problem:

• Water line: Higher water bills, lower water pressure, flooding in yard when there isn’t rain
• Sewer line: Slow drainage/clogs in multiple areas of the house, foul smell inside or outside, odd behavior from plumbing like bubbling sounds
• Gas line: If you smell a gas/rotten egg odor, hissing sound from a gas line/meter, hazy/cloudy near gas line, plants dying, issues with gas-powered appliances

Good To Know

Here are some other helpful tips regarding the main lines for water, sewage and gas:

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This regularly scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: We’re preparing to sell our home and would like to stay in the house for a few weeks after it sells. Can you explain the rent-back concept?

Answer: A Seller’s Post-Settlement Occupancy, more commonly referred to as a rent-back, allows a homeowner to sell their home, collect the proceeds, and continue living in the home for a pre-determined period after closing.

Some common scenarios for a rent-back are:

• You need the sale proceeds for the purchase of your next home
• You want to ensure the sale closes before you move out
• You want to wait-out the end of the school year or last day at a job

How Rent-Backs Are Structured

The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors contract (as well as other regional contracts) provides a standard form for a Seller’s Post-Settlement Occupancy Agreement so you don’t need to worry about hiring an attorney. It functions as a short-term lease including:

• How much the seller will pay the buyer for the rent-back
• How long the rent-back lasts
• A security deposit
• A penalty for staying past the rent-back period

Buyers will conduct a pre-closing walk-through before they purchase the home where they have all the rights provided to them in a normal sale. At the end of the rent-back, the new owners will conduct another walk-through once the previous owners move out, which is like that of a walk-through at the end of a normal rental period.

If the previous owners caused damage during the move-out, leave junk behind, or fail other property delivery requirements, the new owners can make a claim against the security deposit, which is generally held by the Title Company who handled the sale.

Time Limitations

If the home is being purchased as a primary residence and the Buyers are taking out a mortgage, most loans (and all Fannie/Freddie loans) require that the Buyer intend to move into the property within 60 days of the closing and thus any rent-back is limited to 60 days (I usually recommend 59, just to avoid an issue with underwriting).

If a home is being purchased with cash or as a secondary home/investment property with a loan, the 60-day limit doesn’t apply. However, the contract form you’ll use explicitly states that it’s meant to give the seller the temporary right to use the property after closing and not subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act, so avoid using this form in place of a legitimate lease if the Buyer/Seller intend on a longer-term rent-back.

Not Without Risk

For the new owners, a rent-back carries with it some of the same risks as being a landlord. Disputes over security deposit, damage in excess of the security deposit, or trouble with the previous owners moving out on time are all realities that Buyers need to consider.

As with many decisions in a real estate transaction, a Buyer’s willingness to agree to a rent-back is a matter of risk and benefit. The risk being issues arising like those mentioned before and the benefit being that offering the seller a rent-back can be the difference between them accepting your offer or taking somebody else’s.

Free Rent-Backs?

In “normal” markets, the fee for a rent-back is usually calculated using the new owner’s carrying costs (mortgage + taxes + insurance), but in our hyper-competitive market, many Buyers offer Seller’s a free rent-back as a way to increase the competitiveness of their offer. A free rent-back isn’t worth much if the seller is asking for an extra week, but it certainly adds up if they’re asking to stay for 6-8 weeks past closing.

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at 703-539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. 703-390-9460.