real estate

Just Listed in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Just Listed highlights Arlington properties that just came on the market within the past week. This feature is written and sponsored by Team Cathell, “Your Orange Line Specialists.”

Hello springtime!

While the weather can’t decide if its winter or spring, home buyers this week have screamed from the rooftops that the spring real estate market has launched. Sellers stepped up and listed 54 homes in Arlington while buyers ratified 43 contracts this week. And some 27 of those sold within seven days. These are March numbers, and its only mid-January. The bidding wars have begun.

Loan applications for existing homes jumped 30% last week over the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And new home loan applications are up 39% from a year ago.

Higher demand and low inventory makes it really hard on home buyers, especially new home buyers who are going through the nerve-wracking process for the first time. Here are a few tips:

  1. Work with an experienced agent with proven track record of winning in competitive bidding
  2. Work with a reputable local hybrid lender that underwrites in their own shop, also with proven track record (ask your rock star agent for referrals for lenders, they know who is good)
  3. Look at homes listed below your maximum purchase range so you have room to escalate your bid upward to win
  4. Go big just once to get ahead of the market to win. You may FEEL like you’re over-paying, but in six months you’ll look like the genius in the room when others are still making offers while prices have jumped three percent and you’ve already built equity

Buyers, here’s some good news: interest rates dropped this week by about 1/8% to 3.625% for a 30-yr fixed rate. Make the commitment to own and start building equity and wealth.

Click to see all the fresh new inventory in MRIS and call Team Cathell (703-975-2500) when you find a home you like.

Just Reduced Properties in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Each week, “Just Reduced” spotlights properties in Arlington County whose price have been cut over the previous week. The market summary is crafted by Arlington Realty, Inc. Maximize your real estate investment with the team by visiting www.arlingtonrealtyinc.com or calling 703-836-6000 today!

Please note: While Arlington Realty, Inc. provides this information for the community, it may not be the listing company of these homes.

January 15 is National Hat Day. Yes, we love a good quirky awareness day, obviously.

So, what kind of hat are you sporting today?

Fortunately, since we’re hovering at around 60 degrees, we’re all not necessarily needing a thermal beanie. It’s never a bad time to rep our World Series champs Nats (still riding that wave of happiness) or league-leading Caps either (let’s bring home another cup this year, boys).

Here at Arlington Realty, we’re sporting our strategic and thinking caps today… and every day.

It’s simply a wild and wonderful time to be engrained in the local real estate market. The Washington D.C. area weathered the recession, has continued to be anchored by a stable and growing housing market and there is so much ahead for us all in 2020.

To make the most of it and get the most bang for your buck, that thinking (and executing!) cap will be vital — not only for you, but the team you select to advocate on your behalf.

As of January 13, there are 100 detached homes, 11 townhouses and 54 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 9 homes experienced a price reduction in the past week:

Please note that this is solely a selection of Just Reduced properties available in Arlington County. For a complete list of properties within your target budget and specifications, contact Arlington Realty, Inc.

Ask Eli: 2020 Interest Rate Predictions

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

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. Enjoy!

Question: Do you expect interest rates to remain low in 2020?

Answer: Mortgage rates increased sharply in 2018, peaking at 7+ year highs in the fall of 2018, and most experts expected that trend to continue into 2019 and for 30 yr rates to clear the 5% mark for the first time since spring 2010. However, changes in economic policy and financial markets pushed rates down at the end of 2018 and throughout 2019, coming close to all-time lows in the 2nd half of 2019.

Average 30 yr Fixed Mortgage Rate Since 1971

Average 30 yr Fixed Mortgage Rate Since 2010

Rates in 2020+

The Mortgage Bankers Association and Freddie Mac each predict that rates will remain low, right around current levels, through 2021 with an average 30 yr Fixed Rate hovering around 3.7-3.8% through that period. The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts that rates won’t start increasing until 2022, when they’re predicting the average rate to increase modestly to 4.1%.

If these projections are accurate, it should support strong price growth over the next few years in Arlington, Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. area.

However, keep in mind that just over 12 months ago, most experts predicted that mortgage rates would be over 5% by 2020 and, according to Freddie Mac, the average 30 yr Fixed Rate last week was 3.64%. Changes in the global or U.S. economy, the election, and the stock market can all change the course of rates in 2020 and beyond.

Lender Advice

If you’re considering purchasing in 2020, I wrote a column a few years ago about the value of a good lender that I’d encourage you to review. If you’d like to talk to somebody, I suggest reaching out to Jake Ryon of First Home Mortgage at [email protected].

If you’d like to meet to discuss buying or selling in the area, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to set-up an in-person meeting to discuss local real estate, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at www.EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.

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

Listing of the Day: 1600 N. Oak Street #1621

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
1/10

Address: 1600 N. Oak Street #1621
Neighborhood: Rosslyn
Listed: $776,000
Open: Sunday, January 12 from 2-4 p.m.

This stunningly renovated 2 BR/2 BA condominium in the luxurious Belvedere offers sweeping 16th floor river and monument views of Washington, D.C., and a downtown modern ambiance. Enjoy beautiful sunrises over the Potomac and a front row view to the July 4th fireworks from this majestic city retreat, just 3 blocks from the Rosslyn Metro.

The open floor plan features 1,320 square feet plus sunroom and over $165,000 in high-end upgrades and quality craftsmanship.

A striking gourmet kitchen with bar seating, sunroom with folding glass door, separate dining area, master suite with barn doors, beautifully renovated master bath, LED accent lighting and unique Duraamen epoxy floors are just some of the features that make this unit so special.

The master bath features a travertine tile heated floor, huge walk-in shower with rain showerhead and two large walk-in closets with organizer systems. The second bedroom features built-in desks, cabinets and a full-size Hardwood Artisans oak murphy bed.

The Belvedere is a pet-friendly building that offers a host of top-notch amenities that include 24/7 front desk concierge, outdoor pool, tennis and Pickleball courts, fitness room with sauna, convenience store with dry cleaning, library and lounge, carwash bays and a party room.

For more photos and an interactive floor plan visit 1600NOakSt.com.

Listed by:
Meg Ross
Keller Williams Realty
703-447-0970
[email protected]
MegRoss.com

Open Houses in Arlington This Weekend

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Looking for a home? There are plenty of houses and condos open for viewing this weekend.

Check out the Arlington Realty website for a full list of homes for sale and open houses in Arlington. Here are a few highlights:

3616 N Upland Street
7 BD/7 BA, 1 half bath single-family home
Agent: Keller Williams Realty
Listed: $2,549,000
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

 

1881 N. Nash Street #212
2 BD/2 BA condo
Agent: Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc
Listed: $1,200,000
Open: Sunday 1-3 p.m.

 

1615 N. Queen Street #M604
1 BD/1 BA condo
Agent: Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
Listed: $929,00
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

908 18th Street S.
4 BD/3 BA single-family home
Agent: Taylor Properties
Listed: $830,000
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

 

4237 36th Street S.
3 BD/2 BA condo
Agent: Samson Properties
Listed: $639,900
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

2424 S. Oakland Street
3 BD/2 BA villa/townhouse
Agent: Weichert Realtors
Listed: $525,000
Open: Sunday 1-3 p.m.

Just Listed in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Just Listed highlights Arlington properties that just came on the market within the past week. This feature is written and sponsored by Team Cathell, “Your Orange Line Specialists.”

The consensus is in on the outlook for our housing market in 2020.

Here are the views from the top economists from the National Association of Realtors, Fannie Mae, Realtor.com, Zillow, Redfin, the National Association of Home Builders and more.

Buyers beware and get ready. 2020 will be more agonizing than last year as a scarcity of inventory will get even worse. “2020 will prove to be the most challenging year for buyers not because of what they can afford, but rather what they can find,” says George Ratiu, senior economist with Realtor.com.

Mortgage interest rates will stay about the same, currently at 3.75% for a 30-yr fixed rate, through 2020 rising no more than 4%. That’s some good news for buyers.

Home values will increase in 80% of major metro areas across the U.S., rising by 1.8% to 6%. In 2019, Arlington values rose 6% for single family homes. With less inventory and greater demand, we should see home values rise 6% to 8% in 2020.

Because of inventory scarcity nationwide, some 25% of all transactions will be involved in bidding wars. In my opinion, you can double that for Arlington in 2020.

Home builder confidence is the highest in 20 years as contractors race to keep up with demand. They expect to deliver 4% more homes to the market than last year. But still the U.S. faces a cumulative housing shortage of 1 million homes based on population growth and household formation.

In other words, buckle up.

This week in Arlington some 41 sellers listed their homes, and 32 buyers ratified contracts. The spring market has sprung.

Click to see all the fresh new inventory in MRIS and call Team Cathell (703-975-2500) when you find a home you like.

Just Reduced Properties in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Each week, “Just Reduced” spotlights properties in Arlington County whose price have been cut over the previous week. The market summary is crafted by Arlington Realty, Inc. Maximize your real estate investment with the team by visiting www.arlingtonrealtyinc.com or calling 703-836-6000 today!

Please note: While Arlington Realty, Inc. provides this information for the community, it may not be the listing company of these homes.

Let’s bust out the crystal ball and predict what’s going to happen in 2020.

Will the Caps win the Stanley Cup again? Will there be world peace? We shall see.

On the housing front, Realtor.com recently released its National Housing Forecast 2020 and it’s full of some interesting predictions. Among them, the group anticipates the following nationally:

  • Mortgage rates to creep up .03% by the end of the year to 3.88%
  • Existing home median sales price appreciation to rise .08%
  • Existing home sales to fall 1.8%
  • Single-family home housing starts to jump 6%
  • The homeownership rate to hit 64.6%

So, this translates to price growths flattening and inventory remaining tight.

Locally, in the D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria metro area, Realtor.com is anticipating a 1.5% decline in the number of sales and a 2.6% jump in price.

These stats certainly reflect the trend here in our market of limited inventory yet increasing prices, anchored by a strong job market, competitive wages and forthcoming projects, like Amazon’s HQ2.

Bottom line: It’s shaping up to be another interesting year in Arlington County and surrounding areas. And, when you’re ready to navigate the local real estate market and get the most bang for your buck, on either side of a transaction, the time-tested team at Arlington Realty Inc is ready to roll on your behalf.

As of January 6, there are 100 detached homes, 11 townhouses and 54 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 3 homes experienced a price reduction in the past week:

Please note that this is solely a selection of Just Reduced properties available in Arlington County. For a complete list of properties within your target budget and specifications, contact Arlington Realty, Inc.

Ask Eli: The Real Story About 22202 Property Values (Amazon Zip Code), Part 2

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

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. Enjoy!

Question: I have read articles about the 22202 zip code suggesting everything from extreme appreciation to homes now selling for pre-Amazon prices. Can you shed some light on what’s actually happening in that market?

Answer: A few weeks ago, I wrote part one, focusing on the performance of the 22202 (Amazon Zip Code) condo market so this week we’ll take a look at how the detached single-family market performed in the neighborhoods bordering Amazon HQ2.

One of the issues I mention in Part 1 is how much misinformation has been published elsewhere about price appreciation in 22202 and the Arlington/Alexandria markets.

This two-part column is one of my attempts to provide an accurate picture about what’s actually happening in our real estate market. The key takeaway is that the market performed very well (if you own, not if you’re a hopeful buyer) following the Amazon HQ2 announcement, but prices haven’t skyrocketed the way many articles would lead you to believe.

Market Make-up

The 22202 market offers a diverse supply of housing. This year, condos have sold from as little as $195,000 for a 500 sq. ft. studio to $1,250,000 for a 2,900 sq. ft. 3 BR/3 BA penthouse. The least expensive detached home sold for $630,000 to be torn down and the most expensive a 6 BR/4.5 BA for $1,600,000.

Homes in the area tend to be pretty old with most detached homes being built prior to the 1960s and only one condo building has delivered since 1990. Of the 139 homes to sell in 2019, 78 were in condo buildings, 50 were detached homes, and 11 were townhouses.

22202 Detached Single-Family Performance

The tables below represent sales in 2018 and 2019 split between those that went under contract before and after Amazon’s HQ2 announcement on November 13, 2018:

Like elsewhere in Arlington and the 22202 condo market, inventory levels took a big hit in 2019, dropping 33% from 75 sales in 2018 to 50 sales in 2019. Sales volume had ranged consistently between 69 and 76 sales since 2015.

The decline in sales certainly was not due to lack of demand, rather fewer properties hitting the market. This is evident from the sharp drop in average days on market (down 63%) and sharp increase in the average sold price to original asking price ratio (up 3%). In fact, the detached home market was so competitive that the average buyer paid over asking price.

Detached home prices in 22202 increased by an average of 9.2%, from $911k to $996k, and the median value increased by 8.5%, from $876k to $950k. Detached homes in the area vary so much from sale to sale that you can’t take the average or median price growth and apply that level of appreciation to all individual homes. When I dug into individual comparable sales pre- and post-Amazon announcement, I found that homes below ~$1M appreciated noticeably more than those above $1M, by about 12-15% and 5-8%, respectively.

(more…)

Open Houses in Arlington This Weekend

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Looking for a home? There are plenty of houses and condos open for viewing this weekend.

Check out the Arlington Realty website for a full list of homes for sale and open houses in Arlington. Here are a few highlights:

512 N. Littleton Street
6 BD/5 BA, 2 half bath single-family home
Agent: Ttr Sothebys International Realty
Listed: $1,549,000
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

 

2020 N. Taylor Street
4 BD/3 BA single-family home
Agent: Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Penfed Realty
Listed: $1,249,000
Open: Saturday 1-3 p.m.

 

2813 2nd Street S.
3 BD/3 BA single-family home
Agent: Re/Max Allegiance
Listed: $869,900
Open: Sunday 1-3 p.m.

 

1705 S. Hayes Street #2
3 BD/2 BA, 1 half bath condo
Agent: Compass
Listed: $650,000
Open: Sunday 1:30-4 p.m.

 

1024 N. Utah Street #721
2 BD/2 BA condo
Agent: Kw Metro Center
Listed: $550,000
Open: Saturday 1-3 p.m.

 

1276 N. Wayne Street #1117
1 BD/1 BA condo
Agent: Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc
Listed: $443,000
Open: Sunday 1-3 p.m.

Just Listed in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Just Listed highlights Arlington properties that just came on the market within the past week. This feature is written and sponsored by Team Cathell, “Your Orange Line Specialists.”

Happy New Year!

There’s no doubt that 2020 will be an exciting year with many major events from politics to the environment, to science, medicine, foreign affairs, and that’s just the start. So, buckle up for a wild ride.

What can we expect to see with Arlington’s real estate market? There are several key factors that will impact our local market: inventory, mortgage rates, wage growth and the national economy.

If you think 2019 was a bad year for low inventory, 2020 is looking even worse. Home builders are falling further behind the demand for housing, especially moderate to low income housing. The DMV area, particularly Arlington, has done a great job at creating new jobs. And most of these new jobs are white collar jobs with good salaries. More jobs, more people, more demand for housing.

It’s a simple equation that has put tremendous pressure on the available inventory of homes for sale. This week, only one home of 11 that sold had been on the market less than a week. All other 10 sales were stale inventory. And it’s going to get worse this year. We should expect to see home prices rise more than 5%-6% in 2020.

Mortgage rates are expected to stay relatively unchanged for the year. The 30-yr fixed rate is now 3.75% and is expected to stay below 4% by the end of the year. So low steady rates should help more people qualify and create even more demand for 2020.

Wage growth has been a decelerator for demand the last 2-3 years. Wages for salaried employees have been stagnant with no real growth. The small amount of wage growth we’ve seen in some areas of the U.S. has been countered by inflation, also running low at just 1.9%. Just in the last few months we have begun to see some wage growth for minimum wage workers, but these are not the consumers who buy homes, not yet. When our area begins to see real salaried wage growth, we can expect to see more housing demand from first-time buyers and move-up buyers.

The U.S. economy is the underlying driver all consumer activity, and it’s expected to grow at a modest 2% for 2020, GDP for 2019 will likely close out at 2.2%. The economy is expected to slow but stay steady and resilient. So, we should see a very similar economy for 2020.

In a nutshell, 2020 is going to be a highly competitive market for buyers. The market is showing no mercy: tighter inventory, more demand, continued price increases.

Click to see all the fresh new inventory in MRIS and call Team Cathell (703-975-2500) when you find a home you like.

Just Reduced Properties in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Each week, “Just Reduced” spotlights properties in Arlington County whose price have been cut over the previous week. The market summary is crafted by Arlington Realty, Inc. Maximize your real estate investment with the team by visiting www.arlingtonrealtyinc.com or calling 703-836-6000 today!

Please note: While Arlington Realty, Inc. provides this information for the community, it may not be the listing company of these homes.

It’s 2020! Happy New Year! Happy New Decade!

There are many reasons to celebrate the new year. And, for many, a new year brings a resolution or two as well.

Having been engrained in the Arlington real estate scene for 30-plus years, we’ve heard New Year’s goals galore from our clients throughout the decades. Among them, folks may want to sell their home, rent out their home, find a place to rent, buy a spot of their own, invest in some land or, perhaps, something in between.

Everyone’s real estate aspirations, timelines and needs are totally different. And, with the new year, we’re here to tell you that your goal is totally achievable. With the right team by your side, resources and approach, we can bring your goal to fruition and achieve what you may initially think is unachievable.

When you’re ready to talk about your 2020 vision (see what we did there?), Arlington Realty Inc. is ready to jump into action.

As of December 30, there are 100 detached homes, 11 townhouses and 56 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 5 homes experienced a price reduction in the past week:

Please note that this is solely a selection of Just Reduced properties available in Arlington County. For a complete list of properties within your target budget and specifications, contact Arlington Realty, Inc.

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