Northern Virginia Real Estate Podcast with AJ Team Realty

According to the latest numbers, things are wide open in our Lake Ridge market if you’re a seller. What is going on in the Lake Ridge real estate market? Here are the latest statistics from last June. Month over month, the average sale price jumped 11% to $378,000. Over the past few months, we’ve seen the average sale price decrease a couple times, so this is a sign the market is catching up to itself. We’re in a healthy market, but the situation above $400,000 is very different than the one below $400,000. If you list a home above this price point, you’ll have a different experience than the sellers below it. " If you list a home above this price point, you'll have a different experience than the sellers below it. " There were 117 homes sold, and the number of single-family homes that were sold jumped 38% a month after month. A key statistic that’s good news for sellers is the number of new and active listings is down 22%. If you’re thinking of selling your home, the window is wide open, but you have to make sure you renovate, price, and market it correctly. If you want to talk more about our market or you want to put your home on the market, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.

There are three things that can kill your home’s value if you are unaware of them. I have been selling real estate for 17 years, and I can tell you that there are three things that are guaranteed to kill your home’s value: " Do not forget about the maintenance work you need to do in your home. " 1. Unpermitted work. This is generally found in basements. Most people start with good intentions, but once they open a permit to work in their home, sometimes they do not close it. Make sure if you finish off some work you are doing in the basement or anywhere else in your house that you close out your permit for it so that it is recorded in your public record. 2. The topography of your home’s lot. When buying a home, most people think location, location, location. What they do not think about, however, is the home’s lot and how that lot’s dimensions can affect its value. If you are buying a home, make sure you check the topography of its lot. It may fit what you are looking for, but you also have to think about the next family that will want to live in that home. 3. Deferred maintenance. We live in a fast-paced society, and sometimes we have to juggle many different responsibilities at once. This can make it easy to forget about the maintenance work we have to do in our homes. Painting, plumbing, roofing, landscaping, etc., are maintenance tasks that can kill your home’s value if you neglect them. If a buyer does a home inspection and any issues related to these things pop up, it can change how they feel about the home. If you have any other questions about this or any other real estate topic, please feel free to reach out to us. We would love to help you.

          If you want to make some renovations to your home before you sell, there are a few specific renovations what will give you the biggest bang for your buck. Here are some home renovation tips we contributed to a recent article on MSN Money titled “7 Renovations That Give You the Most Bang for Your Buck.” These renovations will give you the best return on your investment when you sell your home. "If you want to get the most bang for your buck, get back to the basics. " First, remember that the small things matter. Think of any painted areas that need to be touched up or door frames that need to be corrected. Look around your house—if it is small and you can fix it, you should fix it. The term we used for this in the article was “getting back to the basics.” Get back to the basics by freshening up areas like your paint and carpet. For example, having your front door painted costs around $200, but if you do it yourself it is a lot cheaper. Any money you spend painting your door will bring a good return once you sell. Next, focus on landscaping. Refresh your mulch, trim your shrubs, and try planting some seasonal flowers. Lastly, power-wash your home’s exterior, especially an area that looks dingy. To read the full article and learn all seven specific renovations that will give you the most bang for your buck, click here. As always, if you have any questions about this topic or you have any real estate needs I can assist you with, please reach out to me. I would be glad to help you.

The situation is finicky in our spring market, but buyers and sellers can still take advantage of it. What has been happening in our spring market lately? The situation is finicky. Rates are rising, inventory is low, many buyers are taking longer to make a decision, and many sellers aren’t renovating their homes properly. In short, the market is adjusting and trying to find itself. Here are some of the latest statistics from the month of May. First, the average sale price rose 1%, but it is still down overall in 2018. Year over year, the number of home sales is down 15%, which is a big number. If this trend continues into June and July, we will probably see home prices decrease a little bit lower than we would like to see.   The number of single-family homes for sale is also down year over year, to the tune of 20%. Again, this is primarily due to buyers taking longer to make a purchase and sellers not renovating their homes properly. Part of the reason sellers aren’t renovating their homes properly is they are not working with agents who have extensive home renovation experience. This is something we do very well, so if you’re a seller, we’d love to sit down and tell you more about how we can help you in this regard. " The market is adjusting and trying to find itself. " Lastly, townhome sales are up by 7%. Value always sells in Lake Ridge, which means townhomes don’t have to be renovated to the same standard as single-family homes. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, it is important that you have a strategy if you want to take advantage of this market. We can help you with this, so if you have any questions or you would like to get started, please feel free to give us a call or shoot us an email. We would love to speak with you.

A reporter from U.S. News & World Report recently asked us about what things buyers and sellers should expect from our shifting spring market. Here’s what we told him: 1. Sellers need to be smart about making renovations. Sellers need to understand that it is one thing to price your home correctly, but it is another thing to have a strategy behind your renovations.  Think about what buyers are looking for before making your renovations. Visit other properties and see which renovations are causing houses to sell faster and which renovations are keeping homes on the market. " If your home is not renovated correctly, it will sit on the market. " 2. HGTV buyers love to watch renovations on TV, but they hate to actually renovate in real life. There is a whole generation of buyers out there who think the reality of real estate is similar to what is found on HGTV, and they do not understand the costs involved in major renovations. If your home is not renovated correctly, it will sit on the market. 3. Sellers need to check all their boxes before listing. Buyers are looking for three main things in our market: they want your home to be priced correctly, they want it to be staged properly, and they want it to have the right renovations already completed. If you check all of these boxes, buyers will pounce on your home and it will likely attract multiple offers and sell quickly. If you don’t check these boxes, it will likely sit on the market unsold. To view the entire article from U.S. News & World Report, Click here.

If the time for you to downsize is coming up, there are four considerations you should keep in mind. When it comes time to downsize, there are a few key considerations you should always keep in mind.  First of all, don’t wait until the last minute to downsize when it comes time to do so. Make your move early. Retirement brings on enough stress in and of itself, so downsizing beforehand could save you additional hassle. When it comes to downsizing, don’t wait until the need to do so arises.  Also, there’s always the option to rent after you sell your home. We’re at the top of the market right now and values are going to start flattening out soon. Why not sell, take your profit, and rent for a while? This will give you time to think over your move before making any final decisions.  "Don’t wait until the last minute to downsize when it comes time to do so." However, if you are ready to make a decision, buy now while rates are still low. If you’re ready to make a decision about your retirement home, why not take advantage of current market conditions? Finally, have you considered a condo? Most people who are thinking of a one-level rambler are doing so because they want to keep all of their belongings. However, condos provide a number of benefits a one-level rambler might not. Condos provide a level of security that can be very attractive for retirees.  If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

It’s great to have a timeline in mind when beginning your home search, but don’t be too rigid with your expectations. When people are preparing to move, they often tell me they want to do so when their lease is over and when their children are out of school for the year.  A buyer’s timeline is of critical importance. That’s why when my team and I talk to buyers, there are three things we like to highlight during that conversation.  "Don’t be too strict with your timeline."Your timeline is always longer than you think. If you’re looking to buy a resale home, the average timeline for that purchase is three to four months. For new construction properties, your timeline may be more like 10, 12, or even 18 months. So, you may want to start looking sooner than you thinkYour perfect home won’t appear during your timeline. Instead, it will more likely show up in accordance with the seller’s timeline. If a seller is downsizing or moving to a warmer climate, they will most likely put their property on the market during the spring. Don’t just depend on your timeline, make sure you understand the psyche of the seller. You must be flexible. If you’re worried about timing your transaction perfectly so that your lease is up just as you’re buying, there’s something you need to realize about house payments. Did you know that you don’t make your first month’s payment for 45 days after you settle in? These are things you need to keep in mind. Don’t be too strict with your timeline. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

These days, sellers have the ability to monitor their house while buyers look at it. This means you need to be smart about the way you look at houses. Back when I started selling real estate 16 years ago, home security systems weren’t that sophisticated. Now, people can monitor their home from their phones, which means home sellers can record buyers who check out their house while they’re away.  If you’re a buyer, 99% of all sellers aren’t actively monitoring their home to hear what you say about it while you’re checking it out. I will say, though, that 1% are using information they see and hear to gain a competitive advantage when it’s time to sit down at the negotiating table. "Be smart about the way you look at houses." Understand that we live in a multicultural area, and there are plenty of inexperienced agents out there who can barely write a contract. With all the nuances involved in explaining how buyers are being recorded, it's not hard to see how this situation can become clouded. That’s why you need to be smart about the way you look at houses. Make sure that you’re tactful, quiet, and you don’t tip your hat if you find a house you love. If they get a sense of your excitement, they’ll have a competitive advantage over you at the negotiating table.  If you have any questions or are thinking about buying a home, we have plenty of tips and strategies we’d love to share with you. Just give us a call or shoot us an email and we’d be happy to help!

What should you be thinking about if you're transitioning your primary home into an investment rental property? There are three things you should do. What should you think about doing if you're transitioning your primary home into an investment rental property? I own quite a few investment rental properties and everything I'm going to tell you is from my own personal experience. There are three things that I take out of every rental investment property. The reason why I take them out is that they have the most likelihood of breaking. The first thing that I remove from investment properties is the kitchen garbage disposal. The problem with the disposal is that everything gets thrown into it, and when things get thrown into it, it ends up getting jammed, it leaks, or it malfunctions. In fact, it’s the No. 1 thing in the kitchen likely to break down. Removing it from your rental property entirely will help you avoid those late night calls or early morning calls from your tenants The second thing I typically remove from my rental properties are bedroom ceiling fans. Don’t get me wrong, I love ceiling fans. They keep us cool and keep our energy costs down, but in the bedroom, the ceiling fan is the most likely item to break. I always advise my clients that are transitioning from their primary property to their rental property to take those ceiling fans out. The third thing I remove is the screen door. The screen door often tends to get the most abuse and is subject to the most wear and tear. There are so many factors that damage the screen door, it’s easier to take it out. "Removing the items most likely to break will not bring the value down on your investment property." Removing the items most likely to break will not bring the value down on your investment property. Taking these three items out will not make the tenants less likely to want to rent the property, either- that’s not even on their checklist. When looking at a rental property, tenants are looking at the exterior, the cosmetic things, the flooring and the kitchen. If you're thinking about transitioning your primary residence, we can help you get closer to achieving your goals by offering you advice and/or assistance. If you have any questions for me in the meantime, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

How can you “get into” the real estate business? There are two common ways. I hear this question at least a few different times per week: “I want to get into real estate. What should I do?” My initial response is to think about the question a little more and then get back to me. However, I want to answer the question once and for all today. There are two ways to “get into” the real estate business. The first is real estate sales. That’s what we do here every day on the AJ Team. We take clients out, help them find properties, and ultimately, our job is to sell. "Most of the time, people aren’t talking about getting into the sales business." Think of the highest pressure sales job you could ever think of, then add a layer of emotions on top, and multiply it by the fact that Northern Virginia is one of the craziest markets here in the U.S. I’d say that 99% of time when people say they want to get into real estate, this is not what they are talking about. What most people are talking about when they say they want to get into real estate is actually real estate investing. That’s the other side of the ledger. Investors take their money, put it into properties, and watch it grow over time. Traditionally, this is the way that most people are looking to “get into” the real estate business. If you want to get into real estate, start to think about which side you want to be on. When you’ve decided, we can help you get closer to achieving your goals by offering you advice and/or assistance. If you have any questions for me in the meantime, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.