Well it looks by the numbers, sales are up and the Spring market has started earlier than the usual March 1st. We have 29 active single family homes on the market this week - so no net increase in the inventory - still a very low number. Buyers are having a very hard time finding homes to purchase. It is a great time for sellers to be putting their home on the market. The prices have risen in the past 8 months. The smallest model homes in Oak Hill were selling at $325,000 to $350,000 in the beginning of this year and are now selling at $400,000. Eventhough there are some sellers that think I can control the price of homes in the real estate market, it is basic economics - supply and demand. If there are too many homes out there and the seller is competing with a larger inventory - that gives the buyer more choices, the seller's price of their home becomes softer and there is a downward pressure on the price. My influence in the market is getting a home in the best condition so it to shows well, marketing the home, and then get the best price out there. There are tricks to getting the home to show well. This week we had, 7 new homes - which is more than we have has so far in one week. To see those, click http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-100579154-293. None of the new listings seem to be foreclosures or short sales. We had 7 homes sell - which is getting close to the 8 to 12 - when the market is doing great. One was a foreclosure and one was a short sale. The foreclosure on New Concorde was on the market for 43 days with no offers. It is over 2300 sq ft on the upper 2 levels and was priced at $394,900. It needed some work; but for a foreclosure, it was in pretty good condition. It was not selling and the bank dropped it $50,000 this week and it got 10 contracts. To see the sold homes this week, click http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-100579248-896. If you are thinking of selling and/or are planning to sell in the next 12 months, you may want to weigh the risk of losing value with the possible loss of the government incentive and the interest rates going up in the 3 months. Hindsight is wonderful in real estate. If a seller knew what they know today about the prices of real estate in the last 5 years in Northern Virginia, they would have sold in 2004/2005. If the buyers knew what they know now, they would not have bought in 2004/2005. Interesting paradox.

More new houses are starting to come up as you see an increase in new homes but the inventory remains low so you can see the houses are selling quickly. There are 29 single family homes on the market in 20171 and we had 5 new homes come up this last week. To see those, click http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?ID=34891450818. Four single family homes sold which is a good number as we head into the Spring market. To see the homes that sold this week, check http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-100023587-103. Three of these homes were on the market less than 10 days. The other was on the market 582 very long days and had a price drop from $550,000 to $499,950 on Friday the 15th and received a contract that weekend. A $50,000 drop in price is pretty steep at this price range. The house was vacant so the seller was shoudering a lot of carrying costs so I feel they dropped it too low all at once and should have brought it down slower in the preceding months to relate to the current market prices. They started at a list price of $649,950 which I knew was way to high at the time. I had showed the home to several buyers. The other issue is that when the house was on the market for 252 of those 582 days, the home had only an exterior picture - a hugh negative in marketing your home through the internet. That home in particular had done a lot of interior work - new kitchen, hardwood floors, nicely finished basement, etc. I hope you are staying dry and if you have any thoughts on this market, just let me know.

The market is off to a strong start. It is not reflected in the numbers but the traffic is up on my listings - which means there are a lot of buyers out there. I had two offers on one of my new listings so you can see the market is much different this year than last year at this time - I think it has a lot to do with the $8,000 tax credit. Only hindsight will tell us. There are 30 single family homes listed in 20171. Of those, there were 4 new homes. To see those, click http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-99474249-537. The one on Goldenchain was relisted with their 3rd agent and has been on the market 219 days. The home started at $1.85 million and is now down to $1,499,999. I guess the sellers were thinking it was 2005 with the aggressive price. We had 3 homes sell this week - 2 of them short sales and one a seller sold home. To see those, click http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-99474280-372. Although it was not a good week for the seller sold homes, I think we will see better numbers in seller sold homes this week. I see a lot of activity out there and hope it continues through all of 2010.

Happy New Year!! I am looking forward to a great real estate year for both buyers and sellers. We have 30 single family homes on the market in Oak Hill/Herndon. We had 5 new ones, to see those, http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-98682356-133. I listed a new home on Kinship this week. I held an Open House. I did a lot of internet advertising and there were 25 to 30 couples that came through so there are a lot of buyers out there. In a more normal market, you might expect 8 to 10 people. Two homes got contracts. The one on Calkins lost their contract so a net of one contract last week. To see those, http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-98682280-922. We should see more activity as we go through January and get closer to Spring and get out of this very cold winter - stay warm.

$425,000.00 12754 Kinship Drive Oak Hill, VA 20171 Beds: 4 Rooms: 0 Full Baths: 2 Sq. Ft.: 0 Garage: 1 Built: 1975   Remodeled with beautiful Brazilian cherry hardwood floors on the main level. You can walk to the elementary school or the community pool and playground. Open Sunday 1/10 1-4PM This is a new listing that I thought you might be interested in. Visit this listing online to see more photos of the property, Google Earth satellite images, and much more.   If you have any questions about this property or require more information, please feel free to call. Angela Mitchell Angela Mitchell Sells Northern Virginia 7032647877 www.AngelaMitchellHomeSales.com     Visit this listing here

It was not as quiet as one would think. There are 27 homes on the market - I would think that is a 10 year low. There were 2 new listings that came on this week. To see those, click http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-98184827-993. There were 3 sales, click http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-98184854-427. Two of them were regular seller sold homes and one was a short sale that has been on the market over 90 days. Last year, we had a total of 239 homes sell in 20171 - Herndon/Oak Hill. To see those, click, http://mrislistings.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Portal.aspx?k=524916XJRPL&p=DE-98185084-963. Of those 239 homes that sold, 67 of those homes were short sales or foreclosures or 28 percent of our market - sounds pretty high when you put it in percentage figures. My feelings with the government new home buyer credit, our market rebounded price wise about 8-9%. Hopefully, this year, when the incentive goes away - we will maintain our prices and continue to stabilize - which give buyers a better feeling about investing in a new home. Looking forward to a stable real estate market for 2010. I have several new listings coming in January - look for them on the market soon. Happy and Prosperous New Year!!