Thanks for taking the time to visit BobNelsonTeam.com. I hope you will find the information here helpful in your day-to-day life in the Northern Virginia area as well as in your home buying or selling process.
Give me a call at: (703) 999-5812 or send me an email at Bob@BobNelsonTeam.com
Thanks!
Bob
I have just added a new link to a website call Neighbor City. Going to this website will give you direct access to homes for sale. This includes foreclosures, for sale by owner, and regular sales. Please feel free to make use of this to conduct your searches and then contact me if you would like to take a look at any of the homes you find.
As many of you have already heard, I have changed the name of our monthly events to Military Appreciation Mondays. This month’s event to be held on Monday January 25th at the Olde Brogue in Great Falls, Va. and will be supporting the group Thanks USA. This wonderful organization, the brainchild of two local teenagers provides college scholarship money for the children and spouses of our veterans with priority going to the families of those vets who have sustained injuries. Please come out and show your support.
As always, you need do nothing other than come out and enjoy dinner and a fun event. Myself and my co-sponsors will each be donating ten percent of your tab to Thanks USA. In addition, we will be selling door prize chances for a variety of items to include, but not limited to: jewelry from Adeler Jewelers, gift cards for PF Chang’s restaurant, gift baskets, a one year service contract for your heating and air conditioning system, etc.
We are again inviting several servicemen and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. A minimum donation of $25 to Thanks USA, earns you privilege of buying dinner for one of our vets. If you would like to buy dinner for a vet, please e-mail or give me a quick call.
Whether you sign up to buy a vet dinner, purchase door prize entries, or simply come eat dinner your presence goes a long way towards helping raise funds for the organization and showing that we all respect and care about our veterans.
We are again doing two seatings (5:30 and 7:30) to accommodate the overwhelming response we have had to the last four events. Please be sure to make a reservation early since the Snuggery portion of the Old Brogue has filled up for both seatings in the past. Call the Brogue at (703) 759-3309 to do so. Invite your friends and let’s try to fill the entire restaurant this time around!! The only cost to you is your dinner.
If you know them, please be sure to thank my co-sponsors:
The Old Brogue
James Gaudiosi – Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Kevin Shiner – Shiner Roofing and Siding
Danny Ott – Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
Chris Melnick – LSA Title Services
Gary Kaihara, DDS
and our door prize donors:
PF Chang’s Restaurant
Dominion Title
Adeler Jewelers
Campbell Mechanical
Elite Fitness Concepts
Golds Gym
Let the games begin. Boy being the grandparents of twins can be so much fun and exciting. We have been watching Robert and Reagan prepare to walk for the last several months. Last night I received the video “Robert’s New Trick”. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but had my suspiscions. I hope you enjoy watching this. It was late last night that I got to my e-mail after a long day. Nancy was blearied eyed and half asleep when I came down from the office and suggested she check her e-mail. Of course she had trouble with the speed of her laptop and was ready to give up opening the message. Once she finally had a chance to see the video, she simply couldn’t go back to sleep.
I promise there will be more to follow.
Thank you so much to those who have stepped up to brighten Christmas for the children of our injured servicemen. Twelve of the sixteen families on the list have been fully accounted for with 25 of the 33 kids ready to have a wonderful Christmas morning. Nancy and I ran out on Friday to do our shopping for the Helmuth kids. We simply couldn’t resist the urge to buy “any toy that makes noise” for the one year old girl. It was a great deal of fun picking out toys we thought the twins would enjoy. We also had to learn all about transformers for four year old Nathaniel!!
If you are still considering showing your appreciation to our vets, please take a look at the remaining names below. Once you let me know who you would like to purchase a gift for, drop an e-mail to Santa@BobNelsonTeam.com. We will then give you the address and contact info for the family. Feel free to visit the websites for Our Military Kids, Operation Second Chance, Thanks USA, the Semper Fi Fund and the Yellow Ribbon Fund if you’d like to show your support to these wonderful grassroots organizations.
Kids Still in Need of Gifts
Weissmiller Family (Adopted by the Moran and Vamvakias families – Thank you Mary and Don)
Jensen Family (Adopted by the Grimes family – Thank you James and Susan)
Fulkerson Family
Thank You to Those Who Have Agreed to Purchase Gifts for the Families Below
Bellis Family (Adopted by the Hoernig family – Thank you Laura and Family)
Broesch Family (Adopted by the Heil family – Thanks Tim)
Brown Family (Adopted by Knight Point Systems – Thank you Lindsey)
Christiansen Family (Adopted by the Christianson family- Thank you Vickie and Family)
Deen Family (Adopted by the Matthews family and Collingswood Nursing Home – Thank you Catherine)
Helmuth Family (I can’t resist. Adopted by the Nelson Family. 
Loper Family (Adopted by the Borland Family – Thank you Dodie and family)
Sherrill Family (Adopted by the Copito family – Thank you Debbie and family)
Hall Family (Thundercat Technology)
Holsey Family (Adopted by the Grossmans. Thank you Jackie!)
Pointer Family (Adopted by the Heil family – Thanks Tim)
Williams Family (Adopted by the Smiths – Thanks Laura and Gene)
I have recently teamed up with Our Military Kids and Operation Second Chance in an attempt to bring some holiday cheer to our injured service members and their families. We’ve compiled a Christmas Gift Wish List for the families of our brave veterans. I’m hoping everyone will check out this list and consider purchasing one item, serving as Santa for an individual child or even sponsoring an entire family. The latter is a great option for a small company or office to consider.
The list below will be posted until Christmas and will be updated over the next few weeks. Give me a call or drop me an e-mail (santa@bobnelsonteam.com) to let me know how you would like to brighten a family’s Christmas day. Once you have done so, we will give you the full contact info for the family to allow you to send your gift(s) directly to them. I would also encourage you to click on the links above and visit the two websites to learn more about these wonderful grassroots organizations.
Bellis Family (Adopted by the Hoernig family – Thank you Laura and Family)
Broesch Family (Adopted by the Heil family – Thanks Tim)
Brown Family (Adopted by Knight Point Systems – Thank you Lindsey)
Christiansen Family (Adopted by the Christianson family- Thank you Vickie and Family)
Deen Family (Adopted by the Matthews family and Collingswood Nursing Home – Thank you Catherine)
Fulkerson Family
Helmuth Family (I can’t resist. Adopted by the Nelson Family.
Loper Family (Adopted by the Borland Family – Thank you Dodie and family)
Sherrill Family (Adopted by the Copito family – Thank you Debbie and family)
Weissmiller Family
Williams Family
Hall Family (Thundercat Technology)
Holsey Family (Adopted by the Grossmans. Thank you Jackie!)
Jensen Family
Pointer Family (Adopted by the Heil family – Thanks Tim)
Northern Virginia: September 2009
The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® reports on September 2009 home sales activity for Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.
A total of 1,684 homes sold in September 2009, a 2.06 percent increase above September 2008 home sales of 1,650.
Active listings decreased by 24.40 percent from last year, with 6,889 active listings in September, compared with 9,112 homes available in September 2008. The average days on market (DOM) for homes in September 2009 decreased by 32.26 percent to 63 days, compared with 93 days in September 2008.
Sales prices peaked compared to those realized last year. The average sales price in September increased by 4.94 percent from September 2008, to $427,881, compared with last September’s average of $407,748.
The median price of homes sold in Northern Virginia rose in September to $375,000, which is an increase of 7.68 percent compared with September 2008’s median price of $348,250.
The number of pending home sales in Northern Virginia in September shows an increase of 13.22 percent at 2,012 compared to 1,777 in September 2008.
Greater Northern Virginia: September 2009
Sales activity in Greater Northern Virginia (NVAR jurisdictions plus Prince William, Loudoun and the Greater Piedmont counties) for September 2009 shows a decrease from September 2008.
The number of Greater Northern Virginia region homes sold in September was 2,961, an 11.88 percent decrease from September 2008’s total of 3,360 sales. Pending home sales showed a slight increase of less than one percent from September 2008’s 3,741 to 3,770 in September 2009.
The average sales price of $366,798 in September 2009 increased by 10.21 percent over September 2008’s average sales price of $332,803.
Across Greater Northern Virginia, the number of listings showed a decrease from 2008 numbers, with 13,666 listings active, which is 28.45 percent less than this time last year, when 19,100 homes were available. The average DOM for a home sold in September 2009 was 62 compared with last year’s 101 DOM, a decrease of 38.82 percent.
As anyone who has worked with me knows, I have avoided getting involved with short sales. The prospect of having a short sale agreed to by banks was typically a long involved one that often ended in frustration for the buyer, seller and yes the realtor. One of my recent clients can personally attest to this. Jen had put an offer in on a property in February. She was still waiting to hear back from the bank in September when she and I first met. Jen had fully expected to be settled into her new home by now. In the interim, prices had started to go back up due to our strengthening local market. Fortunately, when we began looking at homes, I didn’t have to give Jen my anti-short sale discussion. She already understood! Within about 2-3 weeks of searching, we found what she was looking for in a home, ratified a contract and will be settled before the end of October. Congrats!!
Now the banks are apparently going to make it even harder to get approval for a short sale. The following article appeared in Weekly Real Estate News. Just remember the old adage, “If its too good to be true, it probably is.”
Daily Real Estate News | October 9, 2009 | Share
Banks Making Short Sales Tougher
Banks are backing away from short sales, forcing sellers to pay extra at closing or demanding a promissory note for the amount due. One-third of borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, according First American CoreLogic.
When their situations were really tough, most banks preferred short sales because they were their best opportunity to get the most money back. But with an improving economy, and because the losses on many of these properties have already been written off the books, banks are increasingly reluctant to negotiate a short sale.
Today, banks demand 9.5 weeks to respond to a short-sale request, compared to 4.5 weeks a year ago, according to research firm Campbell Communications. Their reluctance is frequently stymieing sales and frustrating real estate practitioners.
“It drives me up a wall,” says Robert G. Hertzog of Summit Home Consultants in Phoenix. “[The bank is] holding my client hostage.”
Source: BusinessWeek, Christopher Palmeri (10/09/2009)
The November 30th deadline for the conclusion of the First Time Homebuyer Credit Program is quickly approaching. Be sure to keep in mind that it can take 45 to 60 days to close on a home. So working backwards from the November 30 deadline, you’ll want to have an accepted offer no later than mid-October. That leaves only two or thee weeks to get you preapproved by a mortgage lender and identify the right first home for you. You see we need to get started today to take advantage of this opportunity. Remember, you have 8,000 reasons to get moving. Watch this Month in Real Estate to learn more about the credit.
I like to make certain folks fully understand that an $8,000 credit does not mean taking $8K off the price, but rather it means being able to increase your home purchase by as much as $50,000 without it costing you any additional money in payments for the next five years!! (Based on a 50% tax bracket). Even if you pay absolutely no Federal or State income taxes, this means you can increase your home purchase by the same $50K without an increase in payments for nearly two and a half years.
If you know anyone considering a first home purchase or someone who hasn’t owned a home in over three years, please be sure to have them give me a call. They really should not miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity!!
The following is the same advice I gave my son four years ago when he purchased his first home and the same my dad gave me over 30 years ago when I purchased my first home. I still thank my dad for having done this and Bob still thanks me as well. I am fairly certain you would do the same in four and in 30 years.
You really want to stretch yourself a bit when you purchase your first, second, or third home. It requires some minor sacrifices from a personal lifestyle perspective, but will pay huge dividends in the long run. On average, home prices increase by about 10 percent per year. Since the end of WWII, we have repeatedly seen peaks and valleys in the housing market. We have also seen that, on average, home prices have doubled every ten years. The recent downturn really was not much worse than some of the previoues drops. In fact, there have been worse, particularly following the Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980’s. More importantly, right now we are in the midst of the most affordable home market in almost 30 years. I would venture say that we are likely to see gains in home values (in our region) more to the tune of about 15 percent per year for the next few years. Even using the more conservative 10 percent average, if you purchase a $250,000 home, you will see a gain of more than $25,000 per year. A home purchased for $450,000 will see a gain of $45,000 per year, etc.
Using current mortgage interest rates of about 5 percent, your mortgage payments plus taxes and insurance (referred to at PITI) will cost about $55 per month per $10,000. (This factors in the savings that you will have on your state and federal taxes based on a 25 percent tax bracket.) Your annual in costs will be roughly $625 per year for every $10,000 increase in price. If historical trends continue to play out, your increased costs of $625 per $10,000 will result in an increase in equity of $1,000. A $50,000 increase in mortgage would cost about $3125 per year with a $5000 potential increase in equity. At the same time, you will be living in a considerably more comfortable home than your current home.
I don’t know nor need to know your income level, but an average couple in this region earns a minimum of somewhere around $100,000+ per year. Assuming an annual cost of living increase of about two percent, this income increase by about $2,000 per year. It might be worth thinking about cutting back on some of your entertainment expenses for a year or two to broaden the selection of homes available and imrpove your ability to see increased gains in the long run.
Of course, this is simply a suggestion. I am certainly happy to show you homes in the whatever price range you’d like, but am certain you will thank me profusely in three to five years if you decide to look at the next higher tier of homes.
A recent Wall Street Journal article, entitled “A Toe in the Water” written by Dave Kansas gives a very good perspective on what it happening in the marketplace. Dave is located in London and would presumably suggest diving into the local Northern Virginia market based on our current trends.
Last week I sent a total of 22 listings in Arlington for one of my clients to review. When we got together yesterday to look at these homes, 10 were already off the market. They are looking in the $650,000 to $750,000 price range. This is probably above the typical first time homebuyer range and is not likely affected by the $8,000 tax credit. I also went out with another couple on Saturday looking in the $200,000 range. We had a list of about ten homes to see which I had check for availability Friday night. From this list, only two were available by Saturday afternoon and they were complete wrecks.
To learn more about your home as an investment, I suggest reading “The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner” by David Bach.
Let me know when you are ready to take advantage of this incredible market.
As you have likely been reading, the First-time Homebuyer Credit program will expire on November 30′th. What many people have not understood, this means you must settle on your new home by that date. Having just purchased a new car, I encountered the flurry of activity that occurred on the last few days of the Cash for Clunkers program. For those who purchased a new car, it was feasible (although not advisable) to wait to the last minute. WARNING: This is not the way the homebuying process works. We are quickly approaching what is the last minute for you to make your purchase. Unlike picking out a new car, finding the right home can take a week, two weeks or in some cases several months. Even once you have found the perfect place to call home, you will then need to start the actual buying process. This has quickly become challenging in our local market since the more affordable homes are disappearing from the inventory. A simple understanding of the law of supply and demand will tell you that this will create upward pressure on prices and competition for the same properties. Remember that what you find appealing will also appeal to a great many others. I just sold my used car to “Joe C.” who has been trying to buy a home in Woodbridge. He said that he and his fiance have made offers on three homes, only to be out bid either by higher offers or all cash offers. There are several things that Joe and his Realtor can do to insure that this doesn’t happen which we can easily cover in person.
Once a contract is ratified, the process will then take a minimum of three weeks to four weeks to get to the settlement table. And this only if everything lines up perfectly. With that said, you will need between six and eight weeks to find the right home and settle on it. We have only 11 weeks until the program expires. The reality is that three weeks to spare in the homebuying process is equivalent to three hours in the auto purchase world.
If you are reading this post, you probably already decided to purchase a home, but I would suggest reading the about the Proven Path to Home Ownership since it provides a very succint discussion o fthe home buying process. We can always discuss this in more detail once we get together.
At the risk of sounding like a high pressure sales person, you really can’t wait much longer to take advantage of the First Time Homebuyer Credit. Depending on you income, this credit can mean an actual dollar savings of anywhere from $10,000 – 16,000 in pre-income tax money.
