U r b a n T r e k k e r

Team Ohio State University

Their design theme for 2009 Solar Decathlon is 'Ohio-centric,' that uses local materials as much as possible, Whirlpool appliances and reclaimed barn wood.

image: the Ohio State University

Their story..

Getting Graphics: Ave. Sales Price Percent Change DC-MD-NVa

Let's see which residential sub-market in Metro DC leading the recovery, or turnaround. The comps below are from Center for Regional Analysis. I'd say, the winner is Northern Virginia. NVa. leading the way to recovery, because prices have been in negative territory starting from late 2007.  Washington DC and Maryland burbs still have a long way to go...

Washington DC

Maryland

Northern Virginia

images: GMU-CRA

Team Spain, Home Assembly

Getting ready before the "Black and White" theme solar house got shipped to Washington DC, for 2009 Solar Decathlon.

Black and White House

image: Team Spain

Distressed Properties, the Issue that is Still Hanging (in the Cloud)

Yesterday, a former co-worker who now live in Florida, stop by to chat with me. We talked about the state of the market over here and there. One of the things she mentioned is that in the place where she lives, the market seems to be bouncing back, however, on a cautious note she says that '..if we get another round of foreclosure, prices will go down one more level, before it bounce back..' After all, she comes from Florida, one of the states with high foreclosure. Add to it, only a handful condo buildings FHA-approved.

Analysts pegged the number of foreclosed properties that have not been released by banks somewhere in the 5+ million range. So, if this is true, what we've seen happening lately (even here) - multiple contracts, heard it as high as 32 competing bids for one 'foreclosure' property - for lack of a better word, is somewhat inflated. In the sense, that the crisis ain't over yet. 

Short-sale, is another story. Though, banks are getting better processing short-sale. A few months ago, we wrote about  that there are more short-sale than foreclosure on the market. The myth that foreclosure tends to hit lower priced homes, while short-sale tend to hit mid priced homes is no longer true. A quick look into MRIS database, for Washington DC and Northern Virginia hoods, there are 422 active listings under foreclosure with price range from the lowest $24,000 to highest $3.689 million! 85 listings or twenty-percent homes priced over $400,000. So, the pinch starts to hurt prime borrowers.

On the short sale side, there are 717 active listings from the lowest $50,000 to highest $5.5 million. Twelve listings are homes over a million dollars. Thirteen percent of homes is priced between $500k to $1M. The crowded field are homes on market under $500,000 with average price somewhere in the neighborhood of $266,032.

The point I want to make is this: inventory of distressed properties still cloud the market. Prices can go down one more level before it stabilized. Because no one knows for sure when the next batch of foreclosures going to cram the market. Only lenders know what they're holding in their bags.

The longer view.

"Of course, there are always some homes destined for foreclosure. But usually the number isn’t enormous. In early 2005, near the peak of the housing bubble, the total was about 1.27 million, Ms. Goodman says.

So how does she get to 7 million now? Ms. Goodman uses data from the Mortgage Bankers Association to estimate there are 55.9 million American homes with mortgage debt. She notes that at the end of the second quarter, an MBA survey found that more than 13% of single-family home mortgages were at least 30 days delinquent or in foreclosure.

Then Ms. Goodman looked at “cure” rates, the percentage of delinquent loans that return to current status. Those cure rates lately have been puny. The report assumes that about 99% of loans that are 90 days or more overdue will result in homes lost to foreclosure. The assumption for those 60 days or more delinquent is that 96% are toast, and for 30 days or more, 72%.  All in all, she estimates that 12.4% of the mortgages outstanding as of June 30—representing about 7 million homes—are going to end up changing hands on the courthouse steps."

[Via Wall Street Journal]

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No Secondhand Smoke DC

Image by thomasbrandt via Flickr

Apparently in Japan, smoking is prohibited in some streets. But, Japanese smoke like crazy (most of them are). So that makes sense. Here, who's going to enforce the law?

Pretty 'interesting' bill coming in the pipeline from DC Council. This fall the Council is looking to expand the city's existing smoking ban to include a provision that allow property owners to ban smoking outside their buildings, including sidewalks. [h/t DCist]

"The proposed legislation, a major expansion of the District's smoke-free law, sets 18 as the legal age to purchase or possess tobacco products, requires retailers to post signs warning of the dangers of smoking, ramps up enforcement of sales to minors and authorizes smoking bans up to 25 feet from the wall of any private property -- residential or commercial."

[via Examiner]

Lumenhaus

Solar Decathlon week is coming up pretty soon. This home is Virginia Tech entry to Dept. of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009 competition. Very impressive!

Lumenhaus, will be on display at the National Mall during the Decathlon week, from October 9 to 18.

Virginia: 'Still' the Best State to do Business

Image via Wikipedia

Virginia has received the top ranking for state to do business from Forbes for four years in a row from 2006 to 2009. 

"Amid this mess, Virginia nabbed the top spot with the best business climate in the country for the fourth straight year. Virginia's economy has deteriorated, with the number of unemployed soaring 60%, while gross state product is flat and household incomes are expected to fall 4%, according to West Chester, Pa.-based research firm Moody's Economy.com.

Relative to the rest of the country though, Virginia is booming. Its 6.5% unemployment rate is fifth lowest in the country with the four states ahead of it all having dramatically smaller economies and employment bases. Virginia is the only state ranked in the top 20 in each of the six broad categories we examined. The state finished in the top three in half of those categories (labor supply, regulatory environment and quality of life). Virginia's $325 billion economy is expected to be the 10th largest in the U.S. in 2009."

[via Forbes]

Read the full story here..

Real Estate Feeds on Alltop

Just finished putting together feeds of real estate and econ news on Alltop. Alltop is pretty cool. You can now read news from the top sources out there on one site, here. And this will save your time from checking out different sites for updates.. 

More Area Jobs & SAIC Move HQ to Fairfax

Image by McNamara Images via Flickr

The good news on employment market for Northern Virginia. The Gov just made the announcement that six tech companies will add 334 jobs to Fairfax and SAIC, the tech titan, to move their headquarters to Fairfax. SAIC's move brings some 1,200 jobs for the area.

"Governor Timothy M. Kaine today announced the expansions of six technology, distribution, and healthcare companies in Fairfax County. ACS State and Local Solutions, Beltway Supply Inc. Coveros, Inc. Intec, LLC, RightStar Systems, and Senior Living.com are expected to create 334 new jobs over the next three years in Fairfax County.

"With our low cost of doing business and high quality of life, it's no wonder Virginia companies are expanding their enterprises even in these tough economic times," said Governor Kaine."These exciting business expansions and other growth over the last year help explain why Virginia's unemployment rate is dropping and has consistently been among the lowest in the nation."

[via Governor Kaine PR]

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Retrofitting the Burbs

Image via Wikipedia

Eons ago, a friend who used to live overseas, said that "it's nice to live in a big house out in the burb, but the problem here is as you grow older when you can't drive anymore, there's not many transportation choices available." And that is the big hole in our mass transit system here. 

There's this urgency - the urgency to retrofit the burbs so people will age there- even small towns are eagerly looking to transform their burbs into some sort of close-knit walkable communities. 

"That sense of urgency is understandable. The nation's sprawling suburbs—home to as much as half of the U.S. population and more than 30 million people age 55-plus—may have been a good place to grow up. But the suburbs are proving a tough place to grow old.

Indeed, as the country ages, suburbia's widely assumed benefits—privacy, elbow room, affordability—tend to vanish. Maintaining yards and homes requires more effort; driving everywhere, and for everything, becomes expensive and, eventually, impossible. (Research shows that men and women who reach their 70s, on average, outlive their ability to drive by six and 10 years, respectively.)"

[via Wall Street Journal]

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