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

How is the (Housing) Market?

“How is the market?” That’s usually the first intro question that anyone I’d met in my past career life as a Realtor, would ask me. Listening to what agents have told me, at the present time, there is a shortage of supply.

According to the new report by Delta Associates and MRIS (Metropolitan Regional Systems), the Mid-Atlantic housing market showed signs of moderate recovery. No housing boom yet. But it’s moving. Via Washington Post.

Sales volume was up 9 percent over the same time a year ago, and prices ticked up 3.3 percent. The average home spent 71 days on the market, down from 110 days during the first quarter last year -- the shortest time since 2006.

First American Logic reports that home prices in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, including sales of foreclosed homes (also known as distressed properties), increased by 4.48 percent in February 2010 compared to the same period last year.

REPORTS FOR NORTHERN VIRGINIA and WASHINGTON DC

NVAR (Northern Virginia Association of Realtors) region – Arlington and Fairfax counties:

The total number of homes sold in March up by 4.62 percent from 1,384 to 1,448 homes. Average days on market dropped from 89 days to 52 days. Homes for sale currently under contract (for the same period) increased by 12.49% from 2,306 in 2009 to 2,594 in 2010. That brings to year-to-date sales price of $429,605, up from $385,285 or 11.5%.

Among the three types of dwellings – single family, townhouse and condo – sales of condos actually improved a lot in March, it’s up from 385 to 446 units.

Here’s why we have shortage in the market, via NVAR.

• total number of active listings drop 10.37% from 8,096 to 7,232 homes for sale.
• inventory of homes falls 14.33% for number of months supply 4.99 months.

GCAAR (Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors) – Washington DC:

SINGLE FAMILY HOME

Total number of single family homes sold in March up 49.5% from 204 to 305 units, which brings the year-to-date sales of 742 units up 39.2 from last year at 533 homes. However, the average sales price have been trending down. In 2009, average sales was $551,236. March 2010, the average sales price was $487,648, a drop of 11.5%. Ditto for median sales: from $408,000 to $335,000 or 17.89%. [via GCCAR]

 
 via: GCAAR

Homes for sale supply up 11.7% from 599 units to 669 units. In comparison to last year, single family homes supply on a year-to-date basis drop by 30.6%. This is the same situation Northern Virginia faced: shortage of supply.

CONDOMINIUM

The number of condominium sold up 19.2% from 172 to 205 condos. What’s striking is the number of condos under contract: it’s up 58.5% from 248 to 395 units. Year to date data showed an increase of under contract condos up 40.3%, from 590 to 828 units.

Sales price stay flat at $408,000- $409,000 level. Even median price shows not much of a drop around $350,000- ish. [via GCCAR]

Condos supply for DC paint a different picture than single family homes, because supply is actually trending up.

THE FORECAST

This is the forecast per Center for Regional Analysis (CRA), George Mason for up to June 2011.

TAKEAWAYS:

For buyers still on the sideline, waiting for something perfect to come. Nothing perfect will ever come. You’re the only one who can make your house perfect! Yes, YOU.

With regards to the right price, the one thing that I learned from the day of peddling mutual funds and stocks, home prices will always fluctuate. No one has control over it. So you will have to trust your gut and move forward. Take the plunge.

That’s my take.

How about you? What have you heard about the housing market lately? If you’re buying, what's your experience been?

Technorati Tags: housing market,business,current affairs,washington dc,northern virginia,arlington,fairfax,homes for sale,first time buyers

Are We There Yet? DC's Transportation Blueprint

This show is part of PBS' Blueprint America series about U.S. infrastructure, where Kojo Nnamdi hosts a panel of transportation experts to talk about the metro Washington DC transportation blueprint and where's taking us. The first 5 minutes or so is the most important part of the whole discussions. It lays out all kinds of transportation projects each jurisdiction - District of Columbia, Maryland, Baltimore, and Virginia - are working on. (yours truly was among the audience.)

“Its not about getting people from point A to point B, but more about building better communities,” said Robert Thomson aka “Dr. Gridlock” of The Washington Post, one of three guests panelists along with Ron Kirby, Director of Transportation for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments; and Alice M. Rivlin, Senior Fellow and Director of the Greater Washington Research at the Brookings Institute. [via Blueprint America]

Building better communities, that's the challenges we have...

Are We There Yet? D.C.'s Transportation Blueprint from WHUT-TV on Vimeo.

Are We There Yet, D.C.'s Transportation Blueprint (2) from WHUT-TV on Vimeo.

Going Green? Here are the 10 Tax Breaks for 2010

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Looking to fix up your house? Here are the 10 tax breaks for going green, via Forbes.

1. If you fix up your house. $1,500 off your tax bill - a 30% credit for the first $5,000 you spend in 2009 or 2010 for improvements to your house energy efficiency. (for further reading: Energy Efficiency Home and Vehicle Tax Credits)
2. Buy a new refrigerator. States are rolling out $300 million worth of rebates for home owners who replaced their clunker apps with new energy-efficient models. (check out Department of Energy approved Energy Efficiency Rebates)
3. Get hot water from the sun. Solar hot water system to heat your shower or radiators (not hot tub or pool) qualify for a 30% federal credit with no dollar cap. 
4. Install a solar energy system. Uncle Sam will give you a tax credit equal to 30% of the price of a solar system you install to generate electricity in your home. For a $60,000 system, that's a whopping $18,000 off your taxes.
5. Take the bus. Bus, train, subway, and van-pool commuters can now get equal tax benefits with those who drive solo to work an pay to park. (up to pre-tax $230 for employers sponsor plans).
6. Buy a Ford hybrid. Taxpayers stuck paying the AMT can finally claim the credit for hybrid cars purchased in 2009 or 2010, but only if they buy Ford motor hybrids. (FYI: Honda and Toyota no longer qualify). Check out Alliance to Save Energy for Vehicle Tax Credits for more info.
7. Plug In a Chevy Volt... slated later for showrooms in November with projected price of $40,000, qualifies for federal tax credit of $7,500. Nissan Leaf coming out in December, should also qualify for the credit.
8. Bike to work. A new law lets your employer reimburse you $20 a month for bicyle commuting as tax-free fringe benefits. Can't take both with train, it's one of the other.
9. Dig for heat. Uncle Sam will give you a tax credit for 30% of the cost of geothermal heat pump system that feeds off the warmth in the ground to heat your home.
10. Put a windmill in your yard. A basic residential windmill runs $40,000, but you can get a federal tax credit equal to a full 30% of your windmill cost.

More on tax tips "How to Save Money on Going Green" and watch video on 'Tax Tips for 2010.'

For further reading you can check out few sites:

• Alliance to Save Energy: Energy Efficiency Home and Vehicle Tax Credits 
• Energy Savers Rebates, Tax Credits, Financing: Approved Energy Efficient Appliance Rebates
• Virginia Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program
• Maryland: Residential Incentives and FY 2010 Comprehensive Program Guide
• Green DC: Energy Star Appliance Rebates
• DSIRE: Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

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2010-2011 Projection: Washington DC Home Prices +1.84%

You know that all real estate is local. This is the local forecast for our market for 2010-2011. According to data recently released by First American Core Logic, home prices for Washington DC- Arlington- Alexandria including sale of distressed homes (foreclosures & short sales), would increase by 1.84%.

  

[via First American Core Logic]

The price outlook for across the US, "..the Home Index Price (HPI) for the year will continue to go down well into the spring before beginning to stabilize and then recover modestly in the remainder for the year."

If you're selling, you should feel much better now because the prices started to pick up again - locally.

Market pulse for Northern Virginia as of February 2010, via MRIS.

• Condo sales grew 12%
• Single family, townhouse showed slower activity
• Good news for sellers: Northern Virginia home prices up 20% from a year ago from $267,500 to $320,660. Compare that to 2008-2009 period where 2009 Feb prices was down -26.7% at $267,500 from previous year at $365,000.

For DC, Maryland suburbs, February sales 2010,  it's a mixed bag.

• Number of homes sold up 35.8% for the month, from 1,573 to 2,136 homes. On the longer track, it wasn't as strong as 2007 sales.
• Sales of lower home prices pulled the sales price down to $270,000 from $287,000 a year ago. 2009 prices were down -22.4% from a year earlier.

Incentives work. Overall for DC metro area, the perfect buying conditions come from: federal tax credit for buyers, low interest rates and low prices.

The one thing that could continue to drive prices up is this: low inventory of homes.

Buying a House Using Walkability Score

The other day I posted Getting to Walkability presentation from DC office of Planning. It got me thinking that the same method can also be used by buyers. DC is using the walkability for different things related to planning, for transportation and neighborhood livability. I know from my days in the trenches, few of my buyers were looking for the walkability factor.

Personally, for me, the ability to walk to everything comes to reality, when we had the snowoverkill last January. After two days of home stay, I walked to the nearest store 7/11.. and you know what, we had lines. As crazy as it sounds, people were actually find comfort to know that their neighborhood's store is open.

Washington DC is number 7 out of 2,508 walkable neighborhoods in the nation. You can find walkers paradise or neighborhoods that have high score of walkability in DC. Out of perfect 100 score, these are best 10 walkable neighborhoods in DC: Dupont Circle (99), Logan Circle (98), Downtown (97-all points), U Street Corridor (97), Foggy Bottom (95), Mount Vernon Square (95), Adams Morgan (93), Kalorama (92)    , Friendship Heights (90) and Georgetown (90). Low on the list is Catholic U (61), Petworth (60), Foxhall Village (58), Berkley (54), Deanwood (49), The Palisades (48), Anacostia (48) and Barnaby Woods (44).

The walkable neighborhoods mostly concentrated in the District. Across the river, depending on where you want to buy - Arlington County, City of Alexandria and Falls Church - these neighborhoods offer somewhat walkable. Along the orange line, that stretch from Rosslyn to East- West Falls Church, they have some neighborhoods that have higher walkable score.

There's an advantage to living in walkable neighborhoods. You're within walking distance to shopping, transportation, parks, library and other neighborhood amenities. However, good location has something to do with home prices. The price per square footage will be higher.

Let's say, you are looking for a single home somewhere in Falls Church near zip code 22043, which is outside the boundary of the City of Falls Church. Using Homes Database, I picked these four single homes below. These four homes are somewhat comparable #1 and 2, #3 and 4.

House #1: 2003 Miracle Lane, list price $680,000

House #2: 6727 Montour Drive, list price $670,000

House #3: 6503 Orland Street, list price $649,000

House #4: 2400 Claremont Drive, list price $649,000

First thing you do is to enter the address of each of the home you're looking at to get the walk score here. Once done, it'll populated with information that can help you decide, i.e. metro station, stores, library, school, etc. - anything that's close by.

Here's what the score tells you:

• House #1: is totally car dependent. Score is 20 out of 100. The nearest 7/11 (in case of snow) is about 0.92 mi. 
• House #2: car dependent. Score 28. However, you're about half a mile walk to Orange line .
• House #3: car dependent. Better score 30. It's close to Haycock Elementary school, about half a mile. 
• House #4: still car dependent. Score 45. This one has the best score so far. Subway, Starbucks within half a mile. But away from a metro station. 

So now you decide, which one that best fits your needs.

SELLERS: you can also do the same - find the score - to give that extra kick on the value of your home.

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Double Dip Price Decline?

Image via Wikipedia

This is FHA saying.

An increase in down payments to 5%, from the current minimum 3.5%, would limit new FHA-backed loans by 40%, equivalent to 300,000 fewer home sales, according to testimony that FHA Commissioner David Stevens is set to deliver on Thursday.

[via Developments]

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Northern Virginia 2020 Transportation Plan

IF you're buying sometime in the FY 2010 to 2020, learning the details on transportation planning slated for Northern Virginia, probably won't hurt. Just to make sure that the property you're buying is not going to ended up in some sort of eminent domain.

According to the 2020 transportation plan map, here are the eight major corridors:

1. Dulles/VA-7 corridor
2. Tri-County/ Loudoun County Parkway & VA 234/VA 659 corridor
3. VA 28 corridor
4. Prince William County Parkway (VA-3000) corridor
5. Fairfax County Parkway (VA 7100) corridor
6. I-66/US-29/US-50 corridor
7. I-495 beltway corridor
8. I-95/-395/ US 1 corridor

In addition to these corridors there are selected improvements and other improvements that include outside the corridors above. Mostly the plan involved some sorts of roads/ highways infrastructure - bypass, interchanges- whether new or widening existing roads. I'm not a big fan of more roads, I think other transportation mechanism is preferable, like light rail, small feeder buses that can connect some neighborhoods to the nearest metro stations, bike trails, pedestrian trails - anything that will help reduce road congestion. And get more people to use the mass transit.

NOVA 2020 Trans Plan Map

Highlights:

• For VA 28 corridor (Fairfax, Manassas), there's a transit plan slated for light rail from Manassas to Dulles Airport with a capital cost of $790 million. More likely for 2020 FY.

• FY 2010 selected improvements metrorail extension from Dulles corridor to VA 772 in Loudoun and metrorail extension from Vienna to Centreville. (the Centreville plan I haven't heard about it).

• 2020 improvements include metrorail from Dunn Loring to Tysons Corner to Maryland.

• Light rail in US 1 corridor from Alexandria to the Pentagon.

• 2010 FY and 2020 bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

2010 major improvements include Columbia Pike to Pentagon Trail, Springfield to Tysons Corner Bikeway

2020 major improvements include Light rail VA 7 -Tysons Corner to Baileys Crossroads; Columbia Pike corridor -Baileys Crossroads to Pentagon, VA-7 (4 to 6 lanes) Seven Corners to Baileys Crossroads.

Read the 2020 NOVA transportation report here.

--

Correction: Headline should read not "Virginia" but Northern Virginia.

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Major Cities Transit Pattern in Art (DC included)

How do Americans get to work?  Among the 7 (correction: 8) major cities in this pattern (below) - Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, San Fransisco, Houston, Washington DC and Seattle - New Yorkers by far use mass transit to and from work than any other cities. While Houston holds the trophy for the highest percentage of commuters who 'drive themselves.' At least, DC has proportional method of transit pattern, by public transport and drive.

Commuting patterns in major cities via Infrastructurist.

Artist Martha Kang McGill illustrates the commuting habits of eight major U.S. cities, illustrating just who is driving, walking, biking, or taking mass transit. All stats are based on the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.

 

Pretty neat, huh?

The Big Problem with Short Sales

Memo to buyers: be patient, if you're buying a short-sales.

A short sales required third-party approval, that is the lender/s holding the loan/s will have to get on board on your purchase. Sometimes they dance with you. Sometimes they don't. No quick closing.

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DC Area Still Good for Business

Image via Wikipedia

That said, restaurants, groceries and electronic retailers interested in the area for potential expansion. The line up includes Fresh Market, Wakefern Food Corp., Brixx Wood-Fired Pizza, HhGregg, Burger Joint, and more. More business moving into the area or looking for expansion, good for the local economy.