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Archive: Selling
Is Washington turning into a seller's market?
The inventory of homes listed for sale on the local multiple listing service, Metropolitan Regional Information Services, the cupboard is pretty bare in some spots. At the current sales pace, Manassas Park City has just 1.3 months' worth of listings. Manassas City, just 1.4 months. Falls Church City, 2.1 months; and Fairfax County just 2.7 months. Arlington County has 3.9 months. The rule of thumb says 6 months' inventory marks a balanced market--favoring neither sellers nor buyers.
By Elizabeth Razzi | November 13, 2009; 12:48 PM ET | Comments (14)
Now you can get closed-sale prices as fast as a real estate agent
Starting this morning, Redfin is posting closed-sale prices and photographs for all homes on the multiple listing services serving the Washington area (and about a dozen other metro areas) as soon as the listing broker marks the sale as final.
By Elizabeth Razzi | November 5, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Get Free Alerts if Someone Messes With Your Deed
First American CoreLogic's ePropertyWatch service allows users to set up a password-protected account and receive e-mail updates reporting recent home sales, foreclosures and, most important, the registration of any changes to public records reflecting your ownership of the home. Such changes could include liens or deed transfers filed without you knowing about it.
By Elizabeth Razzi | October 15, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
AIG Headquarters Going Condo?
The former headquarters of American International Group -- AIG-- in Manhattan will be turned into luxury condos, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
By Elizabeth Razzi | October 13, 2009; 05:27 PM ET | Comments (1)
What's the Line on Extending the $8,000 Tax Credit?
Odds are improving that Congress will extend the first-time-home-buyer tax credit beyond the Nov. 30 deadline as it pushes to revive the housing market, said Jaret Seiberg, a policy analyst at Washington Research Group, a unit of Concept Capital. There’s a 60 percent chance that lawmakers will keep the tax credit intact especially since policymakers from both parties have voiced their support, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who represents foreclosure-plagued Nevada, Seiberg said. But fiscally conservative lawmakers may rally against it in part because it could cost at least $10 billion to extend the tax credit through Sept. 30, 2010, Seiberg said.
By Elizabeth Razzi | September 15, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (8)
Appraisers Say 'Don't Blame Us'
I had a cup of coffee the other morning with someone at the heart of the appraisal fuss that has prevailed this summer. And he's sick of his industry getting blamed for low appraisals that kill deals. "We are really tired of getting slammed," he said. "Show me the data," said Don Blanchard, chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel for Lender Processing Services, which owns LSI, one of the nation's biggest appraisal management companies.
By Elizabeth Razzi | August 26, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
New Survey Ranks Moving Companies
If you're going to hire a big, full-service moving company, Mayflower Transit looks like your best bet. J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing information company, just released results of its consumer satisfaction survey, and Mayflower pulled in the top score across the board.
By Elizabeth Razzi | August 13, 2009; 09:15 AM ET | Comments (7)
Short Sale Plan Coming, and The Weekend Poll
The federal government may try to nudge lenders to approve more short sales soon. But will the feds really be able to convince lenders to clear the path for more of these deals? Here's an interesting snippet from the online chat held Thursday with the Post's Renae Merle and Michael S. Barr, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for financial institutions.
By Elizabeth Razzi | August 7, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
Do High-Voltage Lines Zap Property Values?
The verdict is delivered as if it's a clear-cut conclusion: Being near a high-voltage electric power line does not affect home values. But reading beyond the headline in the current issue of The Appraisal Journal reveals a different story. Their "no effect" message is a surprise. Electric lines have to go somewhere, of course, but few people relish the idea of living next to big metal towers that carry high-voltage current. It's logical to think there might be at least some downward tug on home values. And plenty of people may be happy to buy a nice house at a bit of a discount because it's next to power lines. Markets tend to sort such things out. But a closer read of the actual report on which the story is based, High-Voltage Transmission Lines: Proximity, Visibility, and Encumbrance Effects, reveals that this is hardly a trustworthy research paper. If appraisers in the field rely on this article, they could produce skewed valuations.
By Elizabeth Razzi | August 4, 2009; 08:42 AM ET | Comments (4)
Home Sales Increase and The Weekend Poll
The best news coming out of the National Association of Realtors' monthly home sales report? The inventory of listings nationwide in June was down about 15 percent from a year earlier. The median price also happened to be down about 15 percent over the same period. Recovery can't happen until inventories are whittled down to more normal levels--closer to six months' supply vs. the 9.4-months' supply the nation has now, so this is a promising development.
By Elizabeth Razzi | July 24, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Appraisal Quality Getting More Attention
Will it appraise? Low-quality appraisals done by appraisers parachuting in from a different market are among the top complaints this summer. Freddie Mac recently issued a reminder to lenders that it's their responsibility to make sure that appraisals are performed by people who are well-qualified and familiar with the local market.
By Elizabeth Razzi | July 16, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (6)
Google Buffs Up Its Real Estate Listings
When Google does anything, you have to pay attention. Slowly, the internet search behemoth is making its home-sale listings easier to use. You'll find their listings on Google Maps, where you can simply enter a search phrase such as "Homes For Sale Silver Spring, Md." and call up a map with listings highlighted.
By Elizabeth Razzi | July 8, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
What Metro Adds to Home Values
My first post-accident Metro ride was on Wednesday, two days after last week's horrible crash. As the train s-l-o-w-l-y pulled into the station, I felt sorry for the driver, who was practically alone in the front car. And then I joined the crowd boarding at the middle of the train. It seemed the logical choice, at least until investigators figure out what caused one train to crash into the back of another--and how to keep it from happening again. Now I'm wondering what would happen if our subway system, which for a long time was so clean and safe that tourists saw it as a fun component of any trip to the Nation's Capital, were to develop a reputation as unsafe. Proximity to a Metro station adds real value to homes, especially if they're within walking distance.
By Elizabeth Razzi | June 29, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
Pessimists vs. Optimists and The Weekend Poll
I haven't yet figured out what's really behind the bloggists and commenters who seem to fervently hope for an even more drastic plunge in home prices. Jawboning the market down doesn't seem to have much purpose, and I don't see the fun in all that cynicism. Conversely, trying to cheerlead the market back to health doesn't work very well, either. In Saturday's Real Estate Section, I have a story about the "Surround Sound" campaign the National Association of Realtors has pursued over the past 16 months, which tries to counter the gloomy economic news that prevailed in the press.
By Elizabeth Razzi | June 12, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (15)
Buyers and Sellers at a Standoff?
interviewed Donna Evers, president of the Evers & Co. brokerage in the District yesterday for a story coming up this weekend, and she had an interesting observation that didn't quite fit into the story, but I thought Local Addressers might find interesting. She said she's seeing more nervousness now among buyers and sellers. Realistically priced homes are drawing multiple offers, upsetting people's notions that it's one big buyer's market out there. "It's almost equal nervousness, and there are some standoffs on negotiations," she said. "Both sides feel like they've got some strength."
By Elizabeth Razzi | June 11, 2009; 09:08 AM ET | Comments (3)
Discrimination Complaints Hit a Record
Apparently, it's still a booming market for housing discrimination. There were 10,552 formal complaints of housing discrimination during fiscal year 2008, which ended Sept. 30. That's a record, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
By Elizabeth Razzi | June 10, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Price Reductions, Savings and the Weekend Poll
The folks at Trulia are out today with a survey of their listings, showing that 30 percent of Washington-area listings have had at least one price reduction. That's more than the national average of about 24 percent. The average price cut around here is 10 percent off the original list price, about the same as it is nationally. Also, the Weekend Poll: How much savings should first-time buyers have left after closing?
By Elizabeth Razzi | June 5, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
A New Condo Insurance Twist in Maryland
A new state law that went into effect June 1, says you (and your insurance company) are responsible for repairing damages to your unit, and the condo association (and its insurance company) is responsible for repairing damages to the commonly owned property. What's new is that the association can require you, the owner of the unit where the fire started, to pay up to $500 of the association's insurance deductible covering repairs to that common property.
By Elizabeth Razzi | June 2, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
Recovery Could Bring a Flood of Listings
If the real estate market showed real signs of coming back to life, would you put your home up for sale? According to a new survey released by the Zillow realty web site, about 32 percent of homeowners said they would be at least somewhat likely to do so. And Zillow officials said if there really is that much pent-up supply out there, it could seriously weigh down the eventual housing recovery.
By Elizabeth Razzi | May 14, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
Market Up, or Down, Or?
Check back through the day for updates filed from the National Association of Realtors' daylong economic summit. We're in the Marriott Wardman Park's giant ballroom, and through the day we'll hear from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Havard's Eric Belsky and Martin Feldstein, the Wharton School's Susan Wachter, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, Carnegie Mellon University's Allan Meltzer and others, roughly in that order.
By Elizabeth Razzi | May 12, 2009; 09:18 AM ET | Comments (3)
Are Matchmaking Sites the Future?
I just spent a while playing around with a new realty web site, Findbuyers.com, launched by Washington-area real estate agent Eldad Moraru. It's a free matchmaking site that invites buyers to enter the specifics about the type of home they seek (the usual condo/house/townhouse, bedrooms/baths and price and location questions). Buyers can then be matched with homes that meet their criteria, and buyer and seller can communicate anonymously from there. I can't say the site wowed me with its usefulness. But I am starting to wonder seriously if non-brokerage, matchmaking sites like Findbuyers and Zillow might be the template for the future.
By Elizabeth Razzi | May 11, 2009; 04:54 PM ET | Comments (2)
Realty Exec Wants More Housing Incentives
The Century 21 real estate company is asking Congress for more help boosting the real estate market. Tom Kunz, Century 21's president and CEO, stopped by the Post Thursday morning. He and some of the company's franchisees had just made the rounds on Capitol Hill, asking lawmakers to boost the current (and temporary) $8,000 first-time-buyer tax credit to $15,000--and to make it available to anyone buying their principal home. He also thinks government should push 30-year fixed mortgage rates down to 4-4.5 percent for about a year.
By Elizabeth Razzi | May 8, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Discriminatory Housing Ads Proliferate Online
Fair housing complaints spiked up 17 percent over the past year, according to a report just out from the National Fair Housing Alliance, a DC-based consortium of more than 220 private, non-profit fair housing groups around the country. They blame the foreclosure crisis, which has forced a lot of families into the rental market, and the rise of Internet advertising, which has scant gatekeeping regarding the content that's posted. After I saw NFHA's report, I spent about half an hour searching Washington-area for-rent ads on Craigslist just to see what I might find. In just that brief search, I found a few eye-openers--and then called NFHA's President and CEO, Shanna Smith, to solicit her reactions.
By Elizabeth Razzi | May 5, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Weekend Reading and the Weekend Poll
In this Saturday's Real Estate Section, Alejandro Lazo has a good story on how people who want to buy, fix and rent are reclaiming the word "investor" from the flippers who prevailed during the boom. Also on Saturday we get the question, what makes a neighborhood neighborly? Ann Cameron Siegal reviews some of the the things (hint: they're verbs, not nouns) that do the job.
By Elizabeth Razzi | May 1, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
Take a Spin with Frank and Take the Poll
Have you seen the "WheelEstateCam" that Arlington real estate broker Frank Borges LLosa posts on his blog and You Tube? LLosa is first-rate at this web thing, having named his brokerage FranklyRealty.com and all. A while back he fastened a web camera directly onto his steering wheel, and regularly talks real estate as he tools around town.
By Elizabeth Razzi | April 24, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Searching for Homes With Price Cuts
Trulia is launching a new search filter to allow shoppers to search only for homes that have had a price reduction. You have to wonder if sellers will (or ought to) build in a price reduction right at the start of the listing. Are buyers getting too focused on the "price reduced" selling point? Are homes becoming like rug shops, with their perpetual sales and "store-closing prices?"
By Elizabeth Razzi | April 23, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (4)
Long & Foster Adds Job-Loss Protection
Long & Foster Realtors is trying to coax the employed-but-worried into the market with a new job-loss protection program. Agents throughout the company are just getting training on the new "Buy Confident" program, which will be rolled out shortly through all of Long & Foster's offices in the mid-Atlantic. Some new-home builders have started offering such protection on their sales, but it's rare for the coverage to be offered on resales marketed through a giant brokerage such as Long & Foster.
By Elizabeth Razzi | April 16, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
