• made a general offer of being willing to negotiate on price or pay the buyer's closing costs, or
• made a specific offer of a price below the asking price, or the inclusion of a certain amount of a closing cost credit

• Proactively making an offer to sell that is more compelling than that suggested by your list price can sometimes motivate a buyer to engage in the negotiation process.  This is valuable, as many current homeowners who are attempting to sell their home would love to even have an offer to try to negotiate.
• You should expect that (most) buyers will try to negotiate further below your offer to sell.  Thus, if you have a hard and fast bottom line, don't reveal that number in your offer to sell, as the transaction may not come together.
• In addition to offering something specific to a buyer, it often will serve you well to (attempt to) explore what would be most helpful for a prospective buyer --- a price reduction vs. closing cost credit vs. repair/upgrade.

• A $7500 "first-time" home buyer tax credit will provide (in a sense) an interest-free $7500 loan to home buyers.  You would qualify if you haven't owned a home in three years, and if you have bought, or do buy between April 8, 2008 and July 1, 2009.  The tax credit is applied the year that you buy the house, and is paid back (without interest) over 15 years, starting two years after you buy the house.
• Those threatened by foreclosure may have new options under an FHA foreclosure rescue plan. Home buyers with subprime loans may be able to refinance via the FHA financing program at 90% of the current appraised value of their home.  
• Many markets will see increased FHA limits to allow for more homes to be financed through the increasingly popular FHA loan program.

• New Listings
• Open Houses
• Quick Search (Address, MLS#, Subdivision, Listing Agent)
• Power Search (lots of options!)
  
• Community Search (School District, City/Town, Zip Code)
  

• A significantly smaller number of homes are selling this year as compared to last year (25% fewer).
• Home prices seem to be staying relatively level (median prices increased slightly, average prices declined slightly).
• Leading to point #1, fewer buyers are committing to properties.
• Despite the overall lack of enthusiasm of buyers, homeowners are still putting their homes on the market in record numbers (44% more than last year).

Click on the chart for a printable PDF, or click here for some additional analysis of the Harrisonburg housing market in the first half of 2008.

If only it were that easy!

• creatively presenting their home in the best possible light
• aggressively marketing their home to potential buyers
• diligently following up with each Realtor who shows the property to potential purchasers

This morning the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Virginia is 11th in foreclosures.  This new ranking was based on a report released yesterday by RealtyTrac Inc.

Some commentary was added by Connie Chamberlin, the president and CEO of Housing Opportunities Made Equal...

"Foreclosures are rising faster in Virginia than almost anywhere else" said Connie Chamberlin...

"Virginia's stable economy kept foreclosures at bay, but the problem is catching up here. Moreover, lending practices are loose, possibly more so than in other states, Chamberlin said."

So....what does this mean for homes and homeowners in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County?  It depends on when you ask....

In March 2008, the Daily News Record reported that 2007 showed a 38% increase over 2006 in foreclosures in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

But two months later, in May 2008, the Daily News Record reported a 15.8% decrease in foreclosures when comparing 2008 (Q1) to 2007 (Q1) in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

So, here's my (elementary) executive summary for you:

1. Foreclosures rates are increasing nationwide.  (+53%, June 2007 to June 2008)
2. Foreclosure rates are increasing in Virginia.  (+204%, June 2007 to June 2008)
3. Foreclosure rates are decreasing in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. (-16%, 2007-Q1 to 2008-Q1)

Over the past 18 months (January 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008) 138 single family homes have been built and sold in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, as reflected in the HRAR MLS.

The prices of new construction homes that are selling might be of interest to home buyers, home sellers, builders and developers...



Click on the graph above for a printable PDF.

From two articles from this past Monday's (7/7/2008) Daily News Record...
 
City No. 2 In Foreign-born

Of all of Virginia's metro areas, Harrisonburg ranks #2 for its percentage (9%) of foreigh-born residents, following Washington/Arlington/Alexandria (20%) and followed by Charlottesville (6%), Richmond (6%), Virginia Beach (6%), and Winchester (6%).   [ read the article ]
 
Schools Eye Classes in English, Spanish

The Harrisonburg City School Board discussed adding a "dual-immersion" program whereby "Spanish-speaking students and native English speakers would be taught in the same classroom, with half the class in one language and the other half in another."   [ read the article ]
 

In some parts of the country, they definitely are!  But since all real estate is local, I'm really more interested in what is happening with home sales prices in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. 

In a given week, I talk with a lot of people about real estate including my past and present clients, my friends, other Realtors, lenders, appraisers, attorneys, the media, etc.  If I asked each of them whether home values are declining I'd get a LOT of different answers.

In the past, I've tried to examine this question from many different angles:

Trends in median price per square foot

Median home sales price trends (single family versus townhomes)

Median home sales price trends (single family combined with townhomes)

Year to year changes in median home sales prices (per my monthly reports)

Median sales prices over the past eight years during January to June.

But ultimately, homeowners really only care about whether the value of their particular property is going up or down.  The problem with all of the analysis referenced above is that it looks at trends across wide sets of data.  To better understand how home values are ACTUALLY changing, we need to look only at homes that have sold twice in a given time period --- and look at whether they sold for more or less the second time they sold.  Here we go....

In the past three years (7/2/2005 - 7/2/2008), there have been 4,209 residential sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, as recorded in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors MLS.

Of these 4,209 home sales --- there were 182 properties that sold twice in the last three years.  These 182 properties provide us with two data points so that we can measure ACTUAL APPRECIATION.  Here are some interesting facts about these 182 properties that sold twice in the past three years:

• 157 properties increased in value (86%), while 25 properties did not (14%)
  
• On average, these 182 properties increased at a rate of 28% per year.
  
• 8 properties decreased in value by more than 5% per year. 
  62 properties decreased or increased by less than 5% per year.
  112 properties increased in value by more than 5% per year. 

Enjoy this slideshow via photobucket -- my first such effort...

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