Archive for December 2014
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Median Price Per Acre in Rockingham County |
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 As shown above, the price (per acre) of land sales in Rockingham County is starting to improve in several price ranges.
Read on for more details on the pace of land sales....
As shown above, the pace of sales of 5 to 10 acre parcels is (slowly) increasing.
As shown above, the pace of sales of 10 to 20 acre parcels is also slowly improving.
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That low offer is really a compliment! |
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Sellers are usually quite disheartened to receive a low offer on their house, for example, an offer of $250K on a $300K listing. But it is important to remember that even that low offer really is a complement!  If you have not yet had an offer on your house (that is listed at $300K) and you receive an offer of $250K, that doesn't necessarily mean your house is only worth $250K, nor does it necessarily mean that you should accept $250K or something close to it. It does, however, mean something quite exciting --- somebody wants to buy your house!!! Of course, negotiations won't always work out with low offers -- but recognize a low offer for what it is -- a buyer who wants to buy your house, and perhaps the first buyer who has declared as much through a written offer! If there is any way to put a deal together with those buyers, you ought to pursue it, as it's hard to know when the next buyer will work up the courage to tell you that they want to buy your house! | |
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Harrisonburg Area Commercial Real Estate Market Overview |
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 Ribbon Cutting at the Harrisonburg Ice House Local commercial real estate agents indicate that the Harrisonburg area market performed well in 2014.... "It was a pretty good year," said David Lee of Lee and Associates. "We had nice, stable, slow, steady growth, which is what you like to see."....and they expect even better results in 2015.... "We are finally at a point where investors and tenants are comfortable taking some calculated risk. ... We haven't had a lot of ground-up development in quite some time," Reamer said, "but we seem to be poised for that in 2015 and I think that will be the dominant storyline of this upcoming year."Read more in this week's article in the Daily News Record.... A Solid Base To Build On By Vic Bradshaw | |
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Walmart Neighborhood Market announced at Stoneport |
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 Wal-mart Stores Inc. will be opening up a "neighborhood market" at Stoneport, which is a standalone grocery store concpet that will also feature a drive-thru pharmacy. The map above (larger version here) shows the location of this new commercial tenant, close to the intersection of Port Republic Road with the new connector road. Read more in yesterday's Daily News Record article, an excerpt of which follows.... While best known for its supercenter stores, which sell groceries along with myriad other items ranging from automotive parts to clothing, Wal-Mart has been expanding the market concept launched in 1998. Henneberg wrote that the stores allow the company to offer fresh groceries, a pharmacy and some household items in a smaller footprint. | |
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Mortgage Interest Rates Still Below 4 Percent |
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 If you're thinking of buying your significant other a house for Christmas (mostly a joke) you might want to lock in your mortgage interest rate NOW. 30 year fixed mortgage interest rates continue to linger below 4%, which will provide you with an excellent opportunity to have low monthly payments on that exciting Christmas gift. :) | |
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Walk Through 3339 Deavers Lane |
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 Take a few minutes to walk through this immaculate home just outside the City offers privacy and long views from the covered porch and wrap-around deck. Enjoy a spacious home with beautiful interior finishes including a large kitchen with breakfast bar, a dining area, living room with wood beams, a sitting room with a stone-front gas fireplace and a mudroom / laundry room. The expansive master suite features two walk-in closets and a large master bathroom with jetted tub and tile shower. All bedrooms are spacious and feature ceiling fans. Don't miss the hardwood floors, ceramic tile, recessed lights, upgraded refrigerator, high ceilings, raised bed gardens, partially fenced yard, upgraded light fixtures, two zone heat pump and water softener! Click here to walk through this home now, on your computer, phone or tablet. Or, visit this home's property website. Or, view lots of pretty photos of this home by clicking the collage below....  | |
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First Million Dollar (plus) Home Sale Since 2010 |
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 Last month (November 2014) there a home sold in Lake Pointe for $1,025,000. This marked the first time since 2010 that a home has sold (per the HRAR MLS) for over $1,000,000 anywhere in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. Not quite ready to spend $1,000,000 on your next home? Check out some excellent $500K+ homes at HarrisonburgLuxuryHomes.com. | |
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Do you now live in Rockingham, VA? |
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 If your zip code is 22801 or 22801, and you live in Rockingham County (shown in yellow above) then your mailing address can be written in two different ways starting in February 2015....either as "Harrisonburg, VA 22801" or "Rockingham, VA 22801", and it's all about taxes.... From today's Daily News Record article.... Starting in February, the U.S. Postal Service will begin updating its database so the two ZIP codes will have a default mailing address of Harrisonburg, VA, and an "alternate preferred" address of Rockingham, VA.Read the rest of the article here. | |
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Shop Til You Drop, Today, in Downtown Harrisonburg |
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 Today -- December 12th -- 5PM until 10PM -- Downtown Harrisonburg Shop Local for the holidays! You will enjoy extended store hours, special promotions and events, art and live music, holiday treats, and plenty of festive cheer! Special promotions this evening include.... Bluetique Cheap Chic | Open til 9pm Midtowne Bottle Shop | Open til 11pm The Lady Jane | Open til 10pm Ten Thousand Villages | 10am-10pm Walkabout Outfitter | 10am - 10pm Rocktown Bicycles Downtown Wine & Gourmet Friendly City Food Co-op | Open til 9pm The Yellow Button | Open til 8pm OASIS Fine Art & Craft | Open til 10pm | |
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Locating your business in Harrisonburg, Virginia |
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 Located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, Harrisonburg is the perfect home for your business and your career. Here, local businesses benefit from:
Learn more at HarrisonburgDevelopment.com....
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Local Unemployment Rate Edges Down Below 5% |
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 The local unemployment rate (Harrisonburg / Rockingham MSA) edged down to 4.8% in October 2014. That shows a slight decline from the several months prior -- as well as an overall improvement from a big picture perspective....
Low unemployment rates keep our local housing market healthy by keeping our foreclosure rate low along with not creating too many desperate sellers who sell at any price and affect pricing trends. For even more analysis of our local housing market, check out my full December 2014 market report online, or by downloading the PDF. Learn more about this month's Featured Property: 3339 Deavers Lane | |
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Positive Long Term Trends Over The Past Six+ Months |
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 There is a lot going on in the graph above.... This graph shows a rolling 12 months of the number of home sales in the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County area, as well as the median price of the homes that sold during these time frames. Each data point shows one year's worth of home sales, which eliminates the volatility of evaluating sales figures on a monthly basis. Of note, over the past six to eight months, we've seen two things happen.... 1. Median Prices jumped up from their usual $175K spot (where they've been for a few years) to levels closer to $178K or $179K. This is shown with the green line in the yellow shaded box. 2. The pace of home sales started increasing again, surpassing the 1,000 sales per year mark again, after having seen a decline in early 2014. This is shown with the orange line in the yellow shaded box. Both of these are long term trends that show sustained health and growth in our local real estate market. For even more analysis of our local housing market, check out my full December 2014 market report online, or by downloading the PDF.  | |
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Harrisonburg Area Home Sales Up 2%, Prices Up 1% |
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Learn more about this month's Featured Property: 3339 Deavers Lane I just published my monthly report on the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County real estate market. Jump to the full online market report, or download the PDF, or read on for highlights....  First, the big picture trends of what has been happening this year in our local housing market are quite positive, even if not yet to the magnitude that some homeowners would prefer....
 We will certainly be seeing fewer buyers per month over the next few months, however, as shown above, there will be fewer sellers in the market hoping for those buyers to commit to their properties. Inventory levels are up 3.4% year over year, but are amidst what is a typical seasonal decline during the late Fall to early Winter months.  Why are we a seeing steadily increasing sales pace, and (slowly) increasing sales prices? One main reason is that we are seeing fewer and fewer distressed sales -- foreclosures, short sales, etc. As shown above, home sales have been steadily increasing for several years, and the rate of foreclosures has been steadily decreasing. If you are buying or selling now, or will be soon, I encourage you to become a student of the housing market. Learn what has been happening recently, what is happening now, and what is likely to happen next. Being informed will allow you to make better real estate decisions. You can continue your studies by reading the entire December 2014 market report online, or by downloading the PDF. Also, as always, if you're interested in talking to me about buying a home in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County.....or if you are interested in selling your current home.....just drop me a line by email (scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com) or call me at 540-578-0102. | |
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Top 5 Articles in November 2014 |
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 Here are the articles from the past month that your peers enjoyed (or at least read) most....
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Harrisonburg Southeast Connector Progress Update |
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 The newest section of the Southeast Connector (Stone Spring Road) is now open between Peach Grove Avenue and Port Republic Road. The photo above is looking back towards the City.  This photo (above) is looking down the new section of Stone Spring Road towards Port Republic Road and Sentara RMH Medical Center.  Now we're getting (above) a bit closer to Port Republic Road, and we can see Sentara RMH Medical Center, Bojangles and The Reserve at Stone Port.  The section of this new road between Boyers Road and Route 33 East (shown above) seems as if it might be the next section to be completed. | |
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77 Home Sellers Ratified Contracts in November 2014 |
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And here is what they were selling....  | |
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Sales Preview, November 2014 |
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 We'll give it a few more days for sales to be reported, but thus far, it is not clear whether we will see a year-over-year increase in home sales in November 2014. | |
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New Section of Madison Village |
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 click here for a larger image Development on a new section of Madison Village seems to be finishing up - adjacent to the existing section of Madison Village, and adjoining the Crossroads Farm neighborhood. This is the most recent plat that I have seen, showing a total of around 147 home sites in the overall subdivision. | |
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Scott Rogers
Funkhouser Real
Estate Group
540-578-0102
scott@funkhousergroup.com
Licensed in the
Commonwealth of Virginia
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