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Home values in 22801 have fared better than most areas since 2004 (Washington Post) |
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 "The overall U.S. housing market has recovered from the crisis that plunged the country into recession. But a new analysis by The Washington Post shows that the recovery has been deeply uneven, creating winners and losers along lines of race, income and geography. " Explore this analysis at The Washington Post, with data specific to Harrisonburg (22801). | |
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Walk Through 117 Port Republic Road |
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 Take a few minutes to walk through this home that is just a short walk to the JMU campus, Purcell Park, Starbucks and more. This recently built (2011) home offers upscale features both inside and out including a HardiePlank and brick exterior, a composite deck with vinyl rail, covered front porch, hardwood floors, granite countertops, ceramic tile in the bathrooms and so much more. The main level features a kitchen with dining area, living room, dining room and office, upstairs you will find a large master suite plus two additional bedrooms and a full bath. The recently finished lower level features a large rec room, the laundry room plus a fourth bedroom and third bathroom. Don't miss the propane fireplace, high end clothes washer and dryer, two heat pumps, hardwood treads and much more! Click here to walk through this home, on your computer, phone or tablet.
Find out more about this 3D Walk Through technology at WalkThroughThisHome.com.... | |
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The proposed city real estate tax rate, contextualized |
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 The real estate tax rate in the City of Harrisonburg might increase to $0.80 per $100 of assessed value per the City's proposed 2016-17 budget. As shown above, this would be a 36% increase in the tax rate over a five year period. The context that might be missed by just looking at this increase includes....
Interested in knowing more? Read today's article in the Daily News Record (City Eyes Tax Hike In Budget Proposal) or attend the public hearing on the budget this evening at the City Council meeting at 7PM in City Hall Council Chambers. | |
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Buyers are at it again in April |
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 There were a record number of buyers (signing contracts) in March -- the 133 contracts shown above was a 13% improvement over last March, and was the highest month of March contracts on record as far as I can tell. Thus far in April, buyers are still quite active! In the first 22 days of April last year there were 75 contracts -- this year, 115 contracts! Stay tuned at the beginning of May for a final count of April contracts. | |
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Walk Through 3095 Baybrook Drive |
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 Take a few minutes to walk through this stunning three-level brick Colonial in Barrington that offers a tremendous amount of living space, an expansive master suite (with sitting room, sunroom and deck), plus a full in-law suite (with possible 5th bedroom) on the lower level. Upscale features in this executive style home include Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors, Cherry cabinetry and granite countertops in both kitchens, crown moulding, marble flooring in the foyer and Tigerwood hardwood flooring in the upstairs hallway and master suite. The main level features a formal living room, formal dining room, family room, office/study, kitchen with island, sunroom, screened porch, and deck! Don't miss the custom wiring, water softener, security system, back stairwell and so much more. Click here to walk through this home, on your computer, phone or tablet. Or, visit this home's property website. Or, view high resolution photos of this home by clicking the collage below....  Find out more about this 3D Walk Through technology at WalkThroughThisHome.com....  | |
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Calculating how your mortgage payment will change if you sell and buy |
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If you will be selling your home to buy another, there are a lot of numbers floating around....
This is a spreadsheet I put together to help you think about some of these numbers....  Click here to download this worksheet as an editable Excel file. | |
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Mortgage Interest Rates Lower Than Low |
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 Mortgage interest rates have been at an average of 3.85 over the past 12 months. Fantastic, right? But wait, they are currently hovering at 3.58%! Wow! Perhaps this has been part of what has inspired so many buyers to sign contracts in recent months. | |
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Walk Through 4290 Brown Roan Lane |
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 Take a few minutes to walk through this recently built, upscale brick home in Highland Park features 9' ceilings (or higher) throughout the home, hardwood floors on the main level, cherry cabinetry and granite countertops, a spacious master suite with dual walk-in closets, two additional large bedrooms on the first level, plus a dining room, butler's pantry, laundry room and composite deck overlooking the backyard bounded by mature trees. The spacious lower level features a wide open family room, a guest bedroom, fifth bedroom or office (with large walk-in closet) and an enormous amount of unfinished space for storage or future expansion. Don't miss the crown moulding, security system, 400 AMP electric service, Kinetico water softener and so much more! Click here to walk through this home, on your computer, phone or tablet. Or, visit this home's property website. Or, view high resolution photos of this home by clicking the collage below....  Find out more about this 3D Walk Through technology at WalkThroughThisHome.com.... | |
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City of Harrisonburg Proposes 11% Increase in Real Estate Tax Rate |
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 The City of Harrisonburg has released its proposed budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, and it includes a proposed $0.08 increase in the tax rate from $0.72 per $100 of assessed value up to $0.80 per $100 of assessed value. A few excerpts of note from the City Manager's letter to City Council are included below. The bold sections are directly from the letter. City costs are increasing as population increase, even without increases in services.... As noted last year, the impact of a growing community continues to have a significant effect on our budget. That trend continues this year as we added another 1,263 new residents as of July 1, 2015 per the Weldon Cooper Center population estimates. I have stated in my budget transmittal letter for several years that even if we are not adding new services or programs, we have more people needing/consuming the services, programs, and facilities that we already provide, and we have added more infrastructure to be operated and maintained (streets, sidewalks, bike trails, emergency communications, juvenile and adult detention facilities, athletic fields, etc.) in support of our services and programs. Large new costs for 2016-17 include:
Natural revenue growth, while increasing, has not kept pace with the costs of all of the immediate needs. Lots of new costs without significant new revenue resulted in a recommendation for increasing the real estate tax rate.... As City staff developed the budget, they had a gap of about $7.5 million between revenues and expenditures. We began the development of the FY 16-17 general fund budget with a gap of about $7.5 million between anticipated revenues and expenditures. To varying degrees, all of the submitted requests had merit and were intended to address what department directors and management felt to be present or pending needs for providing services to our citizens. This budget does not include any increases to any of the "discretionary" outside agencies (listed as "Contributions – Community and Civic Organizations" in the budget) that receive City funding, nor does it propose adding any new agencies, programs or projects for funding. We attempted to build this budget based on available projected revenues and not expenditure requests, starting with a base revenue budget of just under $102 million (which included about $1.6 million in new revenue), less any use of fund balance. In spite of this effort, to meet the commitments we have in core service areas, a $3.15 million gap remains. As such, management believes an increase of approximately $0.08 in the real estate tax rate will be required to balance the FY 16-17 budget, pending Council direction as to other possible budget revisions or identification of reduction targets. The draft budget (and above-referenced letter, and supporting documentation) can be found here ("2017 Proposed Budget"). Next, the budget will be reviewed by City Council and opportunities will exist for public comment. | |
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Predictably, twice as many buyers are choosing the County (over the City) in 2016 |
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 The first quarter of 2016 has been a (crazily) busy few months of contract activity -- especially in March. As shown above, twice as many buyers are contracting on homes in Rockingham County (192) as compared to the City of Harrisonburg (93). But, it turns out that shouldn't surprise us, based on the typical pace of buyer activity in the City and County....  As shown above, last year there were just about twice as many home sales in Rockingham County (746) as there were in the City of Harrisonburg (379). But before you conclude that County home sellers have it soooo easy, because twice as many buyers are buying in the County, I should point out that there are actually MORE THAN twice as many homes for sale in Rockingham County (411) as compared to the City of Harrisonburg (151)....  As such, there are actually more buyers per seller in the City than in the County. | |
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Most March Contracts Ever? |
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 Going back into the archives, it does not appear that there has ever been a month of March in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County when there were more contracts signed than in March 2016. How about that for a new record?!?!! Read more about the local housing market here....  | |
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Buyers are busy buying, in most price ranges.... |
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 Home sales are on the rise -- on almost every price range:
So, what is happening with the $300K - $400K home sales? As shown above, they are down 18% year-over-year, though they are up 25% compared to where they were two years ago. Maybe it was a temporary boom of these buyers over the past year?? Theories welcome! | |
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Home Sales, Median Prices on the Rise in 2016 Q1 |
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 Learn more about this month's Featured Property: 3095 Baybrook Drive I just published my monthly report on the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County real estate market. Jump to the full online market report, watch the overview video below, or download the PDF, or read on for highlights.... First, a video overview....  Next, let's take a look at the overall market performance in March....  Some rather good news, in all areas, as far as improvements in our local market....
OK -- now with that formality aside, let's talk about the crazy, wild, unbelievable stat of the month....
Yes, you are reading that correctly....
So, buyers were actively signing contracts in March 2016, it seems. :)
As shown above, the 83 home sales in March 2016 were the highest of any recent March. The question now remains -- how many home sales will we see in April? Could the 133 contracts from March help boost the market up to more than 104 sales in April?
One last trend that I am watching closely -- the single family home market. As shown above, we have seen a relatively steady number of single family home sales over the past few years -- which is neither thrilling nor depressing. The median sales price, on the other hand, has been steadily climbing -- great news for anyone who owns a home, or likes to see an improving housing market. In Summary.... | |
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Learn about upcoming foreclosure sales at HarrisonburgForeclosures.com |
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 Some investors consider the purchase of properties being sold via foreclosure at the courthouse steps. You can find a listing of upcoming foreclosure sales by visiting.... HarrisonburgForeclosures.com | |
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Rockingham County Proposes 2 Cent Increase in Real Estate Tax Rate |
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 Rockingham County's proposed budget for the 2017 fiscal year (July 1, 2016 - June 30, 2017) includes a 2 cent increase in the real estate tax rate -- from $0.68 to $0.70 per $100 of assessed value. This would bring it closer to Harrisonburg's $0.72 tax rate, but not all the way up there. If you want to give your figurative two cents to the County about their proposal for using your actual two cents (per $100 of assessed value) then show up at the public hearing on April 13th at 7PM at East Rockingham High School. Read more via Monday's Daily News Record article.... County Proposes Tax Hike | |
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157 New Residential Lots at Crossroads Farm? |
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 Per documents tucked away in the Rockingham County Planning Commission's packet for their meeting today, it looks like Crossroads Farm will be expanding. The areas outlined in red above are the areas that seem to be the new lots to be platted in this large subdivision just East of the City of Harrisonburg. These new areas appear to include the following new lots....
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New Student Housing Community Proposed in Rockingham County |
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 A new student housing community may be built in Rockingham County depending on (among other things) the outcome of the public hearing of the rezoning of the land that will take place tomorrow, April 5th. Below is an illustration of where the community would be located -- just off Reservoir Street, just past the City/County line when headed towards the hospital.  This location is in the vicinity of several other student housing communities, so it is not a surprising location to be proposed for this community. Per documents submitted to the County, we know the following about this potential student housing community....
You can view lots of details about this proposal by downloading the full packet of information from the rezoning request which includes the master plan and illustrations of the front elevations of some of the potential dwellings to be built. Download it here. | |
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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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