Archive for April 2018
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New Images of Proposed (Privately Funded) Downtown Park |
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 I'm going to let these images speak for themselves (in a moment) but wanted to provide the update that plans are still progressing for a proposed privately funded park in downtown Harrisonburg. As per the Daily News Record earlier this week.... "The proposed park, with council's approval, would be built on city- owned land west of City Hall on South Main Street, stretching across the grassy area to South Liberty Street. It would include and expand the Harrisonburg Farmers Market's Turner Pavilion and stretch south to include Warren Street and a gravel parking lot." Read the entire Daily News Record article here. Download the higher resolution photos here: Watch a video walk through of the park here. (scroll down) Or, enjoy these photos.... (full disclosure, I am on the board for Build Our Park)            | |
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Understanding the Total Financial Impact of Selling AND Buying a Home |
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 If you will be selling your home to buy another, there are a lot of numbers floating around....
Above you will see a spreadsheet I put together to help you think about some of these numbers as you are evaluating if and when you will make a move to a new house. In yellow, are all of the inputs you will need to provide, or that you and I can determine together, such as your current payment, your home's current value, your mortgage payoff, whether you will be putting any additional money into the transaction, etc. In green, I have identified your potential future mortgage payment and the net change in your monthly payment. All of the numbers without a background color will automatically calculate for you. Click here to download this worksheet as an editable Excel file. | |
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What Does a Realtor Do in Representing a Buyer? |
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 If you are purchasing a home, before you call the listing agent to see that home, you should understand a bit more about buyer representation. In representing you as a buyer in your home purchase, your buyer's agent would be performing tasks such as:
So -- you can call the listing agent (who is contractually bound to represent the seller's best interests) or you can hire a Realtor to represent YOUR best interests as the buyer. Clearly, I recommend the second option. Beyond buyer representation, there is a lot more to know about and think about regarding the home purchasing process. Read more at....  | |
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Hey Builders, Harrisonburg is an Increasingly Popular Place to Live, Keep Up, Please! |
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 OK -- no numbers today. Just a few thoughts that have been coming up in conversation after conversation over the past year. Inventory levels (the number of houses for sale at any given time) have been quite low when looking at the City of Harrisonburg and immediately surrounding areas. Many buyers are having a tough time finding a home to buy. Many houses are selling quickly because there are many buyers who want to buy them when they hit the market. I believe a significant reason why housing inventory levels are so low is because people are deciding they want to live in (or stay in or move to) Harrisonburg faster than builders are building new homes for them to purchase. Sometimes it is young adults who just graduated from JMU, EMU, or Bridgewater College and who want to stay in the area. Sometimes it is a local college grad moving back after having had a taste of life in the big City. Sometimes it is parents of these college grads turned Harrisonburg residents who are moving to Harrisonburg to be close to the grand kids. Whomever it happens to be -- more and more people are deciding they want Harrisonburg (or close to it) to be their home. And I believe they are deciding this at a faster rate than new homes are being built. Side note -- lots of rental housing is being built right now. This sort of helps -- people can rent if they can't find something to buy -- but it is not a viable long-term solution. So -- builders -- let's get to building some new homes, why don't we? It is time -- the home buying population is growing, and needing housing.... | |
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Today is the Great Community Give! |
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 Today is the day! Join me in the first of its kind "day of charitable giving" for Harrisonburg and Rockingham County -- aptly named, the Great Community Give. Folks throughout our community will be coming together today to financially support 50+ nonprofit agencies participating in the Great Community Give. This is our opportunity to join together as Harrisonburg and Rockingham County residents to show our love for this community. Click the link below to explore the nonprofits in our community that YOU can support today to be a part of the Great Community Give! Donate Here View the Leaderboards | |
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Should You Be Dejected If Your House Does Not Sell In One Week? |
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 Should You Be Dejected If Your House Does Not Sell In One Week? It depends. For example -- in the City of Harrisonburg, 26% of homes that have sold thus far in 2018 have been under contract within seven days of having been listed for sale!?! So -- if day 8 rolls around, should you worry, complain, cry, immediately drop the price, what??? Maybe none of those. Having your home under contract within one week depends on demand for your home being high -- your type of home (detached or not), size of home, price of home, location of home, etc. If all of those overlays leave large portions of the home buying public finding your home to be interesting - then you are likely to have a speedy sale. If the type, size, price or location of your home (or multiple of those factors) limit the number of buyers who will have interest in the house -- then you may have to wait longer for your to be under contract. We can predict this, somewhat, looking at sales of similar homes, current inventory levels of similar homes, etc. If you are getting ready to sell your home, read up on the process and philosophy at SellingAHomeInHarrisonburg.com. | |
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How Historic Are Our Current Low Housing Inventory Levels? |
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 Just how historic are the current low housing inventory levels? Quite historic, it seems. The graph above shows the inventory level at this time of year (end of March) for each of the past 11 years. As you can see, we have been seeing steady declines since 2010 -- though things were relatively steady with around 600 homes for sale between 2013 and 2016. Last year, however, we saw a 33% decline -- and this year we have seen another 20% decline. Low inventory levels leads to homes selling much more quickly, and buyers often having a more difficult time securing a home to purchase. Stay tuned to see whether we start to see increases in inventory levels as we continue through the Spring and Summer. Read more about our local housing market at HarrisonburgHousingMarket.com. | |
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Best First Quarter of Home Sales in Ten Years |
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 Indeed -- this year is off to a FAST start. As shown above, we saw more home sales in the first three months of this year than any other year in the past 10 years! Wow!Read more about our local housing market at HarrisonburgHousingMarket.com. | |
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Just How Speedy Does A Home Buyer Have To Be These Days? |
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 Some homes are absolutely FLYING off the shelf -- under contract within 48 hours, with multiple offers, sometimes over the asking price. So -- are all homes selling that quickly? Nope. Homes are selling faster in the City than the County, so I thought I would break things down in the City based on sales thus far in 2018 -- 1/1/2018 through 4/16/2018. As shown above, about 25% of the homes that have sold this year did go under contract within a week. That is significant -- those were speedy sales, without much time for a buyer to think and process and decide what to do. Add in the homes that go under contract within the first month (but not in the first week) and you are starting to approach half of the homes in our market. So -- yes,depending on your desired location, price range, etc., you may need to be ready to act FAST! But -- all City homes listed for sale are not going under contract within a day or two. There are plenty that are taking a somewhat longer, normal, period of time. Read more about our local housing market at HarrisonburgHousingMarket.com. | |
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Home Sales and Prices Rising, Time on Market Falling |
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 Find out about this newly listed custom-built home with amazing views: 973SmithAvenue.com. I just published my most recent monthly market report, and as usual, you can read on for an overview, download the full report as a PDF, read the entire report with commentary online, or tune in to my monthly video overview of our local housing market...  Now, let's dive into some of the latest data from our local real estate market....  As shown above, most market indicators are quite positive....
 Two important items to note above....
One last tidbit....
As shown above -- contract activity declined slightly in March 2018 -- but -- wait for it -- year-to-date (Jan-Mar) contract activity is still 3% higher than last year. So -- perhaps we will still have a reasonably strong month of closed sales in April and May after all. OK -- I'll stop there for now. Again, you can download the full report as a PDF, read the entire report with commentary online, or keep reading my blog in the coming days for further commentary. AND -- if you're thinking of buying or selling soon --- SELLERS -- even though it is a seller's market in many price ranges right now, you must still focus on price, condition and marketing. For further reading on buying or selling in this area, check out.... Enjoy this cold-again, hot-again month of April! | |
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Buying vs Building A $400K+ Home |
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 Most buyers looking to spend over $400K (or certainly those looking over $500K) will also be considering building a new home. Typically, the tension between buying vs building is one of: 1. Goals 2. Money 3. Timing If you build, you can get the house you want, but you'll pay more for it and it will take a lot of time and attention. 1. Goals = Win 2. Money = Lose 3. Timing = Lose If you buy an existing home, you won't get exactly what you want, but you will pay less for the house and the process will not be a drain on your time. 1. Goals = Lose 2. Money = Win 3. Timing = Win Don't let my oversimplification of this issue fool you -- this is something that buyers can get stuck debating for months, or even years, often while looking at resale homes to try to convince themselves to buy instead building. If you are stuck in this quagmire, I'd be happy to meet with you to talk through some of the pros and cons and try to help you come to a decision you'll be pleased with in the short and long term. | |
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2018-19 Rockingham County Budget Reflects No Change in Real Estate Tax Rate |
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 The budget shown above is the proposed budget for 2018-19 in Rockingham County, VA. This reflects no change in the real estate tax rate -- it would remain at $0.74 per $100 of assessed value -- though the tax revenue will increase due to increases in assessed values.  Interestingly (above) the real estate tax rate in the County has been above $0.70 before -- between 2000 and 2005 -- and at that time it was well above the City's real estate tax rate! Stay tuned for news of changes in the City real estate tax rate.... | |
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220 Detached Homes, 175 Duplexes, 225 Townhouses To Be Built in County? |
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 Two rezoning proposals are going before the Rockingham County Planning Commission this week.... 54 Acres on Island Ford Road in McGahesyville (shown above)
Update after Planning Commission meeting.... Island Ford Road rezoning recommended by Planning Commission "In other business, the commission unanimously recommended approval of Gary Sandridge's request to rezone 54 acres on Island Ford Road in McGaheysville from agricultural use to planned single family. Sandridge plans to build 220 units that would connect to the existing Whispering Springs subdivision, which is at the intersection of Island Ford Road and McGaheysville Road." Pear Street rezoning tabled by Planning Commission "Commissioners Brent Trumbo, Rodney Burkholder and Keith Sheets voted to table the request. Commissioner Bill Loomis, who raised concerns over the density of the project and its compatibility with planned development in the city, abstained from voting. Commissioner David Rees was absent." Read more here.... County Planning Commission Tables Housing Request | |
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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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