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Are home prices up 12.2% in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County? |
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As you may have read about in the news, home values (nationally) are increasing.... USA TODAY: May home prices show 12.2% annual increaseSo, is that what we're seeing here in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County as well? As shown in the chart at the top, we have only seen a 0.2% annual increase in prices in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. Review a full battery of local housing market trends here. | |
Plan for Retirement by Purchasing an Rental Property |
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Purchasing a rental property can be an excellent way to plan for retirement, providing you with tax benefits in the short term and an income stream in the long term. Your best bet is to purchase an investment property when you are in your 30's, but a purchase later on in life can still be of great benefit to you as well. Today's low mortgage interest rates will allow you to purchase many types of properties and immediately have positive cash flow, or at least be breaking even on a monthly basis. Financing 80% of a $150,000 townhouse purchase will require a total monthly payment of around $800 including the principal, interest, taxes, insurance and home owner's association dues. Most such townhouses will then easily be leased for $900 to $950 depending on the age, condition and location. Thus, there is a cost for getting started with this type of a retirement strategy – the 20% down payment plus closing costs – but then there will not be many costs as you move forward. Many owners of rental properties will save up their excess monthly cash flow ($100 - $150 per month) to save for any need repairs and maintenance. As you move past the first three to five years of owning your rental property you will start to see an increasing monthly financial benefit. The largest portions of your monthly costs of the rental property – principal and interest – will stay fixed over time thanks to 30-year fixed mortgage interest rates. You will eventually start to see small increases in taxes, insurance rates and home owner's association dues, but in most cases those will surpassed by increases in rental rates over time. Thus, as time marches on, your monthly positive cash flow will increase. Five to ten years in, you may be seeing a rental rate of $1,000 to $1,050 compared to a monthly cost of $850. With positive monthly cash flow from the first day you owned the rental property, you have effectively only had to pay 20% of the market value of a townhouse, and put yourself in a situation where your tenants will be paying the other 80% for you as they pay off your mortgage with their rental payments. Thus, over 30 years, you can thank your tenants for helping your mortgage loan balance decline down to zero. In addition, if we assume an average of 2% appreciation per year over 30 years, when your tenants have finished paying off your mortgage in 30 years, your $150,000 townhouse would be worth as much as $270,000. Purchasing a rental property allows you to create a "retirement account" into which you made the initial deposit (the down payment) and into which other people (your tenants) will make all of the subsequent deposits. This financial transaction can provide positive cash flow from the first day of your ownership of the property, and will also provide tax benefits based on the interest that is being paid on your mortgage payments. In the mid to long term, you will have a regular source of monthly income when either the increased rental rate exceeds your monthly costs or once the mortgage is paid off. Then, after 30 (or 20 or 40) years, you can sell your rental property and cash in on your retirement savings. | |
Online real estate resources for Harrisonburg, Rockingham County |
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Below are a list of web sites that may be helpful to you as you buy or sell real estate. What other online real estate information would you find to be helpful? Email me to let me know! Central Shenandoah Valley Property Search http://www.ScottPRogers.com Monthly Real Estate Market Reports http://www.HarrisonburgHousingMarket.com Ongoing Housing Market Analysis & Commentary http://www.HarrisonburgHousingToday.com Comprehensive Data on Harrisonburg Townhouse Communities http://www.HarrisonburgTownhouses.com New Construction Homes For Sale http://www.HarrisonburgNewHomes.com Half Million (plus) Homes in Harrisonburg, Rockingham County http://www.HarrisonburgLuxuryHomes.com Most Recent Listings in Harrisonburg, Rockingham County http://www.NewListingsInHarrisonburg.com Trustee Sales in Harrisonburg & Rockingham County http://www.HarrisonburgForeclosures.com Bank Owned Properties in Harrisonburg & Rockingham http://www.HarrisonburgREO.com Potential Short Sales in Harrisonburg & Rockingham County http://www.HarrisonburgShortSales.com Owner Financed Properties in Harrisonburg & Rockingham County http://www.HarrisonburgOwnerFinancing.com Lease/Purchase Properties in Harrisonburg & Rockingham County http://www.HarrisonburgLeasePurchase.com Property Transfers in Harrisonburg & Rockingham County http://www.HarrisonburgPropertyTransfers.com | |
[VIDEO] Brick, Custom-Built Home in Crossroads Farm |
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This all-brick, custom-built home on a cul-de-sac in Crossroads Farm features high quality finishes, attention to detail, fantastic eastern views and adjoins Lakeview Golf Course. Enjoy a large, open kitchen with custom cabinetry, stainless steel KitchenAid appliances, granite countertops with tile backsplash, an oversized island and butler's pantry. Also on the first floor, you will find a breakfast area, living room, formal dining room, and study. The master suite features a tray ceiling, walk-in closet and spacious master bathroom with tile shower and soaking tub. Attached bathrooms in two (of three) upstairs bedrooms. The basement features a guest suite, large family room, and unfinished space for workshop/storage. A new price offering a great value in Crossroads Farm. Don't miss the gas range and a microwave / convection oven, two built-in home audio systems, security system, upgraded trim, flat finish ceilings, wrought iron railing system, plumbing for kitchenette in basement family room, water softener, tankless gas hot water heater, the space for a wine cooler in the butler's pantry, and the down lighting on the front of the house providing exterior accent lighting in the evening. Click here to view a video overview of this beautiful property. Click here for high resolution photographs of this home. Click here to learn more about the property at 135BedfordPlace.com. | |
Mortgage Interest Rates Continue to Fluctuate |
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Rates are down (4.31%) as compared to a few weeks ago (4.51%), even though they have climbed quite a bit from two months ago (3.59%). Bear in mind, that these sub-4.5% rates have only existed for the past two years. Thus, we are still in a period of amazing opportunity for fixing in a low monthly housing cost given these historically low rates. | |
You can help PLAN OUR PARK! |
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Mark your calendars.... Public meetings & charettes City Council Chambers at 409 S. Main St. Wednesday, July 31, 3-5 pm AND 7-9 pm Give Input! The design team, which is composed of eight local, regional, and national firms representing multiple disciplines, will hold two public meetings and design charrettes (designers discuss solutions for park). Presentation of initial findings and next steps City Council Chambers at 409 S. Main St. Saturday, August 3, 9:30 am Learn more! This follow-up meeting will present initial findings and inform the public of the next steps in the park process. Come on out and take an active role in helping to shape our community! Visit the Plan Our Park Facebook page for more details. | |
New City Park for Downtown Harrisonburg? |
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A design team is studying the possibility of a new park in Downtown Harrisonburg, and the scope of the project seems to be expanding with the announcement that an option has been negotiated to purchase Lindsey Funeral Home, which is located adjacent to several other City properties including Community Development, the Municipal Building and Turner Pavilion. Below is a map I put together based on the information I have been able to gather thus far. Click on the map for a larger image. Read more about the park the option to purchase Lindsey Funeral Home in this recent DNR article.... HARRISONBURG — A committee pitching an urban park in downtown Harrisonburg announced Friday a privately negotiated option to purchase Lindsey Funeral Home on South Main Street, which could create a larger layout for the proposed attraction. | |
Priced Right, Marketed Well, It May Sell Quickly! |
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Above is a graph from my monthly market report that I haven't highlighted recently --- 1 in 3 houses that sold in the past year was on the market (list date to closing date) for less than 90 days. | |
Home Sales Up 22%, Foreclosures Down 26% |
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These are both great indicators for our local housing market --- home sales are up (22%) and foreclosures are down (26%) in the first six months of the year, as compared to the first six months of last year. | |
HarrisonburgTownhouses.com updated with 2013-Q2 sales data |
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HarrisonburgTownhouses.com has been updated with sales data from 2013-Q2, and many townhouse communities are (finally) starting to see median prices increase again. So, are you wondering about property values in your townhouse community? Or considering purchasing an investment property? Whatever the reason for your interest in townhouses in Harrisonburg, you will likely find the information you need at HarrisonburgTownhouses.com, including (for each townhouse community):
The townhouse communities featured on HarrisonburgTownhouses.com include:
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Are rising interest rates slowing down buyer activity? |
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It seems quite possible --- see above. But remember folks, these are still ridiculously low interest rates from a historical perspective. | |
[VIDEO] Overview of July 2013 Real Estate Market Report |
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Earlier this week I released my July 2013 report on our local housing market. The video above provides an overview of some of the main news surrounding this most recent report. Click here to view my video overview of the July 2013 housing market report. Click here to download the full market report (28 page PDF). Click here to read the report online. | |
[VIDEO] Immaculate custom-built home on a two-acre wooded lot |
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This immaculate home was custom-built on a two-acre wooded lot and offers a peaceful, quiet setting yet within close proximity to JMU, EMU and the City of Harrisonburg. The beautifully landscaped grounds feature 200 year old trees, over 70 varieties of perennials and bulbs, 2 outdoor water features, a circular driveway, 4 outdoor seating venues and a walking trail. A thoughtful floor plan and large picture windows bring the outside in, offering views and plenty of natural light. This home offers many exquisite features such as a custom kitchen with Brazilian granite, a programmable Lutron light system, starry sky bedroom ceilings, a curved staircase, electric blinds and more. Plus, two home offices, a finished basement area, intercom and music system, and an oversized three car garage. Click here to view a video overview of this beautiful property. Click here for high resolution photographs of this home. Click here to learn more about the property at 2694EversoleRoad.com. | |
Local Home Sales Up 22% Year To Date |
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I have just released my July 2013 monthly market report covering the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County housing market. Click here to download the full report as a PDF, read on for some highlights, or click here to view more details on the cover home, 3100 Brookshire Drive. As can be seen below, we finally saw all three overall market trends head in a positive direction --- sales are up, median prices are up, and days on market are down! June marked another exciting month of home sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. As shown below, this is the third month in a row where we have seen a significant increase in home sales over the same month last year. Interest rates are starting to creep up, even if they are still at historically low levels.... The rising interest rates may have cooled buyer activity a bit. After record setting months (April, May, June) buyer activity slowed in June. There is a LOT more in my full report, including....
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Monitors, meat slicers, microscopes and more! |
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Mark your calendars for August 10th from 7:30 AM - 12:00 PM when the JMU Surplus Property Sale will be taking place at the JMU Surplus Property Warehouse located at 1070 Virginia Ave., Harrisonburg (former Shenandoah Manufacturing Plant, North End Dock Area). All items are pre-priced and include projectors, appliances, LCD monitors, bikes, JMU sports and band apparel, sports bags, music keyboard, meat slicers, stainless steel fryers, dishes, televisions, cameras, DVD players, dorm beds, desks, tables, file cabinets, bookshelves, chairs, microscopes, lounge furniture, office supplies, map cabinet, lost-and-found items such as jewelry, iPods, sunglasses and much more. Terms are cash, check or credit card with proper identification. All items are sold on "as is, where is" basis with no implied warranties of any kind given. All sales are final; no refunds. No preview date. For additional information, call (540) 568-6931. | |
Can I wait to start the financing process until after the home inspection contingency has been resolved? |
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In short, no. Virginia's standard Residential Contract of Purchase states the following in the FINANCING section.... Purchaser agrees to make written application for such financing or assumption (including the payment of any required application, credit, or appraisal fees) within five (5) business days of the date of acceptance of this Contract and to diligently pursue obtaining the Commitment.Later on in the FINANCING section, we find this.... The occurrence of any of the following shall constitute a default by Purchaser under this Contract [...] (i) Purchaser fails to make timely application for any financing provided for hereunder, or to diligently pursue obtaining such financing;Now, I can understand why a buyer would want to wait to apply for their loan until they knew that the home inspection contingency had been resolved, but that would likely delay the entire transaction. A home inspection is often not completed until 7 - 10 days after the contract is ratified, and then it might be another few days until the repairs negotiations are completed. That would then put you 10 - 13 days into the transaction before you had applied for financing. Not only would this be a default per the terms of the contract, this would also make you less likely to be able to obtain loan commitment by the deadline, which is often 30 days after the ratification of the contract. | |
What did buyers buy in June 2013? |
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89 properties in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County went under contract in June 2013, ranging from a low list price of $42,900 to a high of $895,000. Click here to see which properties went under contract in June 2013. | |
Three Points To Consider When Selling A Home |
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Put Focus On Price, Condition, Marketing In Coming Months There have been many signs of recovery in our local housingmarket over the past year --- an increasing sales pace, lower inventory levels,and stable home values. Even with thisnewfound stability (and growth) in the market, when selling your home it is essentialto focus on the price, condition and marketing. Homeowners who have prepared their home well (condition), marketed itthoroughly, and priced it competitively will find success in selling theirhomes in the coming months. It is more important than ever to price your home well ifyou want to find success in selling your home in the near term. The first thing to consider when pricing yourhome is the price at which other comparable homes have sold in the past 6-12months. Sometimes this process is moreof an art than a science depending on how many closely similar homes we canfind that have recently sold. Aftercoming to some idea of a value of your home based on sold data, it is thenimportant to put that potential home value in the context of how currentlistings are priced. Once having theperspective of both sold data and active listings, it is important to priceyour property at, just above, or just below market value depending on yourmotivation to sell. You must walk through your home from the perspective of abuyer to identify improvements and adjustments to make prior to putting yourhouse on the market. If the entirety of your house presents itselfas a well-built, well-maintained home, but the family room carpet is old andworn out --- you need to replace that carpet to make its condition consistentwith the remainder of what you are offering to a buyer. If there are countless distractions such aspersonal items, wall hangings, etc., that will cause a buyer to leave the housetalking about those items instead of your house, then you need to remove orchange those aspects of your home so that a buyer will focus on the space andhow it could be their own. And perhapsthe most important part of preparing the physical condition of your home formarket, you should take time to make sure your home presents itself as well aspossible from the perspective of a buyer driving by or stopping at the curb totake a property brochure. When it comes to marketing we must once again get inside themind of the buyer when – where and how will they be searching for their nexthome? Research indicates that they arevery likely to start their search online but that they will also drive throughthe neighborhoods and areas where they would like to live. Some of the fundamental building blocks ofmarketing your property include high quality photographs that well documentyour home and the space that it offers, a color property brochure in brochurebox next to the yard sign and broad exposure on local and national real estateweb sites. There are many additionalmarketing strategies that we can employ, but we must start by covering thesebases, and then expanding the marketing based on the nature of your particularproperty. When selling your home in the current market, it's not allabout price, nor just about marketing, and certainly not just about thecondition of your house. We must examineall three of these factors together when forming a strategy for successfully sellingyour house. As published in the Shenandoah Valley Business Journal, June 2013 | |
Door knobs are cool again! |
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Brinks Home Security seems to have re-invented the door knob. Click here to learn more via Universal Design Partners. | |
Putting rising interest rates in context |
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Several of you asked me to put yesterday's news (average rates increased by 0.5% in a week) in perspective. As you can see above, we are still working with ridiculously low mortgage interest rates (4.46%) from a historical perspective. | |
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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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