The City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County are going through their annual budget process and while Rockingham County has proposed a budget that does not include any changes to the real estate tax rate, the City of Harrisonburg's proposed budget for next fiscal year requires a $0.01 increase in the real estate tax rate.

Read more about the City's forthcoming budget via...

 

As described yesterday, sometimes you might have to think about whether you are willing to move twice.

If you'd really rather not move twice -- but you need to sell in order to buy -- and it will be harder to find something to buy than it will be to sell -- so you don't want to list your current home for sale until your future home appears...

Then maybe, just maybe, we need to think about timing and sequencing a bit differently.

Instead of this...

Maybe it needs to be this...

If you're looking to buy a home between $250K and $300K expect to have LOTS of competition from other buyers.  Houses that are prepared well, priced well and marketed well, are going under contract quickly -- sometimes with multiple offers.

Which then (eventually) leads us to the question at hand -- are you willing to move twice?

If you're buying a home between $250K and $300K, there is a decent chance that you own your current home, and that you'll need to sell it in order to buy the next house.

And given that there are so few options for you to buy right now, you probably haven't listed your current home for sale yet -- because you're waiting until you see something that you want to buy.

But when the home you want to buy comes on the market, and you look at it on the first day and decide you are ready to make an offer - I'm going to tell you that we probably won't be successful in securing a contract to buy your new home unless you have your current house under contract.

So then we'll speedily get your house on the market. 

But by the time it is on the market, or by the time it is under contract, the chances are that the house you wanted to buy will then be under contract to another buyer.

Ugh.

So -- what is someone in this situation to do?

Option 1 - Do what is described above, and hope you get lucky.  Wait to list your home until you see something you really want to buy. Hope that nobody else wants to buy it, somehow.  List your home.  Get a contract in place on your home.  Make an offer on the house you want to buy.

But perhaps you'll try Option 1 a few times and fail - losing the house to another buyer, which leaves you with two other options...

Option 2 - Secure financing to buy a new home before having sold your current home.  This way you can commit to buying the new house before having a contract on your current home.

That isn't a possibility for all buyers, so you may also have to consider...

Option 3 - Be willing to move twice.  List your home for sale, when you get an offer, ask for a longer than normal closing timeline - perhaps 75 days instead of 45 - 60 days.  Then, hope that the house of your dream comes up for sale in the subsequent 30 days so that you can contract to buy the new home and close on them simultaneously - but be ready, willing and able to move twice if you need to do so.  You may, with this option, have to move out of the home that you own - because you sold it - before you have found and secured a contract on the new home you'll be buying.  This might mean moving in with family, and it might mean renting before buying the next home.

In the end, given how quickly the market is moving, you may have to decide if you are willing to move twice in order to make a transition to your next home. 

 

I'll publish my full monthly market report later this week, but wow, home buyers were busy in March!  After the usual slow start to the year with 84 contracts in January and 92 in February, things started to pop in March -- with a sharp uptick to 134 contracts.

For some context:

JANUARY:

This Year = 84 contracts

Last Year = 85 contracts

FEBRUARY:
This Year = 92 contracts

Last Year = 90 contracts

MARCH:
This Year = 134 contracts

Last Year = 128 contracts

So -- thus far it seems that this may be another robust year of home sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

 

The market is moving QUICKLY -- homes are often going under contract in a matter of days instead of weeks -- so it is essential that you know about new listings immediately when they hit the market.

Most of my clients use NewListingsInHarrisonburg.com to keep track of new properties coming on the market in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

You can quickly and easily scroll through the most recent residential listings in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, view the pertinent details, all of the photographs of the home, an area map, and then quickly and easily share that new listing with a friend, your spouse, your Realtor, etc.

You can also sign up to receive an email alert every time there is a new listing....



Check it out, at NewListingsInHarrisonburg.com.

 

On one of my recent listings we received three offers within the first week.

On another, we -- again -- received three offers within the first week.

And on a third, we received seven (!!!) offers within the first two days.

These 13 buyers were all ready, willing and able buyers - anxious to buy a home.  They came to see the listings in the first day or two (or three) that they were on the market.  Most of them had already talked to a bank or mortgage company to become prequalified.  They made serious, reasonable offers - some with escalation clauses.

And yet -- only three of the 13 would-be buyers were successful at securing a contract to buy one of these homes.

My main conclusion - there are PLENTY of buyers, ready to act. I suspect we will continue to see homes go under contract quickly (often with more than one offer) when they are prepared well, priced well and marketed well.

To the other 10 buyers -- I only wish my clients had duplicates of their homes to sell to you -- and I feel for your plight.  Several of these would-be buyers had already made another offer on another house in the recent past and missed out on that one as well.

 

Preparing your home to go on the market can be challenging (and tiring), and often sellers-to-be need a second (or third) set of eyes to provide suggestions about where to focus their time and energy.  There are many different theories about how to best prepare your home to be on the market and viewed by buyers --- and ways of expressing those theories. 

• take a minimalistic approach, removing absolutely every knick knack in sight
• removing all family photos
• de-cluttering and get rid of extra "stuff"
• remove furniture to create an open feel
• stage the home with place settings on the dining table, and more
• always have fresh flowers in the home

There are countless other theories, ideas or suggestions -- all of which can be helpful to consider as you are preparing to put your house on the market.  Another perspective that I'd throw out there for your consideration is eliminating distractions and objections.

Distractions are the things that keep a prospective buyer from focusing on your house.  That might be knick knacks, or family photos, or refrigerator magnets, or an overflowing pantry, or fascinating artwork, or an abundance of indoor plants, or a strange odor, or brightly colored wall hangings.  Whatever it is --- if a buyer is focusing on one (or more) of these items, they're not focusing on your house.  They're reading all of the Far Side comics on the fridge instead of marveling at the granite countertops, tile back splash, recessed lighting, and stainless steel appliances.  They're amazed at how you fit 234 board games into the coat closet instead of taking in the quality workmanship of the trim detail in the foyer, and the mountain views out the picture window in the family room.  As you prepare your home to go on the market, close your eyes for a few moments when standing at the entrance to each main living area.  Then, open your eyes, and take note of where your eyes are immediately drawn.  Or, walk slowly through the space (or ask a friend to help) seeing where your eyes (and your mind) linger.

Objections are those correctable physical characteristics of your home that give a buyer a reason to mark your home off their list, or to move it down a notch in their preferences.  Perhaps it is that the vinyl siding needs to be power washed, or that three bi-fold closet doors need to be adjusted, or that there is poor lighting in the kitchen, or that the deck needs staining.  There are oftentimes small home maintenance items that should be attended to before putting your home on the market.  There are two potential dangers of having these items unresolved --- first, a buyer might become too overwhelmed by the work that they need to do to the home once they move in, and second, a buyer might extrapolate from what they can see to imagine what they cannot.  A classic example of this is the dirty furnace filter that makes a buyer assume that the HVAC system has never been serviced, is in a terrible state of disrepair, and will need to be replaced immediately. 

As you're preparing your house to go on the market, I'm happy to provide you with another set of eyes and to give you some new perspectives on how to best prepare your home to be shown to buyers.  When you're ready, just give me a call (540-578-0102) or send me an e-mail (scott@HarrisonburgHousingToday.com).  Also, don't fret about having your home in perfect "show condition" before you call me --- I'm happy to give you some guidance and feedback while you're still in the process of preparing your home to go on the market.

I don't play poker regularly - though I have played a few times over the years. Whenever I do, I can become caught up in my excitement to see a straight, a flush, or full house in my hand.  Wow!  This pot is mine!  I am bound to win this time!  And often, that might happen with a strong hand in poker -- but not always.  Sometimes, another player will have an even stronger hand, and I'll lose despite my strong hand.

Here are the rating of poker hands, in increasing strength...

And here are some generic types of offers that might exist on a house, in increasing strength, generally speaking...

 

It looks like the triangular-ish portion of the Preston Lake mixed use development shown below outlined in red may end up being a senior living facility instead of simply an apartment complex.

The details of what exactly that would mean are not clear -- perhaps there will be services and amenities geared towards seniors?

The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors approved the developer's request to waive a public hearing for this change as the land was to be used for a 168-unit multi-family apartment complex and now will be used as a similarly (identically?) dense senior living facility.

Read more in the DNR article or download the updated master plan.

 

Imagine that you *finally* find your dream home this Spring or Summer.  I hope you do!  But then, imagine that, despite your best efforts, you are not able to buy it - you do everything you can, but factors outside your control limit your ability to make that dream home YOUR home...

I know, I know, it's not always possible to achieve serenity in the current strong seller's market -- but just keep in mind that there could be some factors that affect your ability to buy your dream home that - again - have more to do with others than yourself.

 

OK -- given a tiny data set (7 home sales) this **could** be a data anomaly.  But I think it's still worth noting...

Last year, of all of the (seven) buyers who contracted to buy homes over $500,000 in the City of Harrisonburg -- they all did so between February 1 and June 30. 

Maybe a lot of these buyers have kids and were looking to transition homes during the summer?

Of note -- since that last sale (that went under contract in June 2018) there have not been any additional buyers who have contracted to buy homes over $500K.

Again -- this is a rather small portion of the market -- but it seems that high end buyers in the City are mostly (almost all!?) contracting on their homes exclusively during the Spring and Summer.

 

So -- who's to blame for the slow real estate market in the Winter?  This year?  And every year?  Ever!?

Sellers would list their homes for sale if buyers would be willing to buy in the Winter months -- but buyer activity just slows to an absolute crawl during the Winter months, and that is why home sellers just don't find it to be worth their time to list their homes for sale. It's ALL the buyers' fault!

Buyers would be jumping out of their socks to buy homes during the Winter months if sellers would just go ahead and put them on the market, already!?  The depressingly low inventory numbers of the Winter months limits buyers from showing up to the party in any meaningful way.  It's ALL the sellers' fault!

Maybe we'll never solve this chicken and egg conundrum -- let's just be glad it's Springtime now? 

Spring officially started last week and we're starting to see listings coming onto the market with greater frequency.

Sellers -- Great news, the buyers finally broke free from their winter doldrums and are ready to buy!

Buyers -- Great news, the sellers finally broke free from their winter doldrums and are ready to sell!

;-)

Happy Tuesday, folks.  It's Spring -- and buying and selling activity is starting to speed up!

 

Unique properties can sell practically overnight -- or can languish on for months and even years.  What makes the difference?  Whether the buyer or the seller is the needle in the proverbial haystack.

Sometimes, the needle is the seller.  Practically everyone wants a house that is "this type of house" in "this type of location" on "this size of a lot" with "these types of finishes" -- wow -- a house doesn't come along like this very often.  It will probably have lots of showings in the first week and may be under contract within the first few days.

...or...

Sometimes, the needle is the buyer.  I'm sure there must be some buyer out there, somewhere, hopefully, that wants this unique layout combined with a unique location combined with a unique design and style -- right?  There must be a buyer who could live with this unusual combination of all of these features?  Right?

So -- if you have a super unique property, and you're getting ready to sell it -- give some thought to whether it is "like no other" because every time a similar house is available a buyer buys it and lives there forever -- or because there has never really ever been any buyer demand for this type of property and thus not many of them exist.

Oh, right, and then price comes into play...

If you have a highly unique, and highly desirable property -- you'll likely sell it for a bit more than you would have hoped.

But if you have a highly unique, and hopefully, possibly desirable-to-atleast-one-buyer property -- you'll likely sell it for a bit less than you would have hoped.

 

"We need more affordable housing in our area."

I hear it regularly, and perhaps you do as well.  But I think it's worth pointing out that when people say this they might mean two very different things...

When talking within the context of folks buying homes -- "affordable housing" often means homes in a price range that makes them affordable for first time buyers in our market.  That could mean "under $150K" for some folks, or even "under $200K" in some situations.

But wait -- is a home that can be purchased for $145K (for example) an affordable housing option for everybody living in our community?  Nope!  Not at all. 

There are plenty of folks who can't afford the accompanying monthly payment, or don't have a downpayment, or don't have money for closing costs, or who wouldn't have savings if a home repair became necessary in the first year or two of homeownership.

So, it seems there is another thing we might mean when we say we need "affordable housing" in our community - and that would be rental properties with a low enough monthly rental rate to be feasible for low income earners in our area to still have decent housing options.

I think it is important for elected officials and other City and County staff to be thinking about how decisions that are made and policies that are set can encourage the development of affordable housing - but we'll need to make sure we're all on the same page about what kind of affordable housing we're encouraging - and perhaps they need to be two completely separate priorities.  Encouraging the development of affordable housing for renters and affordable housing for buyers -- for lack of any better way to express it.

Anyone have other thoughts on how to best describe or name these types of housing and the need for them in our community?

 

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Sometimes it seems CRAZY how much NEW, NICE, EXPENSIVE student housing is being built in Harrisonburg - and now even in Rockingham County.

So what happens to all of that older student housing stock when the newer student housing becomes available to students?

Quoting fellow Realtor, Ritchie Vaughn (thanks Ritchie!) from a Facebook dialogue a few days ago...

"Many of the most affordable spots for working families in Harrisonburg today are complexes that were initially build for students, like Madison Manor, Camden Townes, Hunters Ridge, South Ave condos, etc, so we have some robust historical support that the student complexes of today will likely turn into affordable housing in the future."

Which one of the values above is the "market value" of the imaginary home in question? The answer is -- the GREEN bar -- a home's value is most often determined by how much other buyers have recently paid for similar properties.

A would-be buyer might WANT the home's value to be the "tax assessed value" -- but that might be quite a bit lower than the recent sales prices -- so a home's tax assessed value is not necessarily the home's market value.

A would-be seller might WANT the home's value to be the "Zestimate" from Zillow -- but that might (often, usually) vary quite a bit from a home's market value -- so a home's Zestimate is not necessarily the home's market value.

A would-be seller might REALLY WANT the home's value to be the same as the list price on competing properties currently for sale -- but those listings might sit on the market forever with unreasonably high list prices -- so the list price of competing listings is not necessarily the home's market value.

Now, this scenario would be much easier...

As you can see here, there isn't too much of a difference between the different values -- so it matters a bit less which of the value perspectives we use when estimating a likely sales price and planning for a potential list price.

But in the case where there is quite a bit of separation in these different value perspectives -- stay focused on what other buyers have recently paid for similar properties -- this alone is your best guide as to what you can/should expect the next buyer to be willing to pay for your house.

 

When will we see buyers?  A short answer -- now, or very, very soon!  The graph above shows the average number of buyers per month over the past five years.

As you can see, above, buying activity starts creeping up as soon as February, but really starts to pop in March (this month!) and then keeps on increasing in April before a typical peak in May.

Read more about recent market trends in the most recent version of my monthly housing market report, found online....

  

Do I spend hours and hours fine tuning the 600 characters of text that can be used to describe your home in the MLS and on public websites?  No, probably not hours and hours.

After all, when a buyer finds your home online they don't start by reading my eloquent description - they start by going: click, click, click, click, click, click -- or swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe -- quickly blasting their way through the photos.

But beyond photos, some buyers best understand a house by studying the floor plan.

The 3D camera and imaging system that I use can create a floor plan of your home to satisfy the desires of this group of buyers, who are spatial (and special) home buyers. 

Read about all of the other ways we can market your home by visiting....

SellingAHomeInHarrisonburg.com

 

I looked back further, and further, and further, and could not find ANY time in the past 10 years when there have been fewer houses listed for sale than there are RIGHT NOW!

And yet, despite the fact that we keep starting off each year with FEWER homes for sale...

If you're looking to buy a house this Spring or Summer -- but -- you own your current home -- this morning's ramblings are for you...

Selling (for some houses, in some price ranges, in some locations) can seem like a breeze these days -- inventory is low, buyer interest is high, homes are going under contract quickly -- all good news for sellers.

And buying (for some houses, in some price ranges, in some locations) can be quite difficult these days -- inventory is low, interest from competing buyers is high, homes you might want to buy are going under contract quickly -- all less than exciting news for buyers.

And when you wrap those two realities together -- buying and selling in the current market -- things can get tricky.

Because it can be hard to find something to buy, many would-be seller-buyers aren't listing their home yet despite their desire to make a move.  After all, they don't want to find someone to buy their home when they don't have somewhere to go.

But then, the perfect house comes on the market!  So, now what!?

Do we quickly (quickly!!) list your home for sale and try to secure a buyer in time to make an offer on your dream house that is contingent on the settlement on the sale of your current home that is under contract?  Hoping some other eager buyer has not already secured a contract on your dream house by the time we have your current house under contract?

OR -- do we make an offer on your dream home, contingent on the sale of your current home, even though your current home is either not yet on the market or not yet under contract? (Hint, hint - the seller of your dream home probably won't be be interested in this proposal.)

OR -- do we make an offer on your dream home WITHOUT a home sale contingency.

That was a lot of build up to get here -- but this is the central item you may want to think about as you consider a sale and purchase this Spring or Summer.

First - Do you NEED a home sale contingency...

This can be pretty quickly determined in a conversation with a lender.  Let me know if you need some recommendations of who to call for your next mortgage.  They will essentially be asking you questions about your income, recurring monthly debt (house, car, student loans, etc.), and assets (cash) on hand.  They'll be trying to determine whether your income (and offsetting expenses) qualify you to get a mortgage to purchase the new home while still owning the current home. 

Again - this is rather cut and dry from a lender's perspective, so if you're thinking (even a little bit) about whether you could / should / would buy without having first sold, then start with a conversation with your lender.  If they can qualify you for a mortgage to purchase your dream home without having first sold your existing home, you will then move on to the next question...

Second - Do you WANT a home sale contingency...

Perhaps you own a $250K house and you're thinking about buying a $350K house. 

And perhaps your lender says it is no problem at all - they'll give you a mortgage to buy the $350K house even if you still own the $250K house. 

And perhaps you are quite certain we'll be able to speedily sell the $250K house. 

But yet, still, you might decide that you don't WANT a home sale contingency.  Maybe you don't want the risk associated with having to pay both mortgage payments until the $250K house sells.  Perhaps you don't like the loan terms that will be required on the $350K purchase without having freed up some equity from the $250K sale. 

Whatever the reason, there may in fact be a reason why you WANT a home sale contingency.

Alright - the ramblings will stop for now.  As you may have figured out if you made it this far -- selling and buying at the same-ish time can be relatively complex -- and we can't always figure it all out by thinking through a formula or checklist.  As such -- if you're thinking about selling and buying this summer, let me know if you'd like to chat more about all of these topics, in person, as it relates to your own particular scenario.