May 18, 2004

Buying a home in Northern VA

This post by the Mighty Geek got me thinking about the home hubby and I are currently having built and the total mess the real estate area is in (in this area)...

For example, hubby and I sold our single family home on .2 acres for $5,000 more than we were asking after being on the market TWO days. We had multiple offers.

The home we put a contract on in March (to be build and finished NEXT MARCH) has increased in base price $65K as of this morning. That does not include the increase in lot premiums said builder is now charging. Said builder started a waiting list the day we signed our contract that is now also 45 people long.

My darling brother and his fiancee have been looking and cannot find anything decent in Fairfax County in their range. They are currently in the process of buying a 20 year old home (newly renovated) on .25 acre with 1 car garage for $300K. They only got that GREAT and unusual price because they found the deal thru a friend and aren't using realtors. 950 square feet. Other homes on that street are currently going for $340K with realtors involved.

Other homes in my old neighborhood are being sold at 75K more than we got for ours.

Decent homes in this area can expect to sell in 2 - 6 HOURS - unless they go the route of accepting contracts for a whole weekend to see how many offers they can get, then choosing one. This is a newly popular way to do it apparently.

One of the neighborhoods hubby & I looked at had a price of X when I went out on a Friday, with a lot premium of Y. When I called back Monday to see if the lot was still available, she said yes, it was but the lot premium was now Y + 75K! Can you believe it???

This is absolutely nuts.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Tina,

I'm actually headed down to DC this weekend to help a friend try to find a place to live for the next six or so months. Do you have any suggestions on good places for him and his wife to RENT an apartment or house? I think they're looking for something like a nice sized two bedroom for around $1,200 or so if possible. I'm not really sure of their price range, I'm just guessing here based on hints they've dropped. They're only renting now because they're not sure if they'll actually stay there.

If you've got any suggestions on places to check (both live and on the web) or realtors to talk to please email me and let me know.

Thanks!
Geekman at the mighty geek dot com