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October 2006

Oct. 15, 2006 - September 2006 Residential Statistics for Fauquier County, VA

September 2006 Residential Statistics for Fauquier County, VA

By Keith Elliott Jr.

Here are the September 2006 Residential Statistics for Fauquier County, VA. Pretty interesting when compared to those of last year!

-Keith

September 2006 Residential Statistics
Fauquier County, VA
From: 09/01/2006 to 09/30/2006

Average days on market for Units Sold: 95
The new listings for the month: 162
The total active properties for sale: 794
The total properties under contract: 62
The total closed: 61
Total Sold Dollar Volume: $24,748,691
Average Sold Price: $405,716
Median Sold Price: $365,000

September 2005 Residential Statistics
Fauquier County, VA
From: 09/01/2005 to 09/30/2005

Average days on market: 68
The new listings for the month: 183
The total active properties for sale: 469
The total properties under contract: 83
The total closed: 88
Total Sold Dollar Volume: $54,054,492
Average Sold Price: $614,256
Median Sold Price: $400,968

Keith M. Elliott Jr.
Realtor®, e-PRO®
Commercial Specialist®
Senior Real Estate Specialist® (SRES)

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
5306 Lee Highway
Warrenton, VA 20187
Direct: 540-272-9012
Office: 703-340-3481
Fax: 540-349-4860
Email: kelliott@cbmove.com
Website: Http://www.MyRealtorKeith.com
Web Blog: http://myrealtorkeith.realtownblogs.com/

Source: Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. - MLS Resale Data
Copyright 2005-2006 - Information deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed.

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Oct. 12, 2006 - Lower Home Prices Entice Potential Buyers

Lower Home Prices Entice Potential Buyers

October 12, 2006

Lower home prices are turning potential buyers into active lookers, and sellers are showing more willingness to negotiate, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® reports. The trend is expected to inject life into slowing markets.

“Given a positive economic backdrop of lower interest rates and job creation, we expect sales activity to pick up early next year,” says David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist.

Existing-home sales are forecast to be fairly stable in the fourth quarter and sales for all of 2006 are expected to drop 8.9 percent to 6.45 million — the third strongest year after consecutive records in 2004 and 2005. New-home sales are expected to fall 17.3 percent this year to 1.06 million, the fourth highest year on record. Housing starts should be down 10.9 percent to 1.84 million in 2006.

2006 Prices to Increase Slightly

With a recent correction in the market, the national median existing-home price is likely to rise 1.6 percent to $223,000 for all of 2006; it’s anticipated prices will remain slightly below year-ago levels before gaining positive traction in the first quarter of 2007. The median new-home price is projected to decline 0.2 percent to $240,500 — largely the result of builder price cuts to move unsold inventory.

This presents a unique opportunity for buyers. “The supply of homes on the market is the highest we’ve seen in over 13 years, and mortgage interest rates are experiencing an unexpected decline,” says NAR President Thomas M. Stevens from Vienna, Va. “The 30-year fixed rate is hovering around 6.3 percent, and sellers in most of the country are now showing a willingness to negotiate.”

He says that the changing market makes it increasingly important for parties on both sides of the real estate transaction process to have professional representation.

Interest Rates to Rise Next Year

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will probably average 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter but will trend up modestly in 2007.

The unemployment rate should average 4.8 percent in the fourth quarter. Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, is expected to be 3.4 percent for all of 2006, while growth in the U.S. gross domestic product is forecast at 3.3 percent. Inflation-adjusted disposable personal income is likely to grow 3.4 percent for 2006.

— REALTOR® Magazine Online

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Oct. 8, 2006 - 10 Questions to ask your Realtor®

10 Questions to ask your Realtor®

by Keith M. Elliott Jr.

October 8, 2006

Here are several questions a Buyer or Seller should ask when interviewing a Realtor® or Real Estate Agent. I have put this list together to assist you in determining the best candidate to service all of your real estate needs.

1. What is your guarantee?

2. Can we cancel the listing if we're not happy?

3. Do you have a personal assistant? Administrative and technical support staff?

4. If you don't call me back within 24 hours will you take $50 off the escrow?

5. Why are you personally motivated to sell my house?

6. Why should I list with you rather than any other agency who is calling?

7. What systems do you have in place that will keep you in constant contact with me during the listing and transaction?

8. Are you full-time?

9. Are you available 24 hours a day 7days a week if I need to reach you?

10. I want to give my home the advantage of the latest marketing strategies, how much time and money do you invest each month in professional training and Internet marketing?

-Keith

Keith M. Elliott Jr.
Realtor®, e-PRO®
Commercial Specialist®
Senior Real Estate Specialist® (SRES)

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
5306 Lee Highway
Warrenton, VA 20187
Direct: 540-272-9012
Toll Free: 1-800-345-4849
Fax: 540-349-4860
Email: kelliott@cbmove.com
Website: Http://www.MyRealtorKeith.com
Web Blog: http://myrealtorkeith.realtownblogs.com/

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Oct. 5, 2006 - Mortgage Rates at Six-Month Lows

Market Briefs
Highlights of Industry and Economic News
Provided By
Preferred Service Mortgage

October 5, 2006

Rates are at Six-Month Lows

Freddie Mac's latest survey reports the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.30 percent this week, down very slightly from last week when it averaged 6.31 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.98 percent. This is the lowest the 30-year FRM has been since the week of March 2, 2006, when it averaged 6.24 percent.

The 15-year FRM this week averaged 5.98 percent, unchanged from last week. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.54 percent. This is the lowest the 15-year FRM has been since the week ending March 23, 2006, when it averaged 5.97 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid ARMs were flat at 6.00 percent this week. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 5.48 percent. This is the lowest the 5-year ARM has been since the week ending March 23, 2006, when it averaged 5.96 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.46 percent this week, down very slightly from last week when they averaged 5.47 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.77 percent. The 1-year ARM has not been lower since the week ending March 23, 2006, when it averaged 5.41 percent.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said, "Even though rates have fallen recently, housing activity continues to slow while new construction wanes, leading Fed Chairman Bernanke to expect that the national economic rate of growth will lose up to one full percentage point in the last half of this year."

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Oct. 1, 2006 - A Welcomed Correction

FRONT LINES: Economy

BY DAVID LEREAH

A welcomed correction

The real estate market is off in formerly red-hot cities such as Phoenix, where sales have cooled 31 percent from the second quarter of last year, and Miami, where they’ve cooled 23 percent. Time on market in Phoenix is now 53 days, more than double what it was a year ago. Prices in many of those markets are still up, though, in some cases by double-digit percentages. But in the not-too-distant future, they should start falling—and that’s not a bad thing.

Certainly no one wants to see price adjustments dipping into negative territory—as they already are for condos in many markets that were seeing boom times a year ago—but we need cooling prices today to give buyers a chance to get back into the market.

Unlike previous housing slowdowns, which have come on the heels of broader economic weakness accompanied by job losses and rising interest rates, today’s slowdown comes amid an economy that continues to chug along at a respectable pace. The GDP stood at around 2.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. Continuing solid spending by consumers and businesses, steady government spending, a recovering stock market, and strong corporate profits are behind the steady growth.

Not surprisingly in such an environment, many metro areas are creating jobs, not shedding them. In Los Angeles, for example, more than 60,000 jobs were created over the past 12 months, even though the time that homes spent on the market there jumped from 34 to 54 days. In Dallas some 90,000 jobs have been added and time on market has dipped, from 67 to 65 days.

And in any case, sales remain on a growth curve in a good one-third of the country, largely in areas that didn’t fully participate in the boom of the past five years. In Boise, Idaho, time on market has dropped from 57 to 43 days over the past 12 months, and in Salt Lake City, sales have been strong and price appreciation has more than doubled.

The explanation for this seeming anomaly lies as much in the psychology of buyers as in their pocketbooks. This is a slowdown caused by high home prices and wavering confidence. Sales aren’t cooling because there are no buyers in the market; they’re cooling because buyers are waiting for prices to ease. I’m confident that once prices ease, investors and households will be back.

Lereah is senior vice president and chief economist for the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

Housing slowdown? Not in Alaska. Quarterly existing-home sales were up nearly 49 percent in this year’s second quarter compared with second quarter 2005. Many other states that never got red-hot during the boom over the past five years are also posting sales growth.

Ranking	State	2Q sales growth
1	Alaska	48.6%
2	Arkansas	17.9%
3	Texas	11.3%
4	N. Carolina	11.0%
5	Vermont	9.1%
6	S. Carolina	9.0%
7	Tennessee	6.5%
8	New Mexico	6.2%
9	Wyoming	5.7%
10	Georgia	5.3%
Source: NAR Research

Business Confidence

Sellers hanging tight
Practitioners expect to see little change in seller traffic in the months ahead as buyers continue to wait on the sidelines. Projections for seller traffic are only a little below what they were a year ago, but buyer traffic projections remain down considerably. Practitioner confidence was surveyed in August and looks ahead six months.

Results are based on 449 responses to 3,000 surveys sent to large and small real estate offices. The survey asks practitioners to indicate whether conditions are strong (100 points), moderate (50), or weak (0). Responses are averaged to derive results.

Home Sales

Easing continues
A drop in NAR’s leading home sale indicator points to a continuation in the slowdown practitioners have seen in existing-home sales. Total existing-home sales, which include single-family houses, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops, eased in July by 4.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.33 million units from a pace of 6.60 million* in June. The July pending home sales index, which was down 7 percent to 105.6 from 113.5 in June, suggests more cooling is on the way.

*Revised from the figure reported in the September issue.
†Seasonally adjusted annual rate, which is the actual rate of sales for the month, multiplied by 12 and adjusted for seasonal sales differences.

Source: www.Realtor.org/realtormag

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Hi, I'm Keith and I would like to welcome you to my website! I List and Sell real estate in Prince William County and Fauquier County. I provide helpful real estate information to my clients so that they can make important financial decisions regarding residential and commercial property investments. I am a Realtor®, E-Pro Certified, Senior Real Estate Specialist, and Commercial Specialist. If you are looking to buy or sell a home in the next 12 months give me a call. I work for RE/MAX Olympic Realty in Prince William County and can be reached at (703) 754-4341 or on my cell at 540-272-9012 or, via E-mail at kelliott@comcast.net. Oh, by the way...I'm never too busy for any of your referrals.