Loudoun Real Estate Blog

Looking at the Loudoun County average sales price of homes monthly since 1996, a few interesting things stand out to me. First of all, the average sales price of homes in Loudoun County has steadily risen since 1996 at a rate of 4%-7% every year. In 2004 and 2005, the average sales price of homes increased dramatically. At the end of 2007, the average sales price in Loudoun County is down to about where it was in the middle to end of 2004. Furthermore, if the average sales price had continued at the appreciate rate prior to 2004, average prices would be about where they are now.  The increased foreclosures and short sales doesn’t help but could it be that the “pricing adjustment” is almost over?

We had an increase in showings across the board this past weekend compared to the number of showings last weekend. Although, in looking at the market and comparing 2007 to this year, the number of ratified contracts so far in 2008 is down in Ashburn & the Sterling/Potomac Falls zip codes. Comparing ratified contracts in the first three weeks of 2007 vs. the first three weeks of 2008 the data is as follows:
In the Sterling/Potomac Falls 20165 zip code, there were 42 contracts ratified in the first three weeks of 2007 compared to the 25 this year which puts the number ratified contracts down 40%. In Ashburn, there were 105 contracts ratified in the first three weeks of 2007 & there have been 52 this year which puts the number of ratified contracts down 50%.

We have seen a slight increase in traffic at our listings and hope that this increase in activity will generate more contracts to make the last 10 days of the month increase the overall sales for January.

A Wall Street Journal columnist talks about real estate returns compared to other investments like stocks, bonds, etc

Cox Media announces a new service for their customers. Oh and I am sure another vehicle for real estate agents to pay for home advertising. Cox is going to allow customers to view homes with their on demand service. I wonder how many people prefer to look for homes online or on cable.

I especially like the comment…

“For busy real estate agents, GoScout HOMES is going to make a huge difference in the way they do business. The tools for uploading images and information are available 24 hours a day…”

It is not like we don’t have to upload images to enough places already. They are adding one more and it will make our lives more convenient.

Do you think there are any REAL benefits to this? What are your thoughts?

This weekend while driving showing homes to some clients.  I observed a lot of other agents doing the same thing.  Could the holiday slump be near and end or was this weekend just an anomaly?

Your thoughts?