Metropolitan Overlook @ 1831 2nd Street NE - Progress

The development at 1831 2nd Street NE is moving along according to schedule. The Metropolitan Overlook will feature a mixture of market rate, workforce and affordable for sale condominium units. This development is a rehabilitation of an existing 37-unit apartment building that has stood vacant for more than two decades. That being said, things are moving along really well.  The crews are working hard to turn the building into a masterpiece in the neighborhood. Here are some pics of the progress -----

Here is a rendering of the project

View from McKinley Tech

Elevator shaft prepped and ready

Up we go

Just imagine what you could do with this layout

 Pics of former residents. 90's pose anyone?

 Expanded floor plans

The hvac and electrical are in

Don't get dizzy looking down

Rooftop deck access

Quiet street with plenty of parking

Check out more pics below

For more information contact us @ 

Stephen@cfhomes.org

202-745-4481

DC Experiencing a 7-Year Low in For-Sale Inventory

This blog post was originally written by a UrbanTurf Staff member for dc.urbanturf.com published on 8/10/2012

If you have been on the hunt for a home recently and feel like there is less to choose from, you’d be right.

The inventory of homes for sale in the DC area in July reached its lowest point since August 2005, RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI) reported this morning. The report stated that there were 9,650 active listings on the market at the end of last month, a 35.4 percent drop compared to a year ago. In addition to the low inventory, only 4,579 new homes were listed for sale in July, the lowest amount for that month “on record with metro-wide data available back to 1997.”

From the RBI report:

The shrinking inventory of homes for sale is having an impact on the market as evidenced by the lowest July-level median days-on-market since 2005 (23 days), and the highest July-level sale- to-list-price ratio since 2006 (96.3 percent). The low supply also indicates that many potential sellers may still be wary of their financial situations, and are more comfortable remaining in their current homes.

Jonathan Miller of real estate appraisers and consultants Miller Samuel points to low to negative equity as a possible reason for the low inventory.

“If you don’t have enough equity to trade up, then you simply don’t sell. This is happening across the US right now,” Miller told UrbanTurf. “In a strangely artificial end around, it may be how the housing market finally recovers. Goose prices up a bit, bringing up equity levels allowing them to refinance and sell over the next few years.”

In addition to low inventory, the report also noted the continued strength of the condo market, which posted year-over-year median price gains of 4.4 percent and a 12.7 percent increase in sales over July 2011. RBI pointed to escalating rents, easier financing and comparatively lower price for reasons as to the health of this market segment.

The area that RBI analyzes includes DC, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church City.

Shaping the City: As the District’s vitality grows, housing affordability will shrink

In future decades, Washington promises to become a world-class city. But this optimistic prediction, the subject of my previous column, paints a picture with one notable blemish. As the city’s population and urban vitality grow, affordable housing choices for the economically disadvantaged will shrink.

Declining affordability will be the victim of the laws of supply and demand.

As Washington thrives, the cost of living and real estate values inevitably will rise because more people will be competing for a relatively constrained amount of housing. In parts of the city, future development and additional density eventually will be limited by zoning and height and historic preservation policies and regulations. Less developable real estate will make affordable housing even more difficult to create and sustain.

Can housing be made significantly more affordable through innovative engineering and architectural design using new technologies? Such innovation can contribute only marginally to enhancing affordability. Regrettably, increases in land, labor and material costs due to inflation persistently outstrip savings attributable to design.

Consequently, part of D.C.’s population, many of whom are low-income African American and Hispanic residents, will find themselves increasingly priced out of the housing market. Retirees, minimum-wage earners, the unemployed and the underemployed will be most affected.

The housing affordability challenge is not unique to the District. Many U.S. municipalities and urbanized counties face this challenge. And the problem will worsen in the future unless current housing policies and priorities change.

But will policies and priorities ever change? Today’s political and fiscal environment, and the probable future environment, suggest that the answer is resoundingly no.

No matter how successful the United States is in restoring a healthy economy, creating jobs, expanding credit and improving the quality of primary and secondary education, some portion of our population always will be hard-pressed financially. Those better off may lament this. But lamentation will not stop them from enjoying the benefits of the low-cost labor of millions of minimum-wage workers who enable goods and services to be priced affordably.

In Washington, the economically disadvantaged will have increasing difficulty finding an affordable place to live. Their incomes will be too small to cover the cost of market-rate, unsubsidized housing. And in a few decades, much of today’s unsubsidized but still relatively affordable housing, after being refurbished or replaced, will be unaffordable.

Ultimately, financial subsidies always will be necessary to create new affordable dwelling units or to preserve and sustain existing ones. And the amount of subsidy is inversely proportional to household earnings: The closer a tenant’s income is to poverty level, the more housing subsidy is needed.

If housing affordability always depends on financial subsidy, from where will future subsidies come?



From the federal government? The amount of direct subsidy currently provided by the federal government, while helpful, makes a very small dent in meeting housing needs. Affordable-housing subsidy is near the bottom of the priority list for most U.S. voters and members of Congress. This is unlikely to change, even if and when the United States gets its fiscal house in order.

Tax credits for investing in affordable-housing projects attracts capital for such projects and lowers development financing costs. But this indirect subsidy strategy catalyzes relatively little housing production or rehabilitation in comparison with the total need.

From the states? Struggling to cope with falling or stagnant tax-revenue levels, rising public-service costs and persistent budget imbalances, few states will be willing or able to allocate much of their budgets to subsidize housing.

This leaves counties, cities and the private sector. Again, despite good intentions, their efforts to create and sustain affordable housing, whether through directly budgeted subsidies or tax and density incentives, will fall far short of meeting persistently growing shortages.

To make matters worse, America’s inventory of affordable dwelling units is decreasing rather than increasing. As government-subsidy contracts expire, affordable-housing projects are being converted to market-rate housing. Quantitatively we are not even breaking even.

The painful reality is that the nation, in general, and Washington, in particular, seem unlikely to address housing affordability at a meaningful scale. For some citizens, affordable housing is of low priority for economic reasons. For others, it’s a matter of political ideology. They believe that government should play no role at all in producing affordable housing. They would oppose housing subsidies even if funds were available.

What will Washington be like in, say, 2050? Much of its real estate will be expensive, and its population will be more ethnically diverse. Fewer residents will be facing poverty because most of the economically disadvantaged will have moved to outlying counties, cities and towns where unsubsidized housing still may be affordable. But they will face another problem. Depending on where they work, they could spend a lot of their time and hard-earned money commuting.

Source: Washington Post

With Low Supply, Asking Prices Rise for Fifth Straight Month

Click for metro-level data

Home sellers are staying on the sidelines this summer, which is helping to firm up prices in more U.S. housing markets.

The number of homes listed for sale rose by just 0.5% in June from May and was down 19.4% from one year ago, according to Realtor.com. Slightly less than 1.89 million homes were listed for sale in June, which is lower than at any time in 2011 or 2010.

Listings are down in part because banks have been slower to move foreclosed properties onto the market and investors are buying up more of them at courthouse auction sales and renting them out. Meanwhile, traditional sellers are frequently unwilling to list their homes amid signs that prices are turning around in more markets. And in some of the markets with the biggest inventory drops, many owe more than their homes are worth and may be unable to sell without taking a big loss.

Compared with one year ago, listings were down in all but two of the 146 markets tracked by Realtor.com. Inventory has fallen by nearly 58% in Oakland, Calif.; by 49% in Fresno, Calif.; by 47% in Bakersfield, Calif.; and by 43% in Seattle.

Big inventory drops are pushing up prices. Median asking prices rose for the fifth straight month and were 2.7% higher than one year ago, though they were up by just 0.05% for the month. By contrast, last year’s disappointing spring sales season prompted sellers to cut prices by 1% in June from May.

About two thirds of all markets saw median prices increase in June from one year ago, and about one third of all markets saw median prices rise by at least 5%. The biggest gainers were Phoenix, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara, Calif. Prices declined in just 19 markets, with the biggest declines reported in Allentown, Pa.; Peoria, Ill.; and Toledo, Ohio.

Another sign of the improvement this spring: The median age of inventory listed for sale fell by nearly 10% from one year ago. That means sellers are finding buyers more quickly for their homes.

By Nick Timiraos: The Wall Street Journal

Americans Prefer Owning to Renting

Owning a home still has more appeal than renting for Americans, according to Fannie Mae. A sign of stability, safety, family and community, home ownership is an essential component of the “American Dream” of success and happiness and has been for many generations. The recent National Housing Survey (Q4, 2011) conducted by Fannie Mae found that this is still true.The majority of those surveyed (at all education and demographic levels) still believe that owning a home is preferable to renting. The study, conducted from over 3,000 interviews, also showed that 64% of the renters surveyed planned on a future home purchase. Most of the survey participants listed high-ranking schools and safety as prime concerns when considering the location of that future home.About 34% of those interviewed felt that “now” is a very good time to buy a home, but only 5% felt it was very likely that they would be purchasing a home in the next 12 months. The majority of survey participants (53%) felt that the housing market was likely to stay the same in the next year, but nearly all realized that the possibility of rental prices decreasing was unlikely. In fact many of those surveyed recognized the possibility of rental prices increasing, with 43% believing rents would increase and 47% believing they would stay the same. The majority of the respondents listed income, amount of down payment or job security as the largest obstacle to home ownership.




Source: Fannie Mae

Report optimistic about D.C. condo market

A new report by Delta Associates offers an optimistic outlook on the condominium market in Washington.

Prices for new condos in the Washington metro area rose for the first time since 2005 because of the lowest number of units in the pipeline in nine years and the highest sales volume since 2010, according to the Alexandria research firm’s mid-year condominium report. Other findings in the report include:

●For the first time since the third quarter of 2010, condo sales broke the 500-unit mark. There were 571 condo sales in the second quarter of 2012. That’s the highest total since 667 sales were recorded in the second quarter of 2010.

●Stale inventory now makes up a smaller portion of the total amount of units on the market. More than 65 percent of the units on the market have been for sale two years or less. That’s the highest ratio of newer inventory since 2007.

But that number varies greatly within the market. In Mideast D.C. — which Delta Associates defines as the Shaw, Columbia Heights, the 14th Street corridor, Adams Morgan, U Street corridor, Brookland and Eckington neighborhoods — there is less than six months of new inventory left to sell. In Loudoun and Prince William counties, there is 2.2 years of inventory.

●New unit prices increased by 2.2 percent in the 12-month period ending June 2012, the first year-over-year increase in prices since 2005. Condo resale prices increased 8.5 percent since last May.

Condo sales in the second quarter compared to inventory (Delta Associates

The strongest sales in the District were in the Capital East market — which includes Capitol Hill, the H Street corridor, Southwest Waterfront, Capitol Riverfront neighborhoods and communities east of the Anacostia. There were 73 units sold in the second quarter. Loudoun and Prince William counties lead in sales in Virginia with 131 units sold. Montgomery County leads in sales in Maryland with 79 units sold.

●The average price per square foot for new condo sales during the 12-month period ending in June increased for the first time since 2005, rising 2.2 percent. The region’s highest prices per square foot for new condos were in Central D.C. at $700 per square foot. The lowest were in Loudoun and Prince William counties at $170 per square foot.
New condo prices per square foot (Delta Associates)

Delta Associates states that a shortage of new condos is developing in the Washington metro area. For all of 2012, officials estimate about 1,300 units will begin construction and an additional 900 units already underway will begin sales. According to the firm, banks are still not willing to finance large-scale condo projects without significant pre-sales.

By Kathy Orton  

3.56: Another Week, Another Record Low

Again this week, fixed mortgage rates dropped to a new record low.

This morning, Freddie Mac reported 3.56 percent with an average 0.7 point as the average on a 30-year fixed mortgage, down from last week’s previous record low of 3.62 percent. Last year at this time, long-term rates were at 4.51 percent.

From Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft:

Following a lackluster employment report for June, long-term U.S. Treasury bond yields eased somewhat this week allowing fixed mortgage rates to reach yet another record low. Only 80,000 net new jobs were added to the economy last month, not enough to lower the unemployment rate from 8.2 percent.

 This was the concern of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting held June 19-20. Minutes released from that meeting on July 11, revealed that a few members felt further monetary stimulus was needed to promote satisfactory growth in employment to meet the Committee’s goal..

To put the year-over-year rate change in perspective, we compared the payments on a three-bedroom row house on the market for $548,800 at today’s interest rates versus what they would’ve been a year ago.

Monthly payment calculations based on a 20 percent down payment and a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 4.51%:

Loan Amount: $439,040
Principal and Interest: $2,227
Property Tax: $191
Total Monthly Payments: $2,418
Monthly payment calculations based on a 20 percent down payment and a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 3.56%:

Loan Amount: $439,040
Principal and Interest: $1,986
Property Tax: $191
Total Monthly Payments: $2,177

The UrbanTurf Mortgage Rate Disclaimer: The rates reported by Freddie Mac for 30-year mortgages are usually the best rates that the most qualified borrowers can get, so borrowers or those considering refinancing should not necessarily read this news and think that they can go out and get a loan with the quoted interest rate.

Here’s a look at the path of rates since January 2010:



by Shilpi Paul/ Urban Turf

DC Area Median Home Prices Reach Highest Level Since 2008

The median sale price for homes in the DC area has reached $400,000 for the first time in four years, according to a report released this morning.

The report from RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI) revealed that the median home price for the region in June was $400,000, 5.3 percent higher than June 2011 ($379,990), and approximately $9,000 higher than the median price from last month. In DC proper, prices rose 4.6 percent, from $435,000 to $455,000, but the largest gain in the area was seen in Montgomery County, where prices rose 8.4 percent since last June.

Along with the median price gain, the other news from the report was data that signaled the increasing strength of the region’s condo market:

The 1,133 condo sales in June represent a 13.9 percent increase from last year, and the second consecutive month of double digit year-over-year growth…the condo market [also] experienced the sharpest growth in median sales price, rising 12.0 percent from this time last year, a $30,000 increase in value.


While the report generally provided good news, the low inventory numbers indicate that a lot of potential sellers are likely sitting on the sidelines. At the end of last month, there were 33.2 percent fewer active listings on the market compared to June 2011, marking the 16th consecutive month of year-over-year declines. Also, the 5,588 new listings entering the market last month was the lowest level for June since RBI started tracking data for the area.

The area that RBI analyzes includes DC, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Alexandria City, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church City. For more granular statistics of specific zip codes or areas.


by UrbanTurf

Housing Inventory Snapshot for the Washington DC region.

                                                                                              

Housing Inventory Snapshot June 30, 2012 Average List Price Median List Price Average Days On Market District of Columbia (DC), DC Single Family under $1M $430,601 $349,000 100 Single Family over $1M $2,922,122 $1,995,000 116 Condo/Townhome under $600K $310,838 $299,000 96 Condo/Townhome over $600K $1,324,856 $925,000 117 Montgomery County, MD Single Family under $1M $579,867 $550,000 97 Single Family over $1M $1,973,882 $1,550,000 123 Condo/Townhome under $600K $282,971 $275,000 88 Condo/Townhome over $600K $992,540 $740,000 78 Arlington County, VA Single Family under $1M $705,725 $699,000 54 Single Family over $1M $1,540,061 $1,390,000 81 Condo/Townhome under $600K $341,418 $344,900 70 Condo/Townhome over $600K $1,196,550 $799,000 115 Fairfax County, VA Single Family under $1M $638,451 $624,000 65 Single Family over $1M $2,109,447 $1,549,000 135 Condo/Townhome under $600K $348,924 $342,000 47 Condo/Townhome over $600K $785,573 $749,900 68 Alexandria City, VA Single Family under $1M $652,313 $649,900 83 Single Family over $1M $1,905,274 $1,499,900 108 Condo/Townhome under $600K $370,814 $369,900 54 Condo/Townhome over $600K $1,145,546 $859,900 77 Falls Church City, VA Single Family under $500K $424,739 $429,000 51 Single Family over $500K $832,520 $740,000 66 Condo/Townhome under $300K $235,926 $237,500 41 Condo/Townhome over $300K $557,099 $497,000 44 Prince William County, VA Single Family under $500K $363,841 $387,600 94 Single Family over $500K $718,356 $629,000 168 Condo/Townhome under $300K $211,482 $222,990 56 Condo/Townhome over $300K $363,612 $343,870 106

3.62: Mortgage Rates Keep Falling to Record Lows

Again this week, fixed mortgage rates dropped to a new record low.

This morning, Freddie Mac reported 3.62 percent with an average 0.8 point as the average on a 30-year fixed mortgage, down from last week’s previous record low of 3.66 percent.
From Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist Frank Nothaft:

Recent economic data releases of less consumer spending and a contraction in the manufacturing industry drove long-term Treasury bond yields lower over the week and allowed fixed mortgage rates to hit new all-time record lows.

The UrbanTurf Mortgage Rate Disclaimer: The rates reported by Freddie Mac for 30-year mortgages are usually the best rates that the most qualified borrowers can get, so borrowers or those considering refinancing should not necessarily read this news and think that they can go out and get a loan with the quoted interest rate.


Source: Urban Turf

Home prices and rents on rise in Washington metro area

Trulia, a national real estate Web site and housing research firm, released a report today that indicates that after three months of increases, home prices are flat and rents are on the rise nationally. That’s not the case in the Washington metro area, where home prices have increased more than 3.5 percent year over year, while rents have continued to rise, depending on where you live.                                   

“Most of the metro areas where we’re seeing the biggest price increases right now — that includes Phoenix, Miami, other parts of Florida, Detroit — all really suffered during the housing bust,” Trulia economist Jed Kolko said. “The greater D.C. area is seeing pretty strong price increases now without having had as big a downturn during the bust.”

Rents in the District and Prince George’s County increased about 3.5 percent over a year ago, while those in Montgomery County did not rise as much. 
With rents on the rise, more and more people will look to buy a home rather than continue renting. For those who can afford a down payment and qualify for a loan, it makes more sense financially to buy than rent.

“It is more affordable to buy,” Kolko said. “It’s more affordable to buy almost everywhere in the U.S., except for San Francisco and Honolulu.”

Don’t Be Surprised By Extra Homeownership Costs

You want to make sure your “Home Sweet Home” stays that way once you’re actually a homeowner, right?  Well, you can avoid any nasty surprises if you budget now for any extra costs — some predictable, some unexpected — that can occur when owning your first home.


Buying a home requires money first for a down payment and closing costs (and the move!), but don’t forget you need to be prepared for other costs that may come up monthly, quarterly, yearly and beyond. Make sure you spend time estimating these costs and include them in your entire “home-buying budget” so you have a clear idea of what you can truly afford.


Local prices and estimates can vary on where you live. Look for help from your agent, neighbors, and friends to see what the “going rate” can be for some of these items:


·       Insurance — Before you can get a mortgage, most lenders will require you to show proof of homeowners insurance. Premiums vary depending on where you live and the size, type and age of your home. Plus, it can be extra if you live near the coast or a flood plain. Shop around for a good price; sometimes you can get a better deal with the same company that insures your car.


·       Property taxes — Property taxes are based on the value of your home. So the more $$$ for your home, the higher the taxes. You’ll have to pay state property taxes and sometimes county or city property taxes, too.


·       Utilities — As a renter, you may have never even dealt with these bills, but you’ll now have electricity, heat, and water bills on a regular basis.  Sometimes your agent can give you an idea of an average monthly or quarterly cost for a particular home before you buy.


·       Condo or co-op charges and homeowners association fees – It will depend what type of building or community you live in, but these costs need to be part of your budget. Fortunately, you can get the exact fees before you buy but also be aware they could rise if your building/community takes on a major maintenance project and needs funding from fellow owners.


·       Appliances – Double check if the washer/dryer, refrigerator and other kitchen appliances will stay when you purchase your home. It’s never a guarantee!


·       Yard work and outside maintenance – Whether you hire someone or not, gutters need to be cleaned, your lawn mowed, leaves raked, and trees trimmed if you live in a home with a yard. Don’t forget about aeration, fertilizer, and seeding too! Plus, if you’ve gone from being yard-free to having a yard, you may need to budget in the purchase of a lawn mower, garden tools, rakes, snow shovel, etc. for that first year.


·       Critter Control – Many homeowners in the DC area purchase regular service from companies that can help with various pests inside and outside of the home.


·       Chimney Sweep – Always a good idea to get this cleaned yearly if you plan use it regularly.


·       Furnace/AC and Water Heater – As a homeowner, it’s good to have a contract with a service provider who can provide annual maintenance on these units before the cold or hot weather hits, and who quickly responds when an emergency strikes and you are without heat or AC!


·       Furniture and Paint – You just moved into a much larger place and want to make the place yours and reflect your style, right? That requires a budget for new furniture, lamps and lighting, rugs, and paint. You can sometimes make do for a while, scan flea markets, or borrow from family as you plan ahead for a big purchase.


·       Future Repairs and Replacement – The longer you live in your home, the more likely you’ll need to replace something at some point! Make sure you know the age of your appliances and units before you purchase a home so you can forecast when some may need replacing. Some key lifespans include: roofs 25 years; furnaces 18 years; and hot water heater 12 years.

Three Great Tips To Buying A Home

Three Great Tips To Buying A Home 1.    The Comps. Comps is just industry shorthand for sales data on similar homes which were recently listed and/or sold (“comparable” listings and sales).     While you should view the actual sales prices (vs. list prices) of comps that have recently closed escrow as very informative and influential for your pricing decision, the list prices of homes that are lagging on the market can also help educate you about what price points you should buy. 2. DOM [Days on Market].  The MLS data will provide you with comps and information about how long the various listings in your market have been on the market. You can use this information to get a gauge on what the average DOM, or Days on Market, is in your neighborhood or properties of choice.  This empowers you to look at the comps with more nuance and to use them more strategically to influence your buying decision. The homes that have lingered on much longer may be overpriced and may even require a list price reduction to sell.  3. List price vs. sale price. Here, LP stands for ‘list price’ and ‘SP’ stands for ‘sale price or ‘sold price.’  This comparison - sometimes expressed in a ratio, other times in terms of how many percentage points the sale price was over or under the asking price - gets at the difference, if any, between what sellers are asking for homes in your area vs. what buyers in your area are willing and able to pay.  When homes are selling for more than the asking price as a pattern or average, this usually suggests that your market is more of a seller’s market or that multiple offers are commonplace.  And the opposite is true - when homes typically sell for less than the list price, it indicates that buyers may have superior negotiating power.

How to Win at Bidding Wars

In many of today's strong real estate markets, home buyers can expect to face multiple offer situations. Multiple offers are a classic example of economic realities because they appear when the supply of homes for sale is limited and the demand for good-condition homes is strong. Buyers hate multiple offers because they push up home prices and create an extremely stressful home-buying experience. Knowing a few tricks of the trade can make the difference between walking away disappointed and purchasing the home of your dreams at a fair price.

How can I make my offer more attractive to the sellers?
Offer the highest price you can. Get preapproved, not just prequalified, for your mortgage and attach a copy of the preapproval letter to your offer. Make as large a downpayment as you can and provide documentation showing the source of your downpayment (e.g., a bank statement). If your current home is in escrow, provide information about that transaction. Avoid unnecessary contingencies. (Waiving your inspection or financing contingency can make your offer attractive, but it's foolish.)

Tip: If the equity in your current home is the source of your downpayment, make your offer contingent on obtaining financing, but not on the sale of your home. If your home doesn't sell, you won't have the downpayment and you'll get out under the financing contingency, suggests Bob Stallings, broker/owner of RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach, California. Finally, include a personal note about why you want to buy the home. All else being equal, some sellers are influenced by these communiqués.

My offer didn't prevail in a multiple offer situation. Can I find out why?
Neither the sellers nor their agent is obligated to reveal any information about the decision. As a courtesy, agents frequently will point out shortcomings of a rejected offer, but without disclosing details of the accepted offer. "Until a transaction is closed, it's crucial that everything remain unknown in case that property has to come back on the market," explains Carole Geronsin, a Realtor-associate with Prudential California Realty in Anaheim Hills, California. "I sold a property where [the buyer was making] a relocation transfer. A week and a half later, the company decided they were not going to transfer that executive. What would have happened if I had gone around saying, 'It sold for this amount?' You can't do that."

Can I submit an offer on a home in escrow?
Yes, but agents say you would be wiser to move on to another home, particularly if there are formal back-up offers. Even if your offer tops the accepted agreement, the sellers would have great difficulty canceling the escrow.

My agent says the sellers are getting multiple offers and accepting them only by fax. How can we be certain my offer was considered?
The temptation to suppress a buyer's offer arises when an in-house offer (one from a buyer who is represented by the seller's agent or another agent from the same brokerage company) is competing with an outside offer (one from a buyer represented by a different brokerage company). Even though an in-house offer nets a double commission for the brokerage (and sometimes the agent), the agent must present all outside offers to the seller as well. Failure to present an offer is a very serious ethics violation. The only exception occurs when the seller specifically declines to consider an offer, perhaps because a good offer is being negotiated or the home is already in escrow. If you suspect your offer hasn't been presented, your agent can request a written statement from the seller acknowledging your offer. If the written statement is not provided, your agent can call the seller's agent's broker or manager.

Can I knock on the sellers' front door and tell them personally why they should accept my offer instead of the other offers they received?
If you happen to meet the sellers during a scheduled showing, go ahead and compliment whatever you like about their home. Resist that urge to pound on the front door, however. This tactic works occasionally, but many sellers strongly dislike having their privacy invaded. REALTOR® Judy Sheller of The Bizzy Blondes team with RE/MAX Westside Properties in Culver City, California, recalls one instance when an infuriated seller actually ripped up an offer from an intrusive buyer. The agents won't be too thrilled with your behavior either.

Should I wait outside the home in my car while my offer is being presented, so I will be able to respond right away?
Years ago, when a seller countered more than one offer, the buyers' agents would rush the counteroffers to the buyers, get their signature, then race back to the seller's home or the seller's agent's office. Whoever returned first with a signed document would win the race and open escrow. To improve their chances of purchasing the home, buyers would wait in their cars outside the home while the offers were being presented to the seller. That way, they could sign any counteroffer and be the first to return it. New provisions in most counteroffer forms have eliminated this silliness by stating that no counteroffer is in effect until it is signed by the buyer and accepted by the seller. This practice allows the seller to wait until all the counteroffers have been returned before making a decision.

I have lost seven homes in multiple offer situations. Should I blame my agent?
The answer depends on why your offers weren't accepted. "Buyers always jump to the conclusion that it's the agent's fault. If you're writing offers on houses in the $350,000 range, and all your offers are for $300,000, you're not going to get those houses. You need to be realistic," says Sheller. On the other hand, your agent needs to know how to operate in this market. "I have been in transactions where had an agent been more savvy and more aggressive, the client would have got the property," says Geronsin. She recalls one situation when a buyer's agent called her after the seller had accepted another offer and said his buyer wanted to bid higher. "I said, 'I told you we had multiple offers and you had to come in with your best price. You didn't do it. Now it's too late.' That is the fault of the agent," she says.

Courtesy of Realtor.com

Trulia: Asking Prices Have Risen for Three Straight Months

Courtesy of Trulia Trends

Trulia Trends, the analytical wing of the real estate website that goes by the same name just released its latest Price and Rent Monitors, indexes of home prices and rents across the country that aim to be a better barometer of changes in prices and rents than widely followed indices like Case-Shiller. A full explanation of Trulia’s methodology can be found here, but in short, it compares current asking prices and asking rents year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter, adjusting for seasonal swings. 

The numbers released today found that asking prices of for-sale homes increased by 0.2 percent nationally since last year, while rents are 5.6 percent higher than 12 months ago. While rents have been increasing for a while, the rise in asking prices is a notable milestone. “This is the first time in awhile we’ve seen year-over-year asking price increases,” Jed Kolko, Trulia’s Chief Economist, told UrbanTurf, noting that asking prices have been on the rise now for three straight months.

In the DC area, asking prices are way up, rising 5.2 percent since last year. (Rents have risen by 4 percent.) While the looming wave of foreclosures entering the market will impact housing prices in many areas, Kolko believes that DC will not be as affected as places like Florida, Illinois and New Jersey. 

Courtesy of Trulia Trends

Kolko gave us a bonus fact about DC: In calculating the number of construction permits issued per 1,000 housing units across the country, DC is the only major northeastern city in the top ten list, which is mostly populated by cities in Texas and North Carolina.

For more stats and analysis, click here.

Courtesy of Urban Turf