Loudoun Scene

Is Selling Your Home in the Spring a Good or Bad Thing?

Danilo Bogdanovic — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:44:04 +0000

Many sellers wait until the Spring to sell their home. Why? Because they think the “Spring housing market” is the best time to sell their home. But is selling your home in the Spring a good thing or is it really a bad thing?

Selling your home in the Spring could be a good thing for reasons such as,

you have a pool that looks better open than winterized
the thousands spent on landscaping a million times better in full bloom than in the winter
having leaves on the trees in your backyard hides the fact that your neighbors are right up on your lot line
you want to time it so that you settle on the sale of your home and move right after school lets out

But, selling your home in the Spring could be a bad thing. Consider this…

Business/Economics 101: Supply vs Demand

We all know the centuries-old golden rule of business/economics - the more the supply in relation to demand, the longer it takes to sell the supply and the less it will be worth.

Let’s translate that to real estate and the housing market

Your home on the market + more other homes on the market at the same time (”Spring housing market”) = longer time to sell and less money.

Let me explain further

By waiting until the Spring, you will be listing your home when,

All of your neighbors (aka competitors) who waited for the “Spring housing market” list their home for sale too
The home buyers you want focused on your home and your home only will have more homes to choose from
Your home will more easily blend in “with all the others on the market” (actual words from home buyers)
A competing seller relocating once the school year is over who has a buy-out package from their employer lists their home at a reduced rate because they don’t care so much about the price rather, selling quickly

I can hear some of you now, “But the Spring is when most buyers come out to buy homes.” Let me respond with some facts you may not be aware of…

Statistics show that January and October have been the #1 and #2 busiest months for homes going under contract (aka buyers buying a home) in Loudoun County/Northern Virginia over the past 6 years (despite Armageddon-size snow storms like the one here this weekend). For me personally, December, January and February are the three busiest months of the year when it comes to home buyers house hunting and writing a contract on a new home.

And if you haven’t checked out my post from the other day entitled, “When Does the ‘Spring Housing Market’ Start?” click here to check it out now.

Other than having to wait until Spring due to work, family, life or some important selling factor (such as one of the three listed earlier in this post), you should be on the market in January/February. If you can’t list your home in January/February, then aim for another month when the fewest number of other sellers/competitors are listing their homes for sale.By following this approach, you’ll face the least amount of competition and have the greatest chance of selling in a reasonable time and for top dollar.

If you have questions or concerns about selling your home or the local housing market, click here to email me or call me - 703.582.6900 (cell).

A Seller’s Guide to the Short-Sale Process

Loudoun Real Estate Assessments, Assessed Values and Appeal Process FAQs

Danilo Bogdanovic — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:49:10 +0000

I spent part of yesterday at the Dulles Area Association of REALTORS(R) for a presentation given by Todd Kaufman, Loudoun County Assessor (pictured above), regarding Loudoun County real estate assessments and the appeal process. Speaking alongside Todd Kaufman were Jennifer Sanderson, Operations Manager for the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office and Jim White, Supervising Appraiser, Ashburn Office, Residential Division.

Here are some of the highlights of the presentation and what they had to say…

2010 Loudoun County Real Estate Assessment Overview - Todd Kaufman, Loudoun County Assessor

The Loudoun County Assessor’s Office revised their mission statement - “biggest change and push is customer service”
Hard to fight budget and tax rate as an individual through court system, but easier to appeal tax assessment
Different classification of properties (7 total) based on type, use, density, acreage, etc
Tax rate is the same for all areas and properties except for Route 28 corridor (commercial)
Loudoun County real estate assessment is down overall, but much less of a decline in 2009 than previous years
Some areas in Loudoun such as Sugarland Run saw an increase in the average assessed value
64% of Loudoun County’s tax base comes from residential property. About 20% comes from commercial/industrial property
Loudoun’s residential tax base is down almost 10% over last 5 years while commercial is up about 5% over same period
Dulles District is by far the number one area for tax revenue/base (mainly because it has the most number of residential properties located within it)
Overall change in real property assessments in Loudoun County - declined 3.29% ($1.97B) from 2009 to 2010
Change in “equalized” value - down average of 4.79%
Loudoun County new construction/growth up $569M in 2009 to $899.6M in 2009, but down from almost $5B 5 years ago (during the boom market)
25,000 parcels (aka lots) are ready for development in Loudoun County
“2010 assessed values show sign of recovery”
Average assessed value in Loudoun County is $354,000 (not to be confused with market value or average sales price)
Assessed values up almost 500 percent since 1992. Rapid upswing from 2001 to 2006 and then sharp decline to 2009. Slight decrease in 2010. “Hoping for stabilization moving forward”
Loudoun County has $4.8B in total assessed value in exempt properties
Howard Hughes Medical Center is tax exempt, but gives $1M to schools and $200K to fire/rescue on their own (completely voluntary)
Loudoun has 1600 foreclosures in 2009
Decline in foreclosures, but increase in short-sales
Most number of foreclosures in 2009 were in Sterling (which only has 7000 parcels/homes). Dulles District was number two, but it has 30,000 parcels/properties. Overall number of foreclosures is diminishing overall though
30 year old system being used to determine Loudoun County assessed values
Each assessor in the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office is responsible for assessing an average of 7,000 properties (between the 30 year old system and 7,000 per person work load, no wonder it’s hard to get the assessed values right)

Louduon County Assessed Value Appeal/Review Process - Todd Kaufman, Loudoun County Assessor

There is a mandate as to how the appeal/review process works
Loudoun County has to follow statutes and codes as to process
There are 5 steps to the Appeal/Review process…

Assessment notice sent out by Loudoun County and reviewed by home owner.

Home owner must submit application for review (processed within assessor’s office).

Home owner must submit a written request for reconsideration of current assessment based on “erroneous error” (aka you can’t just say “I don’t think it’s worth what you say it is”)

Formal appeal to Board of Equalization (BoE)

If you don’t get the results you want from the Board of Equalization, you can go through the court system

“Assessment notice goes above and beyond what the law requires”
“Appeal process with assessor’s office is a non-adversarial process”
BoE is court-appointed home owners living in Loudoun County. 4 members total. Burden is on home owner contesting assessment
BoE decision is only for that year
The Loudoun County Assessor’s Office on-line appeal application/review form is easy to complete and submit. Pre-populates the form once parcel ID is entered. You can add up to 3 attachments for supporting documents for appeal (see the bottom of this post for more on supporting documents to make your case stronger)
To get more information about the Loudoun County assessment appeal/review process and to fill out the form on-line, click here to go to the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office web site.

Deadlines for Loudoun County Assessment/Assessed Value Appeals/Reviews

March 5 - deadline for office review by Loudoun County Assessor’s Office
June 1 - deadline to file formal appeal to BoE
December 31 - deadline to file with court

Sample of Questions Asked By Attendees and Answered by Todd, Jennifer and/or Jim

Question: One Ashburn Farm resident asked how her assessment is up 21% when her neighbors’ assessments are down.
Answer: “Could be mistake. Make sure you check the data that the county has on file.”

Question: How do you account for unfinished/finished basements?
Answer: “Picking up finished basements is done through the MRIS [the local MLS].”

Question: Why is the BoE’s decision only good for one year?
Answer: “Often times, there is a lack of supporting data from the BoE as to their decision so we put the value back at what we think it is the following year. But they’re [BoE] is getting better.”

Personal Observations and Comments

How the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office treats bank-owned properties and short-sales is completely gray - no clear answer was given as to how nor what formula is used
Todd said his office goes back through last year’s BoE decisions and takes those into consideration
The Loudoun County Assessor’s Office has 4 people that do nothing else but collect data for the purpose of assessed values
County Assessors Office “put sinformation into system to come up with value” (aka they don’t do it themselves nor is it a traditional appraisal - it’s a “mass appraisal”)
They kept talking about how the assessments are formulated through a “system” yet, they couldn’t define what the “system” was except that it’s been in place for 30 years

Questions I had for the Loudoun County Assessor

How many licensed appraisers are conducting assessments and what standards are they held to (USPAP)?
How many homes do you actually go inside of, if any?
How many homes do you drive by?

I’m still waiting on answers to these questions and will keep you posted if/when I hear back.

If you have specific questions regarding your assessment, you can contact the Loudoun County Assessor’s Office by email, phone or in person….

Email - assessor@loudoun.gov
Phone - 703.777.0267
Leesburg Main Office - 1 Harrison St, S.E. 5th Floor
Ashburn Satellite Office - 45201 Research Place, Suite 130
Loudoun County Assessor’s Office web site/home page

In order to make your case stronger when appealing your assessment, contact me to get comps (recent sales of properties that are similar to yours) to submit with your appeal application - danilo.bogdanovic@gmail.com - 703.582.6900.

When Does the “Spring Housing Market” Start?

Danilo Bogdanovic — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:00:04 +0000

Many sellers and buyers are waiting until Spring for the “Spring housing market” to sell their home or buy one. But when does the “Spring housing market” really start?

The most common answer is, “Spring!” Is that correct?

Nope.

The “Spring housing market” has already started. In fact, it starts in January. In the 6 years of being a Realtor, January has been the busiest month of the year for me (and in general) when it comes to buyers house hunting and writing a contract on a new home. The third busiest month? February. (The second busiest month is October)

“Really?”

Yup. And here are some guesses as to why based on what buyers have personally told me…

More time + more money = more buyers in the market to buy a home.

People are busy with end of year work, holidays and their children’s winter break in December. This puts selling their home or buying one on the back burner. Once January rolls around, all of that is behind them and they have more time on their hands so they start house hunting.

December and January also equal Christmas/year-end bonuses. And let’s not forget that many people know they have tax money coming back to them from Uncle Sam soon so the thought of a hefty down payment is a bit more bearable.

What it means to you if you’re a seller

If you’re thinking about selling your home, for these and other reasons, you may want to strongly consider listing your home in January/February (more on this in another post coming soon).

What it means to you if you’re a buyer

If you’re a home buyer house hunting in January/February, know that other buyers are doing the same thing so be prepared for increased competition (aka multiple offers) on properties that are great deals.

If you have specific questions or concerns regarding buying or selling a home or the local housing market in general, click here to email me or call me - 703.582.6900.

A Seller’s Guide to the Short-Sale Process

Claim the Home Buyer Federal Tax Credit with IRS Form 5405

Danilo Bogdanovic — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:39:28 +0000

Earlier this month, the IRS released form 5405, which allows homebuyers to claim up to an $8000 tax credit for the purchase of a home. You can get a copy of IRS form 5405 by clicking here or check out the copy embedded below. You can find full details on claiming the tax credit on IRS.gov.

IRS form 5405 home buyer tax credit -

Related Articles

First Time Home Buyer Federal Tax Credit Extended and Expanded

Credit Scores Explained in One Easy-To-Read Chart

Danilo Bogdanovic — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:00:42 +0000

Ever wonder why your credit (aka FICO) score is what it is? Do you think it’s lower than it should be especially since you’ve never had anything repossessed nor ever been foreclosed on? Well, here’s an easy-to-read chart explaining how not paying your credit card bills on time can effect your credit score (click chart to enlarge)…

(courtesy of SpendOnLife.com via AgentGenius.com)

Upcoming Changes to FHA Home Loan Guidelines = Higher Costs to Home Buyers

Danilo Bogdanovic — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:00:35 +0000

Upcoming changes to FHA home loan guidelines will increase the cost of buying a home for buyers - especially first-time home buyers. It may sound crazy considering the state of the national housing market, but it’s true.

Here’s the official HUD press release (click here if you don’t see the embedded HUD press release regarding FHA home loan guidelines)…

FHA guideline changes 2010 -

In a nutshell, here are the FHA home loan guideline changes and what they mean to you…

The upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) is going up from 1.75 points to 2.25 points (1 point = 1 percent of the loan amount). On a $200,000 FHA home loan, that’s an added cost of $1,000
FHA home loans to borrowers with a FICO score (aka credit score) of 579 or less will go up from 3.5 percent to 10 percent. On a $200,000 FHA home loan, that’s an added cost of $13,000
Many home buyers going with an FHA home loan ask for closing cost assistance from the seller in order to minimize the amount of cash they need to come up with out of their pocket. Currently, FHA guidelines allow seller closing cost assistance of up to 6 percent of the purchase price. The new FHA home loan guidelines will decrease the amount from 6 percent to 3 percent. I typically see closing costs (including pre-paid items) on FHA loans of between 4 to 5 percent. Under the new guidelines, the home buyer would have to come up with the last 1 to 2 percent out of their own pocket rather than asking for all of it to be paid for by the seller.

To put the changes into perspective, let’s see what the difference in cost will be to John and Jane Smith, first-time home buyers in Northern Virginia using an FHA home loan under today’s guidelines versus the new guidelines…

Today’s FHA home loan guidelines

John and Jane Smith are buying a town home in Northern Virginia for $300,000. They will need to come up with 3.5 percent of the sales price ($10,500) for the down payment. They’re happy that they don’t have to come out of pocket for their closing costs because the sellers agreed to credit them back 4.5 percent of the sales price ($13,500) to cover them. John and Jane need a total of $10,500 cash out of pocket to buy the town home.

Upcoming FHA home loan guidelines

John and Jane Smith will need to come up with $10,500 for the down payment if their credit score is 580 or above. If their credit score is less than 580, they will need to come up with $30,000 for the down payment. The seller will only be able to pay up to 3 percent of their closing costs so they will need to come up with the remaining 1.5 percent ($4,500) out of their own pocket. In addition, they will pay an extra .5 percent ($1,500) in upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP). The total increase in cost to buy the same town home will be either $16,500 or $36,000 depending on their credit score with the majority of it coming out of their pocket in cash.

Under the new FHA home loan guidelines, Jane and John will need at least 62 percent, if not 343 percent more cash out of pocket to buy the same town home.

When do the new guidelines go into effect? No official date has been set. But they are coming and the word on the street is sometime late spring/summer 2010.

If you’re sitting on the fence when it comes to buying a home right now, you may want to jump off and take advantage of the current FHA home loan guidelines (and federal tax credit) before they change. If you don’t, you could be in John and Jane’s shoes and need an additional 62 percent (if not 343 percent) to buy the same home in the future.

If you have specific questions about the FHA home loan guidelines, the housing market or real estate in general, email or call me - 703.582.6900 - danilo.bogdanovic (at) gmail (dot) com.

Camberley Homes is Bringing “Urban” Style Town Homes to Brambleton

Danilo Bogdanovic — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:00:16 +0000

You can soon add Camberley Homes to the list of names on the Brambleton home builder roster. Camberley Homes will begin selling “urban” style town homes in Brambleton this spring. Camberley Homes is calling this their “Boulevard at Brambleton” community. Delivery of the first town home should be fall/winter 2010.

Here is some basic info…

Models range from 1700 to 2200 square feet
Option for a 4th level loft with terrace space/rooftop deck
Rear load garage
Contemporary and “customizable” floor plans
Prices have not been released yet, but I’m guessing they will start in the high $300K’s to mid $400K’s based on square footage and the particular model

Camberley’s “Boulevard at Brambleton” town homes will be located directly across Ryan Rd (Route 772) from the Brambleton Town Center (see brochure below for map). Their location is very convenient to the Brambleton Town Center, Legacy Park and Brambleton Regional golf course.

Note: There are plans for a walkway across (or possibly below) Ryan Rd from where these and neighboring town homes and condos are located, but that’s still a ways out.

Check out the temporary brochure and floor plans (click here if you do not see the embedded document below)…

Camberley Homes building urban style town homes in Brambleton, Virginia -

If you are interested in getting more information about the Camberley town homes or any other new construction town homes in Brambleton, send me an email or call me - danilo.bogdanovic@gmail.com - 703.582.6900.

To search for existing homes for sale in Brambleton, click here.

Homeowner’s Guide to Septic Systems

Danilo Bogdanovic — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:00:29 +0000

A septic system is one of those thing that costs some money and energy to maintain. But, if you do not maintain it, it will cost you a whole heck of a lot more money and headaches. To help you out with what to do to make sure your septic system costs you the least amount of money and headaches, here is the EPA’s “Homeowner’s Guide to Septic Systems”…

(Click here if you do not see the embedded document below)

Homeowners Guide to Septic Systems -

Careful Who You Mess With…

Danilo Bogdanovic — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:00:06 +0000

Video is safe for work. (Click here if you do not see the video below)

Wishing You the Best in 2010

Danilo Bogdanovic — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:00:29 +0000

2009 has been an “interesting” year both, in real estate and life in general. But, it’s about to be behind us and there’s a fresh year and decade ahead of us. I hope for and wish you the best in 2010. Let’s all do what we can to make it a better year than 2009.

Photo credit