First Ever Braxton Model by Stanley Martin Homes in Greene Mill Preserve

The first ever Braxton model by Stanley Martin Homes in their Greene Mill Preserve community is complete! Not only is this the first Braxton model by Stanley Martin Homes in their Greene Mill Preserve community in Leesburg…it is the first Braxton model they’ve built for any customer in the entire area. My clients will be settling on the property this Friday, September 18, 2010 and are excited to live in their new home that they’ve watched being built since February.

This particular Braxton model is Elevation E (reversed). This elevation comes with a wrap-around front porch, a specific style of windows and partial stone with a side-load garage.

This home is loaded with pretty much every structural option you can get including the bonus room with full bathroom above the garage and the 4th level loft with full bathroom. My clients decided to also finish off about 2/3 of the basement which includes a large rec room, bedroom and full bathroom. The unfinished space in the basement is being used as a large storage area, but you can easily finish off part of it into a media room, kids playroom or exercise room with plenty of space left for storage.

Remember how they say, “Looks can be deceiving”? This home has over 7000 finished square feet yet its footprint is not as large as most other homes with similar finished space. This is mainly due to the bonus room being above the garage and the 4th level loft which doesn’t add to the width or depth of the home. And personally…I’d rather have finished space than useless attic space.

Some of the best features of this home (IMHO) are…

- the kitchen area with large center island and room for several stools which opens up into the breakfast room, (future) deck, family room

- great use of square footage. Many larger homes have less usable space with lots of  “dead” space throughout the home

- option for bonus room and loft both with full bathrooms is excellent if you have teenagers who want their “own space” or family/friends that visit often and/or stay for a while

- the 2 car garage is actually a 2.5 car garage. You can easily have a workshop or store motorcycles, bicycles or lawn mowers in the side of the garage while having plenty of room to open your car door without hitting something. Plus, there’s an option for a 3 car garage.

- It’s not about the actual home itself, but it’s worth mentioning… The Greene Mill Preserve community is far away so you feel like you’re away from the hustle and bustle yet, it’s only about a mile from the Brambleton Town Center and a few miles away from major routes, downtown Leesburg, etc.

If you would like more information about the Braxton or any other model Stanley Martin Homes offers or the Greene Mill Preserve community in general, feel free to contact me.

NOTE: If you can not see the slide show in this post, click here to check out the photos on Flickr.

Turkey in Leesburg Upset at Humans for Having Relatives for Dinner

A turkey has been running around in Leesburg chasing cars and people. Seems the turkey is upset that many of us humans are having some of his relatives for dinner next week. (If you can’t see the video below, click here)

The Latest Loudoun County Housing Inventory Statistics

The number of homes for sale in Loudoun County (and the entire DC metro area) is definitely either down or trending down. Let’s look at the following charts showing inventory levels of single family homes and town homes in the Sterling, Ashburn, Leesburg and South Riding/Chantilly areas:

(Note: These are new interactive flash charts – feel free to play around with them, move the slider around, etc., and let me know what you think)

Sterling

Ashburn

Leesburg

South Riding/Chantilly

Loudoun Community Spotlight: Pulte Homes, Hamlets at Red Cedar

This Loudoun County Community Spotlight falls on the Hamlets at Red Cedar community by Pulte Homes. The community is located off of Evergreen Mills Rd in Leesburg, VA (click here for map). Once the community is complete, there will be a total of 350 homes situated on 1300 rolling acres.

Personally, I think that the Hamlets at Red Cedar community is ideal for those looking for that “private and quaint” community feel yet, be close to amenities and things to do.

The majority of single family homes in the Hamlets at Red Cedar community are located on 1/2 acre lots and the entire community is surrounded by conservancy lots ranging from 10 to 100 acres. This gives you privacy from surrounding development for up to 100 years (based on current zoning laws regarding conservancy lots).

Even though being inside of the community give you a feel of being away from the hustle and bustle of daily life, you are only 5 to 10 minutes from Brambleton Town Center, 10 to 15 minutes away from downtown Leesburg and about 10 to 15 minutes from the Dulles Greenway and the future Moorefield Station, which will include commercial, residential, retail and a Silver Line metro rail stop (coming 2016).

The Hamlets at Red Cedar is made up of town homes and single family homes. The town homes along with the Ambassador and Manor single family home collections have all been sold, but there are still some Stoneridge collection single family homes and home sites available.

The Stoneridge Collection offers 8 different models ranging from 2510 square feet on the upper two levels to 4589 square feet on the upper two levels. Base prices range from $539K to $739K. Delivery times are about 6 to 9 months though there are some quick delivery “spec” homes with move-in dates as early as November.

Lot sizes on the Stoneridge Collection are 1/2 an acre giving you more land than 90+ percent of the rest of Ashburn and Leesburg. One nice thing about these lots is that the majority of them still have trees in the back of them rather than just a flat piece of land where you can still see the house behind you.

Amenities include a club house with pool tables, a community living room, gym and pool. There are several parks, tot lots and trails throughout the community as well.

If you are interested in knowing more about the community, home models, available lots/home sites, spec homes, incentives, etc., email or call me – danilo.bogdanovic (at) gmail (dot) com – 703.582.6900.

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Slideshow of Hamlets at Red Cedar community

Leesburg Single Family Home Median Price up $35K

The median price of single family homes in Leesburg (20175 and 20176 zip codes) has gone up $35K since April. With inventory down 33 percent since 9/08 and buyer demand up, median prices have gone up. You can feel the effect of this in the housing market conditions in the area – Buyers have less inventory to choose from and more competition from other buyers while sellers are seeing more buyers coming through and competing for their property (if priced correctly) than since 2005.

Leesburg Single Family Home Median Price – up $35K

Leesburg Single Family Home Inventory – down 33 percent

Loudoun Community Spotlight: Goose Creek Bend, Brookfield Homes

This Loudoun County community spotlight falls on Goose Creek Bend, a Brookfield Homes community (click here if you don’t see the slideshow above). Goose Creek Bend is located off of Gulick Mill Rd less than a mile from Sycolin Rd on the border of Leesburg and Ashburn (click here if you don’t see the map below).

View Larger Map

All of the lots are 1+ acres and back to trees. Here’s the site plan:

All of the homes within Goose Creek Bend are luxury single family homes and offer 4 to 7 bedrooms, up to 6.5 baths and up to 4 car garages. The various models offered in the community are:

• Canterbury
• Davenport
• Halley
• Meridia
• Keenan

Base prices range from $599,990 to $709,990 with square footage ranging from 3091 to 3944 on the upper two levels.

Pros

• Large lots
• Private community
• Unique models/floor plans
• Close to ramp on/off Dulles Greenway and Sycolin Rd
• Amount of square footage, upgrades and lot size for money

Cons

• Lack of amenities
• Shopping is at least 15 minutes away (by car)
• Gulick Mill Rd is a gravel road (not good for all you sports car enthusiasts)

Brookfield Homes resumed sales in the community a short while ago and there are a handful of lots still available. If you would like to know more about the community, lots, models or available incentives, click here to contact me.

Loudoun Community Spotlight: Hawks View Glen in Leesburg

Hawks View Glen is a community of 36 town homes built in 2005 by K Hovnanian Homes. Hawks View Glen is located near the intersection of East Market St (Route 7 business) and the Route 15 bypass in southeast Leesburg, Virginia.

View Larger Map

The typical square footage is just under 2100 square feet with all of the town homes having pretty much the same floor plan. The main differences in the floor plan and square footage is whether the town home has a 3 level bump out or not and how the kitchen is situated. With the bump out, square footage is around 2100 square feet. All of the town homes have a one car garage and are brick front.

You enter on the main (basement) level with the door to the garage immediately to the left or right of the front door. Directly in front of you is a hallway leading to the walk out basement and backyard and stairs leading up to the second level.

As you get to the top of the stairs, the kitchen, eat in kitchen area and sun room (sun room is only there if there’s a 3 level bump out)  is to the rear of the home while the dining room and living room are to the front of the home.

The third (top) floor consists of the master bedroom, master bathroom, 2nd and 3rd bedrooms, full bath in the hallway, washer and dryer and linen closet. The master bedroom and master bathroom are pretty large for a town home especially if it has the 3 level bump out, which puts the bathroom in the bumpout. The master bedroom is the entire width of the town home and almost a perfect rectangle while the master bathroom is made up of the entire 3rd level bump out. The 2nd and 3rd bedrooms aren’t huge, but still a good size for a town home of this size.

The backyards on these town homes are larger (deeper) than average. Most of the town homes in the middle of the community have fences while some of the ones on the north/east side of the community do not and none of the ones on the south/west side of the community have a fence.

The town homes on the south/west side of the community all back to mature trees, the W&OD Trail and small power lines that run along the W&OD Trail. The town homes in the middle of the community back to other town homes. The town homes on the north/east side of the community back to mature trees.

One drawback of the community is that there are no amenities within the community – no clubhouse, no pool, no tot lots, etc. If you want access to such amenities, you’ll have to turn to neighboring communities or general county amenities. But then again, if you’re not a pool person nor care about tot lots or a community club house, you may not care.

The community is currently going through a foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale frenzy. As of yesterday (July 15, 2009), there are 8 properties for sale or under contract – 5 are short-sales and 3 are foreclosure/bank-owned properties. Everyone who bought a home in this community paid considerably more than what their property is worth today. That can often lead to a high level of foreclosures and short-sales, which seems to be the case in this community at the moment.

On the bright side, these properties are now being purchased at much more affordable prices and during a time when lending guidelines are much more strict than in years past. This should help lead to increased mid to long term stability within the community.

P.S. Click here if you can’t see the slideshow of Hawks View Glen at the top of this post. And click here if you don’t see the embedded Google Map near the beginning of the post.

SEARCH FOR HOMES FOR SALE IN HAWKS VIEW GLEN

Leesburg Housing Market Update

Here’s a look at what’s going on with the Leesburg housing market (20175 and 20176 zip codes)…

Leesburg Median Price

The median price of single family and town homes in Leesburg has been bouncing up and down between just over $600,000 and $640,000 for over 2 years. Over the past few months, we’ve seen it go from about $608,000 to about $625,000.

On the other hand, the median price of condos in Leesburg has steadily dropped over 60 percent since the spring of 2007. The good news is that the median price hit about $245,000 at the very end of 2008 and has been going sideways, if not slightly up since then.

Leesburg Inventory

Single family and town home inventory in Leesburg was cut in half from the summer of 2007 to the spring of this year. We’ve seen an increase in single family and town home inventory over the past three months, but it looks like the rate of new inventory coming on the market may be slowing down as the summer months approach.

Condo inventory in Leesburg is down over 40 percent from this time last year. It looks like it showing signs of a potential plateau, but we’ll have to wait and see to know for sure.

Leesburg Housing Market Overview

It’s hard to generalize the Leesburg housing market because even two neighboring communities within the same zip code can have completely different housing market conditions. One example is River Creek versus Potomac Station. Another is Beacon Hill versus Shenstone Farm. Yet another is Tavistock Farm versus Stratford Landing.

Generally speaking, the Leesburg housing market is stabilizing a bit thanks to lower inventory and more buyer demand. But how much depends on the specific community/subdivision within Leesburg and price point. Some properties, such as town homes and entry-level single family homes are seeing multiple offers left and right while the $800K- $1M+ properties in communities such as River Creek, Lansdowne, Shenstone Farm and Beacon Hill are seeing less overall activity due to a much smaller buyer pool at that price point.

Median prices will probably continue their sideways trend while inventory levels level out or possibly drop a bit during the summer months depending on the type of property and price point.

Weekly Mortgage Rate Update

This is the first in a weekly series of posts regarding mortgage rates. The posts are aimed at keeping you in tune with what’s going on with mortgage rates currently and why.

The weekly mortgage rate update will be published every Saturday beginning this Saturday. The source of the information will be Darran Anthony of Suntrust Mortgage in Leesburg, Virginia, as well as other local and national loan officers and sources.

So here’s today’s mortgage rate update:

• Mortgage rates are rising this week
• The national average on a 30 year fixed is up from 6.125% to 6.375%

Here are some of the reasons why rates have are rising:

• A weak employment report last Friday
• Federal Reserve worried about inflation
• Soft demand for mortgage back securities

In a nutshell, rates are climbing due to weak economic figures, supply and demand and fear. But a mortgage rate of 6.375 percent is still great when compared to rates over the past 30 years. Buyers are still sitting pretty when it comes to mortgage rates.

Loudoun County Home Sales Off Significantly; Ashburn, Leesburg Hit Hardest

Through the first 12 days of the month of December, the number of homes that have gone under contract in Ashburn and Leesburg has dropped tremendously compared to the same period last year. 

In Ashburn there have been only 16 properties in the 20147 and 20148 zip codes that have secured a contract in December.  That equates to only 1.3 sales per day and projects to only 41 sales for the entire month. 

The numbers for Leesburg are not much better.  There have been only  17 sales in the 20175 and 20176 zip codes in the month of December, or 1.4 per day and a forecast of only 44 for the month.  But considering there are 240 more homes for sale in Leesburg versus Ashburn (713-473), it could be argued that the Leesburg market is softer than Ashburn.

The sales activity in Sterling has fared much better and is on track to equal the monthly total of December 2006.  As of the 12th there were 39 sales in the 20164, 20165 and 20166 zip codes which was exactly the same as the first 12 days of last December. 

For all of Loudoun County there have been only 99 homes go under contract so far this month as compared to 147 during the same time period last year.  This equates to a drop of 33% in homes sold and is significantly worse than the second half drop in homes sold (19%). 

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