Congratulations to the Virginia Leadership Academy, Class of 2009

IMHO, to be a great Real Estate Consultant/Realtor, you have to do more than just “sell real estate”. That is why, over the past 9 months, I’ve been attending sessions throughout Virginia as part of the Virginia Association of REALTORS® (VAR), Virginia Leadership Academy (VLA) program.

From VAR’s website:

VAR challenges REALTORS® to invest in themselves and their associations by participating in the Virginia REALTORS® Leadership Academy . Through this program, VAR identifies and trains emerging REALTOR® leaders from all around the Commonwealth. Approximately 20 applicants are accepted each year, and each class of participants builds their leadership skills through a series of retreats and a major class project. Graduates are groomed to take on leadership positions in their local associations, at VAR, or in other organizations.

Not only do the participants develop strong leadership skills to put to use in their communities and professional lives, they also nurture strong relationships with their class members that turn into rewarding business and personal connections.

The VLA program consisted of several multi-day retreats throughout Virginia. We studied and discussed leadership and listened to and spoke with many incredibly knowledgeable and experienced folks with credentials the length of a real estate sales contract. We also spoke with local and state association officials and worked on a very mentally challenging class project.

This year’s class was instrumental in the design redesign and continued new direction of the Virginia Homeowners Alliance. This was a tough project, but the outcome was better than I thought it would be and everyone in our class learned a lot about leadership and speaking up for the sake of others in the process.

The VLA program was by no means a “piece of cake” - it meant taking time out of my professional career and working with 21 other professionals, many of whom are “Type A”. Was it worth it? It was more than worth it.

Will I end up being in a leadership role in the local or state REALTORS® association? I don’t know. But I do know that I’ve learned a lot, made some great friendships in the process and have become a more well rounded person personally and professionally.

Thank you to VAR for the opportunity to be a part of the Virginia Leadership Academy, Class of 2009 and congratulations to all my fellow alumni! (click here if you can’t see the video below)

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

Ashburn Single Family Home Median Price Up $20K

The median price of single family homes in Ashburn (20147 and 20148 zip codes) has gone up almost $20K since April. This is mainly due to less inventory on the market and more buyers purchasing properties - supply vs demand. We’re currently seeing a plateau in median prices, but that’s probably due to a typical slowdown in buyer demand over the summer months.

Ashburn Single Family Home Median Price - up $20K since April

Ashburn Single Family Home Inventory - down 30 percent since 9/08

P.S. Check back on Tuesday for Leesburg’s median price and inventory levels.

Sterling Single Family Home Median Price Up $70K

The median price of single family homes in Sterling (20164, 20165, 20166 zip codes) has gone up an astonishing $70K since April. Talk about a roller coaster of a ride for median prices in Sterling - they have been in a free fall since the market turned in 2005, hit $260K in April, shot up to about $380K and came back down to $335K.

If there was ever a great example of what supply vs demand means to median prices, Sterling is it. Check out how median prices starting coming back down at the very same time that inventory started to increase (July 1).

Sterling Single Family Home Median Price - up $70K since April

Sterling Single Family Home Inventory - up 25 percent since July

What will median prices do going forward? We’ll have to see whether inventory continues to go up, plateau or go down.

P.S. Check back tomorrow for Ashburn’s median price and inventory levels.

New Law Means it May Take a Month to Get a Sign Post Installed

Update: This is not necessarily a new law. What is new is Virginia’s seriousness about enforcing the law and actually imposing fines.

Virginia just passed the has begun enforcing it’s “Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act”, which requires that Realtors® and sign companies call the Virginia Utility Protection Service (aka Miss Utility) before putting up any sign that involves sticking something in the dirt (including typical spike signs).

How does this affect Virginia home sellers?

It means that the time to get a sign put in your front yard just went from a few days to well over a week, a potential delay in putting your home on the market.

Why so long?

Because Miss Utility is quoting 3 to 4 business days to mark the property (despite the law claiming it only needs 48 hours). Then, the sign company takes 2 to 3 business days to install the sign post. That equals 5 to 7 business days from start to finish.

And that time frame will soon increase dramatically. A total of 4059 new listings came on the market between 1/1/09 and 6/30/09 - in Loudoun County alone. Imagine what is going to happen now that almost every new listing in Virginia has to go through Miss Utility before putting a real estate sign in the ground. I’d be willing to bet that it will soon take up to a month before Miss Utility has a chance to make it out to mark your yard.

Who is allowed to call Miss Utility to mark the property?

Only the person/company actually installing the sign. The overwhelming majority of agents use a sign company to dig the hole and install the sign post in their seller clients’ yards. That means that only the sign company can call Miss Utility. The problem with that is, the sign company has no clue what your property looks like nor how it’s situated on the lot, where underground utilities are, etc., so they can not tell Miss Utility precisely where the sign will go nor where to mark the property. This could further delay the process and/or increase the cost.

Is there a way around it?

Home owners are exempt from the law, but I have yet to find a seller who is willing to dig up a hole and put a real estate sign in their front yard on their own. And don’t forget - whoever installs the sign post is probably going to be the person listed as “at fault” should an underground utility line be damage/broken.

The other loop hole is to use a “coat hanger” sign with “wires”, but that looks about as professional and appealing as a hand written “For Sale” sign hanging by a string from the tree in the front yard.

And no…you can’t claim that your dog dug the hole and the sign post just happened to end up in the hole somehow.

P.S. If Miss Utility finds out that the person/company who installed the sign didn’t call them first, it’s a $2,500 fine.

What’s the solution?

Allow either the homeowner or their listing agent to call Miss Utility to mark the property even if they’re not the one actually installing the sign. Miss Utility could easily be called a week or several weeks ahead of time so that when the sellers are ready to go on the market, the sign can be installed by the sign company within 2 to 3 days just like normal.

As far as the “safety concerns” cited by Virginia regarding this solution, I don’t buy it - once the property is marked, the sign company can easily see where Miss Utility marked the property and put the sign in safely.

Local and state Realtor® Associations (and others) are lobbying Virginia to come up with a solution. Until there is one, plan on at least 1 to 2 weeks to get a sign post in the ground.

Virginia #1 for Business (once again)

CNBC just named Virginia as the number one place for business in the country and U.S. News and World Report named Virginia among “Five Best States to Start a Business”. Things such as the personal income tax rate (top tier is 5.75 percent), corporate tax rate (has remained at 6 percent for last 30 years), lower than average unemployment and foreclosure rate all helped Virginia regain the top spot.

If you look around Northern Virginia including Loudoun County, you’ll notice big names such as Verizon, AOL, Oracle, Volkswagen/Audi, Airbus, Rolls Royce and Amazon.com as well as a slew of government contractors and small businesses everywhere.

On a related note…though Virginia was number one as a state, perhaps Loudoun could get a bit more business friendly so that we don’t keep losing businesses to Fairfax County and other neighboring counties in Virginia (i.e. Volkswagen/Audi, Hilton, etc). Just my $0.02.

Hat tip to NRVLiving.

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

Loudoun Community Spotlight: Pulte Homes, Windermere in Ashburn

This Loudoun County Community Spotlight falls on the Pulte Homes Windermere community in Ashburn, VA. The Windermere community is located near the corner of Claiborne Parkway and Croson Lane immediately next to the Broadlands community.

Windermere is a mix of large town homes and medium sized single family homes. A total of 91 town homes and 83 single family homes will make up the community. Pulte has built or sold about 35 percent of the total homes so far and they’re expecting to sell the remainder of the community within the next 18 months. That puts completion of the entire community at about 24 months.

In speaking with the Pulte sales staff, I found out that they’ve already sold 9 homes this month (that’s a lot for new construction especially in a community of only 174 homes). I’m sometimes skeptical at how busy they say they are, but I’m going to believe them on this one - there at the same time as I was today were three Buyer’s Agents with their clients, two other sets of buyers without an agent and one set of buyers about to write a contract. And that was at 3:30pm on a Wednesday.

Base Prices/Models

Prices on the town homes start at $380K for the Westley II interior model (2296 - 2735 sq ft) and $390K for the Tyler exterior model (2411 - 2857 sq ft).

Prices on the single family homes start at $524K for the Kenley model (2696 sq ft on upper two levels); $533K for the Wynnewood model (2770 sq ft on upper two levels); and $542K for the Jamestown model (2974 sq ft on upper two levels).

Delivery Dates

Delivery dates vary, but count on about 4 to 6 months on the town homes and about 6 months on the single family homes. There are some “spec” homes available for earlier delivery including a Tyler model in the low $400K’s with a September delivery date.

Incentives

Pulte is offering some incentives as far as closing costs if you use their preferred lender. As for wiggle room in the base prices and/or options, there may or may not be any - that’s a secret I’ll only share with my clients (it’s only fair).

Amenities/HOA fees

Two things that popped out at me were the lack of amenities and not-much-return HOA fees. There are no amenities in the community yet, the HOA fee is $86 for single family homes and $100 for town homes. Considering what other communities within Ashburn and Loudoun County charge for HOA fees and the amenities they offer, Windermere has high HOA fees with little offered to home owners in return. In case you’re wondering…neither I (nor the sale rep from Pulte) could figure out why the town home fees are higher than the single family home fees.

Photos/Video Tour

There should be a slideshow of community photos I took at the top of this post (click here if you don’t see it). And don’t forget to check out my two-part video tour of the Windermere Pulte Homes Westley II and Tyler model town homes - part one and part two.

Visiting the new homes sales center in person

Make sure you have your Buyer’s Agent with you when you visit a new home/builder sales center. Click here to find out why.

Sterling Housing Market Update

Here’s a look at what’s going on with the Sterling housing market (all zip codes)…

Sterling Median Price

The median price has been falling in Sterling since the market turned until about March of this year. Over the past rew months, the median price has spiked significantly (by almost $100,000).

Sterling Inventory

Inventory of single family and town homes in Sterling has dropped by 60 percent since 2007 and 56 percent since this time last year. The condo inventory in Sterling has dropped by 45 percent since this time last year. This is most significant decrease of inventory out of any large town in Loudoun County.

Sterling Housing Market Overview

The huge drop in inventory throughout Sterling along with a huge increase in buyer demand has lead to a huge shift in the housing market in Sterling. Sterling has some of the lowest price points in Loudoun and lots of foreclosure and short-sale activity making it extremely attractive to first-time home buyers and investors. We’re even seeing areas of Sterling with slight to substantial recent price appreciation.

Homes that are priced well are getting a lot of traffic and a purchase offer within 1 to 2 weeks on the market. Homes priced slightly below (or way below as is the case with many bank-owned and short-sale properties) are getting multiple offers (5, 10, 15+ offers) and are bidding up over asking price within days, if not hours of hitting the market.

We’re seeing slight signs of the inventory leveling out. Unless it levels out, we’ll most likely see median prices continue their upward trend and lots of multiple offers on properties well into the summer.

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