Buy Alexandria Real Estate

What's Happening today in the Arlington, Virginia Real Estate Market?

The chart below details all of the closed home sales activity in Arlington, Virginia for March 2012:

Sales volume for March 2012 is exactly the same in terms of the number of sales and up slightly on total dollar volume from March 2011.  Days on market is down 5% from last March and median sales prices are up almost 9% in Arlington.

Here's a snapshot of the current market for Arlington Virginia home sales at the end of April 2012:

• Active homes for sale:  565 -- 239 homes, or over 42% of these Arlington homes have come on the market within the last 30 days!
• 700 homes have sold in Arlington since the beginning of 2012, or an average of 175/month.  At this rate, there's currently 3.22 months of inventory on the market in Arlington.  Very good news if you're planning to sell your Arlington home!
  
  
• Average listing price in Arlington, VA: $723,351
• Price range: The least expensive listing price in Arlington is $69,900. The most expensive home is listed for $6,000,000.
  
  
• Average days on market: 71 days.
  
  
• There's an additional 516 homes in Arlington that are currently under contract pending sale. 318 of those contracts were ratified within the last 30 days.

As you can see from the stats above, Arlington remains a very active market.

** Find a Home in Arlington**

If you've been watching television, reading the news, looking at the internet, going to a gas station, convenience store, or just about anywhere in the last few days, you know that tonight's Mega Millions lottery drawing jackpot is a staggering $363 Million.  Yes, the cash option comes in at "just" $259 million.  And then there's taxes.  If you choose to get the yearly installments, you'll be pulling in a cool $13,975,500 a year for the next 26 years.  No matter how you slice and dice it, let's face it -- it's a boatload of money.  You could even jump into the Presidential race at this late stage and still be able to fund a strong campaign!  It's okay to daydream...

Let's take a fun look at what $363 Million can buy you in Northern Virginia real estate.  In addition to a good tax advisor and financial planner, you'll no doubt need a great Northern Virginia REALTOR after you win this bundle of cash.

How many average Northern Virginia homes could you buy?

In February 2012, the average home sales price in Northern Virginia was $396,107.  With $363,000,000, you could buy 916 homes.  That's almost exactly half of the total number of homes sold in the area during the month of February (there were 1,834 total home sales).

Maybe you're particularly interested in Alexandria, Virginia.  If so, you're in luck.  There are 391 homes on the market in Alexandria at an average price of $635,627.  You could buy all of them for just over $248 million.  Taking the cash option on the lottery winnings, you'd still have $11 million left for furnishings, or $28,000 per house.  If you bought all these Alexandria homes, you'd be the proud owner of 1,173 bedrooms, 1,173 full bathrooms, and 391 half bathrooms.  You could sleep in a different bedroom every night for the next 3 years!

While you couldn't quite afford to purchase all of the 514 available homes in Arlington whose price averages $750,151, you could pick up over 480 of them.

McLean, Virginia boasts an average current listing price of over $2.2 million.  While this number is skewed by some very high-end homes, 148 out of the 199 available homes on the market in McLean are priced at over $1 million.  Therefore, even tonight's Mega Millions winner can't afford to buy them all.  However, after taxes paid on your winnings you could still scoop up 80 ultra luxurious homes in McLean!

Falls Church is the smallest city in the country and there's only 30 homes currently on the market there.  You could buy them all at full asking price for $21,103,590 since the average listing price is $703,453.  This would hardly make a dent in your winnings!

Maybe you're only interested the best in luxury.  After all, you're now a multi-millionaire.  After the fanfare dies down from the big win, you want to buy some REAL real estate.  Million dollar homes are almost common-place now.  Let's go for the $4 million+ price tag.  Right now there's 40 of these available in Northern Virginia -- the average price is $6,631,242.  You could afford to buy 39 of these with your winnings, though with a great Northern Virginia REALTOR negotiating for you, you should be able to get them all and still have some money left over.  If you bought all these estates, you'd be the proud owner of 117 acres of prime land in Northern Virginia along with 234 bedrooms and 312 bathrooms.

Okay... stop dreaming.  You didn't win...

You can still start your search for Northern Virginia real estate here in any price range.

If by some chance in 175,000,000, I win the jackpot tonight, I'll be happy to refer you to another professional REALTOR who can help you... 

GOOD LUCK!

What's Happening today in the Arlington, Virginia Real Estate Market?

The chart below details all of the closed home sales activity in Arlington, Virginia for February 2012:

And, here's a snapshot of Arlington Virginia home sales in the last 30 days from the middle of February 2012 through now:

ARLINGTON VIRGINIA HOME SALES:

• Active homes for sale: 507-- 221 of those have come on the market within the last 30 days!  More inventory is coming on the market in recent days as sellers are gearing up for the traditionally busy spring selling season in Northern Virginia.
  
  
• Average listing price in Arlington: $746,851.  Homes are available in Arlington from $69,900 to $6 million.  Do you want to see available homes in Arlington by price range?  Click on one or more of the following links (updated every day):
  

  Under $200,000
  $200K to $300K
  $300K to $400K
  $400K to $500K
  $500K to $600K
  $600K to $700K
  $700K to $800K
  $800K to $900K
  $900K to $1M
  $1M to $1.5M
  $1.5M to $2M
  $2M+

• Arlington homes sold in the last 30 days: 182.  At this rate, it would take just 2.79 months for the current Arlington inventory to sell.  If you're considering selling your home in Arlington, the odds are certainly in your favor!
  
  
• Average sales price: $527,996
  
  
• Median sales price: $465,984
  
  
• Average days on market: 54-- homes are selling on average quite quickly in just under 8 weeks
  
  
• Average sales price/original listing price: 96.2% -- there's some negotiating room.  However, with the inventory levels so low, sellers are getting closer to their asking price.
  
  

The highest priced Arlington home sold in the last 30 days was for $2,110,502.

Arlington Virginia Market Statistics Charts

Find a Home in Arlington

The Arlington condo market is really hot!  Condos are selling throughout Arlington with multiple offers and the inventory is very low.  Here's some stats about Arlington Virginia condominium sales and inventory for February 2012.

Currently there are 207 condos on the market for sale in Arlington.  That may seem like a lot, but considering that 216 Arlington condos sold in the last 90 days, 207 is not that many...  54 sold in the last 30 days alone.  Based on the 90 day numbers, there's only about a 2.875 month inventory of Arlington condos.

The condos for sale in Arlington range in price from $79,000 to $4.15 million with an average listing price of $512,397 (considerably higher than neighboring Alexandria).  Here's the breakdown by size of the condo:

One Bedroom Arlington Condos

69 on the market

Price range from $79K to $855K

Average listing price $329,287

Two Bedroom Arlington Condos

107 on the market

Price range from $170K to $2.05 million

Average listing price $536,038

Three Bedroom Arlington Condos

21 on the market

Price range from $350K to $4.15 million

Average listing price $1,072,521

Over the last 30 days the average final sales price of Arlington condos that sold was $444,413.    On average Arlington condo sellers are obtaining 95.03% of their original listing price -- showing that there's still quite a bit of room for negotiation. 

Condos sold in an average of 53 days on the market.  From surveys that have come back from sellers that have worked with my office, the average expectation for a sale is 60-90 days, so Arlington condos are selling fairly quickly which is pleasing to sellers!

The chart below shows the condominium complexes in Arlington with the highest number of units on the market. (Note: Jefferson Retirement is a 55+ retirement community in Ballston)

Interested in buying a condo in Arlington?  Search for Arlington condos here.

Thinking about selling your Arlington condo or just want to know the value?  Confidential and free market analysis of your condo's market value.

The Alexandria condo market is hot!  Condos are selling throughout the city and the inventory is quite low.  Here's some stats about Alexandria Virginia condominium sales and inventory for February 2012.

Currently there are 176 condos on the market for sale in Alexandria.  Considering that 185 Alexandria condos sold in the last 90 days, 176 is not that many...  46 sold in the last 30 days.  Based on the 90 day numbes, there's only about a 2.85 month inventory of Alexandria condos.

The condos for sale in Alexandria range in price from $100,000 to $2.1 million with an average listing price of $363,058.  Here's the breakdown by size of the condo:

One Bedroom Alexandria Condos

62 on the market

Price range from $100K to $450K

Average listing price $255,627

Two Bedroom Alexandria Condos

93 on the market

Price range from $135K to $1.45 million

Average listing price $375,819

Three Bedroom Alexandria Condos

19 on the market

Price range from $179.9K to $1.55 million

Average listing price $561,955

Over the last 30 days the average final sales price of Alexandria condos that sold was $269,469.  From this you can see that the lower end of the market is selling more readily and briskly than the higher end of the condo market in Alexandria.  On average Alexandria condo sellers are obtaining 93.49% of their original listing price -- showing that there's still quite a bit of room for negotiation.  However, some of that number for January is likely skewed from price reductions that occurred towards the end of 2011 or the beginning of the new year.

Condos sold in an average of 70 days on the market.

The chart below shows the condominium complexes in Alexandria with the highest number of units on the market.

Interested in buying a condo in Alexandria?  Search for Alexandria condos here.

Thinking about selling your Alexandria condo or just want to know the value?  Confidential and free market analysis of your condo's market value.

REALTOR Magazine gets mailed out to over 1 million subscribers.  That's a fairly strong subscription base making it the publication for our industry.  Published by the National Association of REALTORS, the magazine calls itself "The Business tool for Real Estate Professionals" 

So, when you're extensively quoted in a publication of this magnitude, it's a pretty big deal, particularly when the writers have over 1 million REALTORS who they could come to as sources for their articles.  It's an even bigger deal when the article is a featured article mentioned on the cover.

Warning: Shameless horn-tooting here!

One of the cover articles in the January/February 2012 issue of REALTOR Magazine (currently in the mailboxes of REALTORS around the country and online) is "Real Estate's Strongest Sectors for 2012" -- take a look at page 24 if you have the magazine.  Inside the magazine, the article is actually entitled "The Year Ahead: Real Estate's Best Bets in 2012." 

Here's a link to the online version of the article so you can read it in full: REALTOR Magazine article "The Year Ahead: Real Estate's Best Bets in 2012"

I'm excited to be quoted throughout the section on residential real estate trends for 2012.  It's always an honor to be relied upon by the media as a trusted source of real estate information.

Here's just one sample quote from the article:

"Affordable housing in inner-ring suburbs or center city areas may be real estate's sweet spot in 2012, Block says, because buyers today aren't looking just for bargains, they're looking for convenience and lifestyle amenities."

Check out my other recent press coverage at my online newsroom.

NEWSFLASH:  Buying a Home May Be One of the Best Ways to Achieve Happiness!

The pursuit of happiness... It's what we all seek isn't it?  After all this ideal finds prominence in the founding document of our country thanks to Thomas Jefferson who borrowed from John Locke and changed property to "pursuit of happiness."

People try many things to try to find happiness.  And there are many paths to achieving happiness.  You may find it at church, at synagogue, on the sports field, or the dance floor.  Some find it through charitable endeavours and others pathways include Zen meditation.  Helping others, finding new and exciting challenges, life-long learning... any of these things can lead to a happy life.

It's been said that "Money Can't Buy Happiness!"

Well, last week I read an article called "8 Ways that Money Can Buy Happiness" and I concluded that buying a home for the reasons I'll cite below may just be a great way to help achieve happiness!

Why Buying a Home Can Make You Happy:

"Buy more experiences and fewer material goods." -- the article states that:

Asked which of the two purchases made them happier, fully 57% of respondents reported that they had derived greater happiness from their experiential purchase, while only 34% reported greater happiness from their material purchase.

What?  You might say that a home is a material good!  Whatch'a talking about Brian?  And yes, technically a home is a material good -- it's made up of bricks and siding, a roof, plumbing, electrical systems, appliances, etc.  However a home is much more than that.  Homes are much more than the sum of their material parts.  You make memories in your homes.  You raise your families in your homes.  You have good times (and bad) in your homes.  You entertain, you wine, you dine.

Before you buy it, it's a house -- you have an inspection, you make sure everything's working, you negotiate a price.  Once you've been living there, it becomes a home -- or the sum of all the experiences you have there.  No wonder selling it can be such an emotional experience.

Ready for some happiness?

Search for Homes in Northern Virginia

It was just here.  Now it's gone.

Ooohhh.  Here's another one.  Looks promising. Gone too! 

Okay... Don't blink.  Don't turn the other way for even half a second. 

Gonna find that home.

Wait, could've sworn this one was still available.  After all, it was on Zillow, Trulia, and REALTOR.com.  But, yet... it's gone.

What's happening? 

Where'd that home go?  That was our dream house!  Will we ever find one?

...

If you're like many home buyers today, you've had a fairly similar internal dialogue while searching the dearth of homes on the market in Northern Virginia. 

A quick look at inventory numbers tells the story.

Taking the current inventory of homes on the market in each jurisdiction and dividing by the average amount of monthly sales during the last 12 months, here's the state of Northern Virginia housing inventory expressed in number of month's worth of inventory:

Alexandria City:              2.11 months
Arlington County:           2.32 months
Fairfax County:               2.05 months
Falls Church City:            1.37 months
Loudoun County:             3.02 months
Prince William County:  2.28 months

Wow! Considering that a balanced market is defined by 5-6 months' worth of housing inventory, there's almost nothing available.  If no other homes were to go on the market for sale in Falls Church for example, houses would completely sell out there by mid-February 2012!  It's no wonder that homes are nowhere to be found. 

As a Northern Virginia homebuyer, you've got to be prepared to jump when the right available home comes along.

Take a look at the chart below which compares the average days on the market recently with the same statistic 4 years ago (blue line represents recent time period). Boy, has the market changed!  Houses in Northern Virginia are selling on average a full 30 days or more faster than they did back then.

Advice for Buyers:  Search for Northern Virginia homes today!  Contact me to see them as soon as you see something you like so that you don't miss out.

Advice for Sellers:  If you are serious about selling your Northern Virginia home, let's price it right, put it on the market and watch the buyers swarm!

Thinking about living in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia? Get a feel for this vibrant historic area just 7 miles south of the Nation's Capital. Brian Block, a real estate broker with RE/MAX Allegiance provides a guided tour to the sights, sounds and highlights of Old Town.

Search for homes in Old Town Alexandria

Alexandria Virginia Real Estate Market Statistics

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Before looking ahead, it's important to take a look back at real estate sales for 2011.  At the start of 2011, inventory of homes on the market was way down from 2010, the federal homebuyer tax credit was over, and the economy was still in flux. The home sales news for 2011 in Northern Virginia was a mixed bag.  Prices were up in most areas and the market has generally stabilized.  However the overall number of homes sold was down in almost all jurisdictions.

Whether you are planning to sell your home in 2012 are are interested in purchasing a home this year (I know it's on some of your New Year's resolutions lists), it's necessary to understand some numbers -- the number of sales and the amount of inventory available.

How many homes sold in Northern Virginia in 2011?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          % Change from 2010
ALEXANDRIA CITY                 1,970 Homes Sold in 2011                    +3.6%
ARLINGTON COUNTY              2,355 Homes Sold in 2011                     -9.1%
FAIRFAX COUNTY                 12,541 Homes Sold in 2011                    -8.7%
FALLS CHURCH CITY                   193 Homes Sold in 2011                  +36.0%
LOUDOUN COUNTY                   4,773 Homes Sold in 2011                    -2.5%
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY    5,752 Homes Sold in 2011                   -12.2%

In almost all markets with the exception of Alexandria and Falls Church, volume of sales were down.  Prince William County sales numbers dropped by the largest amount.  Overall there were 2,234 less home sales in Northern Virginia in 2011 as compared to 2010 or a total decrease in volume of 7.5%

How many Northern Virginia homes will sell in 2012?  Pull out your crystal balls.  There's a ton of variables this year and the experts and prognosticators vary widely on their predictions of a real estate recovery, the economy, how much foreclosures and short sales will continue to impact our market, the job market, and the new Congress.

INVENTORY ALERT!!

As of the start of 2012, here are the inventories of resale homes listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service:

                                                                                        % Change from 1/1/11
ALEXANDRIA CITY                    347 Homes Available                                 -32.9%
ARLINGTON COUNTY                 455 Homes Available                                  -5.0%
FAIRFAX COUNTY                   2,142 Homes Available                               -14.4%
FALLS CHURCH CITY                     22 Homes Available                                -15.4%
LOUDOUN COUNTY                  1,202 Homes Available                                 -4.2%
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY    1,094 Homes Available                               -19.1%

Overall, inventory numbers are way down from already low inventories at the beginning of 2011.  This could be very good news if you are planning to sell your home this year.  If 2012 home sales continue even at the sluggish 2011 pace, most jurisdictions currently have less than 2-3 months of inventory supply! Incredibly good news if you plan to sell your home and price it right!

IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO NORTHERN VIRGINIA BUYERS AND SELLERS:

You can't control the market.  You can't control the prices or the number of sales. 

The market is constantly changing. 

2012 IS THE TIME to get expert advice, a skilled negotiator, and a savvy real estate broker who knows how to navigate this market to help you with your real estate goals.