Foreclosure, Foreclosure, Foreclosure

Well, I know this is the Northern Virginia Real Estate Blog and most of my recent posts have been centered on VA REO Foreclosures ... primarily because REO properties are the hot topic both in the news and with Buyer's and Seller's too.

For Buyer's REO is a hot topic because the foreclosure properties are typically very good purchase deals and the aggressively priced foreclosure listings have been bringing down the values of owner occupied homes. That loss of value and market competition is a hot "negative" topic for Seller's. As the property values have declined I have observed many Seller's that have held out hope for Top-Dollar only to watch the Days On Market pile up as they have maintained a List Price that is above an ever lowering bar of fair market value. In this market if you "HAVE TO SELL" then the best strategy is to get your home priced where you are the next home to sell or at least in every prospective Buyer's TOP 5. Don't be penny-wise and pound foolish ... get your home priced to sell. This market is about price, price and price.

As far as the News and Media are concerned, happy endings and feel-good stories don't sell many newspapers or generate much TV ad revenue. The Foreclosure Market makes for good news even if it does not tell the whole story or even part of the story. I have not been seeing many foreclosures in Great Falls, McLean, Vienna, Oakton or Fairfax Station. I can just about count them on my own hands. Granted we do have some locations that are getting severely beat down by high foreclosure rates. Sterling and Sterling Park, downtown Herndon, Manassas, Manassas Park and Woodbridge have flooded markets with foreclosures and the loss of property value has been acute.

Tomorrow I will finish off 2007 with just some general real estate information and hopefully something up beat too.

JT

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