2008 - Happy New Year!

My 2008 Real Estate New Years Wishes

1. That the Northern VA Real Estate Market will level off and shows some signs of a rebound.

2. That I will be able to meet, fulfill and exceed the needs and goals of my clients.

3. That my personal real estate business will equal or exceed my 2007 volume.

Hopefully, the above is not too much to wish for. After multiple years of qualifying for The Multi-Million Dollar Sales Club ... 2007 was a very good year for yours truly and my sales volume will qualify me to be a Top Producer when NVAR gives out Sales Volume Awards in early February. A little hard for me to believe or explain since the market has been tough on both real estate clients as well as real estate professionals.

I'm counting my blessings and certainly extend much appreciation to all my clients from 2007, my colleagues that co-shared serving my clients and to everyone at Samson Realty. Success is usually a collective rather than individual achievment. It is a joy to work at a company with a friendly and family atmosphere. I could feel the support of my Brokers and the wonderful Samson Realty staff behind me all 365 days of 2007. Thanks to All!

JT

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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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