To the Buyers of Northern VA Real Estate: Join the Club!

Did you wake up two weeks ago and decide to finally purchase a home in Northern Virginia? Well, it appears you are not alone. Here's what is going on. Complete and utter madness; a frenzy of people buying homes. I want to give you a couple of examples.

Last weekend I showed a home in Reston. It already had three offers on it, but my buyers were curious so I happily showed them the house. How do I say this nicely? It was priced high and was nothing to write home about. It needed quite a bit of work. BUT it had three offers on it already! It had only been on the market for three days.

This weekend I went out with different clients looking to purchase a home. It was a Sunday, so many of the homes were having open houses. They were all packed full of buyers wanting to be one of the many people competing to purchase it. Now, these weren't foreclosures or inexpensive homes, but priced $600,000 and up. Not only will the owners get their asking price, but possibly more. What's happening here?

Interest rates are at rock bottom. Some media and economists are finally saying, "Yes, it is time to buy," and inventory is low in Northern Virginia. I've been researching this. Are other areas experiencing the same "recovery?" Some are, but it's my impression is that they aren't to this extent.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said strong gains in contract activity in recent months show buyers are responding to very favorable market conditions. “The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals—pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents.”

Like I said, this has all happened in the past two weeks. I'm assuming this buying craze will continue through spring as long as interests rates are low and there isn't a lot on the market.

When I ask my various buyers why they want to purchase a home at this time they say, "The interest rates are low," "The economy is recovering," "I'm tired of throwing away money on rent," and "I'm just tired of waiting...I think the market has reached the lowest point." These are all excellent reasons.

Good luck buyers! If you see a home you really want to purchase you need to act on it quickly and not play a lot of "games" negotiating price as there will likely be another buyer right behind you. If you don't feel comfortable with that, this might not be the right market for you to buy a home. How long will this last? It's really hard to predict, but for right now there's a lot of competition for the houses out there. It's a sellers market this spring, so those considering selling your home—this is the right time to do it!