Health & Fitness
Are Sellers Accepting "Lowball" Offers On Their Woodbridge Homes?
Inventory of Woodbridge homes is significantly lower (50% in some areas) than two years ago and a "lowball" offer won't buy you a home.
Since April 2012 the inventory of available homes in the Woodbridge VA area has dropped significantly. In some zip codes in Woodbride the number of active homes for sale is 50% less than it was 2 years ago.
As a result the list to sales price ratio has risen to over 95% in all three Woodbridge zip codes (see chart.) With less inventory and more competition from buyers due in part to low interest rates homes are selling close to list price.
What does this mean to you as a buyer? It means you need to ignore the late night infomercials or national news talking about areas other than Woodbridge VA. You need to work with an agent who understands our region and can give you all of the comps for a specific home and neighborhood. Even in Woodbridge there can be big difference between zip codes and neighborhoods.
Understand that in the current (Spring 2013) market a strong offer has multiple components to it. Knowing what those are in addition to price can help you put together a winning strategy for home buying.
As tempted as you might be to try and present an offer significantly below the list price understand this is not the same Woodbridge market we saw between 2008-2010. If you are seriously looking for a new home make sure you are armed with current information, a pre-approval letter from your lender and a knowledable buyer's agent to help you navigate the 2013 Woodbridge market.
For more information on the Woodbridge VA real estate market and the surrounding area check out www.VaRealEstateTalk.com
