MoCoRealEstate

Archive for December, 2008

Darnestown real estate year-end review

December 29th, 2008 Categories: Darnestown

We love Darnestown and do a lot of business here.  Inventory here has been high this year.  Especially for homes priced over $1 million, the market has seemed slow.  Just looking at sales over the last two years, the total number of sales is down 28%.  The first waves of the credit crunch hit in the fall of 2007 which carried into 2008.  Compared to last year, sales were down nearly 40%  for the 1st half of the year.  Sales in the 2nd half Read the rest of this entry »

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NAR’s plan to improve the housing market misses the mark

December 23rd, 2008 Categories: In General

Everyone has an opinion on how the U.S. government should address the economy and the housing market.  The professional body that represents real estate agents is NAR – the National Association of Realtors.  NAR promotes many positions that I agree with — like providing better health care options for Realtors and protecting property owner’s rights.  NAR’s “four-point plan” to stabilize the real estate market, however, is off target.

#1. Change the $7,500 tax credit currently available to new home buyers:  make it available to all buyers, and don’t require repayment. To me, this was bad legislation from Day One. Right now, a new home buyer can take a $7,500 credit Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | 2 Comments »

Santa has awesome time management skills

December 19th, 2008 Categories: Things to Do

It’s the day before the BIG PROJECT is due.  Even the most organized, best time managers among us would still have lots to do.  On Christmas Eve, one would think that Santa Clause would be on the phone with suppliers, fine-tuning his flight plan and finalizing the nice-and-naughty lists (Bernard Madoff – Santa’s working on a special list just for you).  No – he’s not doing any of these things.  He’ll be on the Potomac River waterskiing with his buddies.  If you are looking for a fun distraction on Christmas Eve, then this is definitely worth the drive to D.C.  And “Yes Virginia”, the Potomac River is really, really cold this time of year.

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Leave A Comment

More signs of stability

December 16th, 2008 Categories: Market Updates

“When will we hit bottom?” We get that question a lot from home buyers and sellers in Montgomery County.  I think a better question is “When will the local real estate market stabilize?”. There won’t be a specific date that marks this transformation, but we will observe a time period with increased home sales and a stablization of the inventory of available homes.  Two observations tell me that we are seeing signs of a more stable market.

The first good sign is increasing sales activity for entry-level homes in our market.  From Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Leave A Comment

20854 – One Zip Code, Two Worlds

December 8th, 2008 Categories: Luxury Homes, Potomac

Most people think of Potomac as an area of grand estates on large, leafy lots.  One can easily find breath-taking estate homes in Potomac, but this isn’t the only type of home here.  This is a big area with about 17,000 homes.  This zip code usually takes the top spot in Montgomery County for sales volume, and is normally in the top 10 for units sold.  As you get to know the area, Potomac has two distinct flavors. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Leave A Comment