MoCoRealEstate

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.

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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 »

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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 »

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And the most popular price for a Montgomery County home is…

November 26th, 2008 Categories: Market Updates

For people relocating to Montgomery County, buyers can get mixed messages about our true home values.  Most entry level housing is priced from $300,000 to $500,000.  Looking at total sales volume, the volume of homes sold up to $500,000 is about the same has homes selling from $500,000 to $1,000,000.  Of course, we also have multi-million dollar sales Read the rest of this entry »

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Chasing turkeys in Bethesda – a great Thanksgiving tradition

November 26th, 2008 Categories: Bethesda, Things to Do

In Bethesda’s earliest days in the 1800s, the swiftest Bethesdians would leave their homes before dawn on Thanksgiving day, enter the ancient and remote forests of Rockville and search for the largest and fiercest turkeys of the woodlands.    Once found, the runners would surround and chase the birds through down-town Bethesda.  Much like the running of the bulls in Pamplona, the entire town would come out to run with the noble birds on a 6 mile loop through town.  After the turkeys escaped back into the forest, residents would hitch-up their German-engineered wagons and drive to Read the rest of this entry »

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Top 5 things NOT to do when making a low offer

November 24th, 2008 Categories: Buying

Every purchase offer is a good offer — definitely better than the offer that was never made.  “Low ball” offers have their special challenges.  As a buyer, you increase your odds of success by following some basic guidelines.

Don’t talk-down the house. “We would offer more, but the wallpaper is horrible, the kitchen is a disaster and the lot is not very nice”. How do you think the seller will react to this message?  The potential buyer just trashed the seller’s home, so the seller doesn’t like the buyer already.  “If they hate house so much, Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | 1 Comment »

Three-times the sales compared to last year? Isn’t this a slow market?

November 20th, 2008 Categories: Foreclosures, Germantown, Market Updates, Silver Spring

Entry-level housing in Montgomery County is heating-up.  Looking at the last four weeks, the number of contracts in many parts of Montgomery County is more than tripled compared to this time last year for homes priced under $300,000.  As inventory has climbed, foreclosures and distress sales have applied downward pressure on prices in this segment.

So is this a harbinger that we’re reaching the illusive “bottom” of the Read the rest of this entry »

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Montgomery County weekly market update

November 18th, 2008 Categories: Market Updates

Here’s the first weekly snapshot the current real estate market for Montgomery County, Maryland. There are some trends that stand out:

• For the four weeks from October 20th through November 16th, 668 homes went under contract.  This is a healthy 15% higher than the 579 sales during the same period in 2007.

Read the rest of this entry »

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The spigot may be closing for Bethesda new construction

November 3rd, 2008 Categories: Bethesda

I’ve recently been working with a couple clients interested in new construction “infill” homes in Bethesda.  We’ve seen quite a few homes, but notice fewer homes are coming to the market.  This is an interesting segment of our market in which older homes have been demolished and replaced with new construction.  The average quality of these homes is very good with extensive use of hardwood flooring, fantastic kitchens, custom mouldings and premium bathroom amenities.  Add a great ‘close-in’ location, and you have product that area home buyers love.  A few trends are working to reduce the introduction of new homes Read the rest of this entry »

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Montgomery County foreclosure hotspots

November 3rd, 2008 Categories: Clarksburg, Foreclosures, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Silver Spring

With foreclosures and declining home prices, news on the real estate market isn’t good.  True, our local real estate market is under pressure; but Montgomery County is much healthier than markets in California, Las Vegas and Florida that we always hear about.  Foreclosures in our area are mostly concentrated in two areas: entry-level housing, and areas that experienced a lot of new construction in the early 2000s.

Right now, about 50% of all available homes in Montgomery County are priced under $400,000 in the zip codes of Read the rest of this entry »

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Going, Going, Gone!

November 1st, 2008 Categories: Our Homes

We connected buyers to these great homes, so they are no longer available.  Are you in the market to buy or sell a home?  Contact us so we can help.

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Leave A Comment