Riverfront Update August 2008

Even though we are in one of the most challenging markets for those attempting to sell property, the Riverfront neighborhood in Northern Suffolk is experiencing encouraging results.
As of August 4th, there have been 25 homes to close with in the 08' calendar year. Of the 25, 11 were new construction and 14 were resale. The price range of closed sales is between $455,000 and 2 million. 10 homes have closed for $600,000 or less. There are also 11 homes in pending, 8 of which are new construction and 3 resale. If the majority of these in pending close within the next 4 months, the closed sales will be over 30.
39 houses are active in the neighborhood currently, ranging from $469,900 to 3.495 mil.

To compare the Riverfront with other local neighborhoods with upscale housing:

Gatling Point in Isle of Wight County has 12 sold (ranging from $319,000 to $662,000) and 22 active properties.

Founders Pointe also in Isle of Wight has 14 sold (ranging from $454,000 to $700,000), 3 pending and 13 active properties.

Governors Pointe in Suffolk has 3 sold (ranging from $585,000 to $833,000), 2 pending and 11 active properties.

Miars Plantation in Chesapeake has 3 sold, 1 pending, and 10 active properties for sale.

Riverbend in Chesapeake has 4 sold, 2 pending, and 4 active.

The Importance of a Virtual Tour

In today's real estate market, the consumer has more resources at their fingertips than ever before. The internet has become the most important tool for buyers to do their homework as they are looking for their new home. Our research shows that over 84% of buyers will search for homes online before consulting a real estate agent. What this means is the more information and pictures you can give a potential buyer the better. The buyers are more savvy than you could ever imagine.
A virtual tour will enable the buyer to get a strong sense of your home's layout and features through a few quick steps from their home computer. Many buyers will send the wife down to visit the area and scout homes to report back and vice-versa. The tour will enable the other half to see the home and get a feel for what it has to offer. You can also use the tour with visualizing where to place furniture in any given room. While nothing can be done to truly replace the importance of physically being in the home, the virtual tour is the next best thing.
I use Carl Unterbrink with www.TourImaging.com , who in my opinion, does the best job of any photographer in the area. I have the ability to track the number of visitors to my tours, so that I can compile web viewings to report to my seller's during market updates.
If you are not taking advantage of the latest techniques in marketing, you are truly putting your home at a disadvantage.

Market Update July 2008

If you haven't read the newspaper or don't own a television set, then you probably aren't aware of the real estate market conditions. We hear the words, "distressed, slumping, soft, or a heavy buyers market" more often then we would like. While myself and many of my fellow Realtors in the Hampton Roads area would love to see a more balanced market, our area is still holding it's head above water compared to many Ohio, Florida, and California market places.
I was recently invited to a seminar on "The Hampton Roads Housing Crisis" presented by an Old Dominion economic professor, specializing in analyzing and forecasting local market conditions. I came away with fresh optimism for the near future. He focused specifically on the "Sub-prime mortgage effect" in Hampton Roads. A sub-prime loan by definition is loans made to people with criteria that do NOT fit within the standard underwriting guidelines. There are many reasons that someone may be in a sub prime loan – certain situations with your credit, employment etc. The professor presented data on the number of these loans given in our area, the number that have gone south, and the number of sub-prime loans still out there and when they should mature. Bottom line--the percentage of sub-prime loans in Hampton Roads is much smaller than other Mid-Atlantic cities, such as Jacksonville, FL, Charlotte, NC, and Northern Va. Most of all of these loans should mature by the end of 2009. This should limit the number of short sales and foreclosures in the area.

Currently in South Hampton Roads there are 10,462 properties on the market. This includes attached and detached properties.
The number of closed sales between 1/01/08-7/09/08 is 6,646
Compared to: 1/01/07-7/09/07 is 9001
1/01/06-7/09/06 is 10,175
1/01/05-7/09/05 is 10,682