Chris Prince's Blog

Riverfront Home Sales in 2011

2011-09-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

Although the market continues to be shaky and property values still in decline, the Riverfront at Harbour View has had a great year! At the time of this writing (early Sept), there are 20 homes closed and an additional 5 in "pending". This year's "Homearama" show has contracts on 3 of the 10 homes in the show, even months before it starts! There are currently 27 homes on the market ranging from $479,900 to $2,650,000.
It is my opinion, that these transactions indicate a desire to move into a community that is a rare find.....one with a golf course, waterfront access, two swimming pools, and a full time activities director. Not to mention the new restaurants and shopping at our disposal. If you would like to schedule a private showing of any properties in the neighborhood, I would love to assist you in doing so.

Chris
757-235-1292

Dips Turns and Flips of the Market

2010-08-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Anybody who hasn't been living in a cave over the past 2 years realizes that we continue to be in a decling real estate market. Of course, Hampton Roads isn't alone in this downward spiral of home values. According to Susan Wachter, a professor in The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, 40 states saw housing prices decline between 2006 and 2009. During a June presentation in Norfolk, she noted that California saw a drop of 36 percent, Florida 37 percent and Nevada 49 percent. Fortunately for the Old Dominion state, only 5 to 10 percent decrease during the same three year period.

THE FACTS:

--In the third quater of 2009, 4 million loans were in foreclosure. Four years earlier, only a half of a million faced that agony.

--About 300,000 homeowners go into default every month.

--In 2006, 50 percent of housing prices were overvalued.

--The number of defaults, including people who were 30 days late paying their mortgage, was 7.89 million.

--Many homeowners have negative equity as a result of falling home prices, increasing the likelihood that many of them will default; as many as 5 million homes.

--The inventory of existing homes for sale in the country was 3.6 million as of March, which is equal to an EIGHT and a half month's supply.

I wish I had better news.....

Riverfront Update August 2008

2008-08-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

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