Archive for the 'For Buyers' Category
February Sales of Lake Monticello Real Estate
March 9th, 2010 categories: First Time Buyers, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Monticello, Market Statistics and Information, Monthly Statistics, News
It’s time to take a look at the February sale stats for Lake Monticello Real Estate. . .
Luckily, things are warming up and Spring is just around the corner. In looking at the February stats for Lake Monticello, it looks as if the snow and the tough winter put quite a freeze on the market.
Lake Monticello sees only 3 sales in February
- February was a tough month for Lake Monticello real estate sales. A total of only 3 homes sold in the month of February, 2010. This is half as many as the number of homes sold (6) in February of 2009.
- The highest price of the February sales was $199,500. The lowest was $153,000. The average of the 3 homes was $174,833.
Lake Monticello ahead of 2009 pace
Through February, there have been 13 sales in Lake Monticello in 2010. This number is much better than the 9 sales that Lake Monticello saw during the first two months of 2009. Despite the low number of February sales, the 2010 Lake Monticello real estate market is ahead of last year’s pace, so far.
February sales market analysis
Below is an analysis of the February 2010 sales in Lake Monticello. The analysis gives you information on each of the homes sold, and cumulative data for all of them. As always, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re happy to help however we can!
February 2010 Lake Monticello Real Estate Sales Analysis
All of the statistics and data provided come from the Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS MLS. The information provided is believed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.
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Lake Monticello Waterfront Market Update 2/23/2010
February 23rd, 2010 categories: Communities, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Monticello, Market Statistics and Information, Waterfront Updates
The prime selling season is beginning to heat up in the Lake Monticello real estate market. That means that the prime selling season for waterfront homes is coming, as well. We wanted to update you on what activity there has been in the Lake Monticello waterfront market so far in 2010, and what the market for waterfront homes looks like right now. . .
DISCLAIMER: The following information is from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors MLS. We believe it is accurate, but it can’t be guaranteed.
Waterfront listings currently on the market (main lake, as of 2/23/2010):
- 18 active listings
- Lowest price is $345,000, highest price is $945,000
- Average price is $474,933
- Median price is $464,900
Waterfront listings sold in 2010:
- One waterfront listing has sold so far in 2010.
- The home was a 4200 sq. ft., 6 bedroom, 3 bathroom home, built in 1984.
- It was listed for $525,000 and sold for $507,000 (96.5%).
Waterfront listings under contract in 2010:
- One waterfont home has gone under contract in 2010
- The home is a 3100 sq. ft., 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom home, built in 1995.
- When it went under contract, the home was listed at $515,000
- The home was on the market for 253 total days, and began at at list price of $549,000
This information gives you an up-to-date picture of what the waterfront market is like right now, as we head into the selling season. There are sure to be more waterfront homes coming on the market at Lake Monticello, and activity should pick up over the next few months.
If you have any questions about this information, or would like to know more about waterfront homes at Lake Monticello, please feel free to contact us. We are happy to help however we can. If you want to see for yourself why people are attracted to the waterfront lifestyle that Lake Monticello offers, please take a look at our video tour of Lake Monticello.
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Join us on our Lake Monticello Video Tour
February 2nd, 2010 categories: Communities, First Time Buyers, For Buyers, For Sellers, Info, Lake Monticello
We work with a lot of people who are interested in buying real estate in Lake Monticello. Many of those people have never been to Lake Monticello when they first contact us. That means that one of the first question they ask is, “What is Lake Monticello like?”
That is a tough question for us to answer because, until you’ve been here, it is tough to describe to someone. We love living here, and we love telling people all about it; but it is really tough to give people what an idea of what it is really like to live here. Sure, you can see pictures on the internet, but they really don’t give you a feel for how it all comes together into such a unique and wonderful community.
If you’re interested in Lake Monticello, our video tour can help!
We decided that an effective, convenient way for folks to become more familiar with the community would be to take them on a tour that they could watch right from the comfort of their own homes. That’s why we created our Lake Monticello Video Tour.
The video tour was shot, narrated, and created by us, and it will give you a more complete look at everything Lake Monticello has to offer. During the tour, we take you to all five of Lake Monticello’s beaches, the clubhouse, pool, marina, tennis courts, fishing lake, and the golf course. We’ll take you around Jefferson Drive and share some of the history of Lake Monticello and valuable information that will make you more familiar with Lake Monticello and all that it has to offer.
The tour lasts about 30 minutes, but if you are interested in real estate in Lake Monticello, then we think taking the tour is well worth your time. . .
Please share the video tour with your friends and family!
One of the things that we know very well, being that we all live at Lake Monticello, is that friends and family are always asking us what the community is like. If you live at Lake Monticello now, or are interested in moving here, you’ll probably get the same questions from your friends and family.
That’s one reason that we created the video– so that people who know how great Lake Monticello is can share it with folks who want to know what it is like. We would love it if you would bookmark and share the video with other people when they ask you about Lake Monticello. All you have to do click here.
That page is the permanent home of our Lake Monticello Video Tour. We encourage you to bookmark it and share it any time someone asks you about Lake Monticello. We know how hard it is to explain to people, so why don’t you let the video tour do the talking?
As always, if you have any questions about anything in the video, or anything at all about Lake Monticello, just let us know. We’re happy to help however we can!
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2009 Lake Monticello & Fluvanna Real Estate Market Year-in-Review
January 28th, 2010 categories: Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Communities, First Time Buyers, Fluvanna County, For Buyers, For Sellers, Info, Lake Monticello, Market Statistics and Information, News, Quarterly Reports, STR Market Info Blitz
As promised on Monday, today is the day we release our 2009 Lake Monticello & Fluvanna Real Estate Market Year-in-Review. This report is just the latest edition of our Quarterly Market Reports.
2009 was in interesting year for real estate in the Charlottesville area, and especially in Lake Monticello and Fluvanna County. The year began with historically low sales numbers, but ended on a high note, spurred by the first-time homebuyer tax credit. All of this is reflected in the statistics in the report.
The report contains pages of statistics and analysis about the Charlottesville area and Lake Monticello and Fluvanna real estate markets. Here’s just some of the most interesting questions we answer in the report:
- Two counties in the Charlottesville area had more sales in 2009 than in 2008. Which ones were they?
- How many sales were there in Fluvanna and Lake Monticello in 2009? Which months were the best?
- What was the median home price in Fluvanna and Lake Monticello in 2009?
- What was the impact of the First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit on the market?
- How was the Lake Monticello waterfront market impacted in 2009?
These and many other critical pieces of information are included. We’ve been hard at work compiling the stats and doing the analysis because we want our clients to be the most informed clients in the area about the real estate market. This information is critical for you to have and understand so that you can make good decisions and reach your real estate goals.
Once again, you can find the report here. From that page, you can download, print, or even share the report with others. If you have any problems viewing the page, and would like us to email you a PDF copy of the report, just send us an email, and we’ll get it out to you right away. If you want, you can also scroll down and view the report right here in this post, and you still have the option of downloading or sharing the report with anyone you think might benefit from it.
As always, if there is anything you need, or any questions we can answer, don’t hesitate to ask. We’re always here to help you however we can.
2009 Lake Monticello and Fluvanna County Real Estate Market Year-in-Review
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3 Things You Should Know About Buying a Short Sale in the Charlottesville Area
January 20th, 2010 categories: Financing, First Time Buyers, For Buyers, Helpful Tips, Info, STR Market Info Blitz
This post is part of the Strong Team REALTORS Market Info Blitz. We’re heating up the Winter market by giving you three-months worth of the information you need, November through January. Check out the latest posts in the blitz, here.
There are many short sales in the Charlottesville Area
Over the last year, there has been a surge in a type of sale that was previously unknown to most people who were interested in buying a home– the short sale.
Now, if you are looking for a home in the Charlottesville area, it is a good bet that at least one of the homes that you want to consider is a short sale. A few years ago, this would not have been the case. The reality is that short sales are here to stay for the foreseeable future in the Charlottesville real estate market, so it is a good idea to know what to expect when you come across a short sale property.
If you want to buy a short sale property, then there are some things that you need to know so that you can give yourself the best chance for success.
What is a short sale?
Because of the downturn in the real estate market, and falling property values, some people owe more money on their mortgage than their house is currently worth. Sometimes, those people need to sell their homes now, and can’t wait for property values to rebound.
When a person needs to sell their home and the amount that they owe on the mortgage exceeds the value of the home, they are sometimes able to proceed with a short sale. When someone asks their mortgage bank to do a short sale, they are basically saying to the bank, “I can no longer afford to pay my mortgage. I need to sell the house, but I can’t afford the difference between the value of the house and my outstanding loan balance.”
If the homeowners are able to prove to the bank that they cannot afford to continue to pay the mortgage, and prove that the house is worth less than the remaining mortgage balance, the bank might approve a short sale.
So, what should you do when you are looking at homes, and you find out that the one you want to buy is a short sale? What should you expect? What should you know?
3 Things to know about buying a short sale
Navigating through the process of buying a short sale can sometimes be frustrating. There are 3 things that you need to know before you go into the process that can help you avoid some of the frustration that can occur and get you in the right frame of mind for successfully buying a short sale property.
1. Be very patient. The short sale process can take a LONG time. In a typical buying transaction, you would identify the house you want to buy, submit a contract to the owners, negotiate the contract, come to an agreement, and then go through the normal steps before closing. Usually, this might take 30-60 days. The short sale process adds another step that can significantly increase the amount of time it takes to successfully close on the house– the bank.
In a short sale, you will still submit the offer to the sellers, and you will still need to reach an agreement with them. Once that is done, however, the contract will still need to be approved by the bank (or banks) that hold a mortgage on the property. Banks are being flooding with short sale requests, and as of yet, they haven’t committed a lot of resources to processing these requests. That means that simply getting bank approval can sometimes take months, and this is after you have already agreed to a price with the sellers.
There is very little you, or the sellers, can do to speed up the process. Once the bank has all of the required paperwork, they will take however much time they want to either approve or deny the sale. If you are in a situation where you need to close on a house in 30-60 days, you are probably not going to be successful buying a short sale. Short sales routinely take twice that long, or longer. If you are in a short sale, then the best thing you can do for yourself is to remain patient. If it really is the house that you want, and you have the time to wait it out, then all you can do is wait.
2. Don’t expect the sellers to fix any home inspection items. If you are buying a short sale property, you already know that the seller cannot afford their mortgage payments any longer. Obviously, this indicates that the sellers are cash-strapped. If you are going to have a home inspection on the property, and you should, then you need to go into the home inspection assuming that you are going to be responsible for addressing any of the items that are found. Sure, you can ask the sellers to fix items, but don’t be surprised when they tell you that they don’t have the money to fix any of the items.
You should also keep in mind that you probably won’t receive any credits for home inspection items. Doing so is usually frowned upon by the banks involved, and getting approval for such credits merely serves to delay the process even further.
If you are going to have a home inspection on a short sale property, your best approach is to understand that you will be responsible for anything that is discovered, if you choose to go through with the purchase of the house.
3. You are negotiating with a bank, not a person. Sure, the sellers still own the house, and you submitted your offer to the sellers, and they are going to sign it. The reality, though, is that the bank is calling the shots. If the bank denies the short sale, the sellers can’t sell the house, and you can’t buy it from them.
All of this means that patience once again becomes paramount. Because the bank is the party that is really in control, there is going to be more paperwork involved. The bank may want you to sign agreements that wouldn’t be included in a normal purchase transaction.
Appeals to humanity probably won’t get you very far, either. Sometimes, you can endear yourself to a seller by telling your story, helping them get to know you so that they know where you are coming from in the process. The bank doesn’t care about you. For the bank, this is purely a financial transaction. It is purely a business decision that must go through the prescribed process. That is it.
Don’t get frustrated because you think the bank is ignoring you, or not considering your point of view. That might be true, but the bank really doesn’t care that you are frustrated. They just don’t.
Buying a short sale can be worth it
We’re not telling you these things to discourage you from buying a short sale property. We just want you to understand that buying a short sale property is different from going through the normal purchase transaction.
We have helped many buyers and sellers, from Lake Monticello to Albemarle, navigate the sometimes turbulent short sale waters. All of them felt that the process was worth the time and effort that it required. It might be worth it for you, too. It is just important to understand what you are going to be going through before it actually happens. That way, you are prepared for the success that you want achieve.
If you have any questions about buying a short sale or what to expect during the process, just let us know. We’re always happy to help people and prepare them for success.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetruthabout/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
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