How's your title?

Busy weekend. Lots of open houses. The market has changed enough that it's fashionable to do open houses again. Many agents say that open houses are just to get you, the agent, new clients but I've sold three houses from an open house so I'm always happy to do them. Mine yesterday at 53 Seaton Place was busy. There were two other houses open on the block.

If you didn't get to read the Real Estate section of the Washington Post this weekend, here's an article that everyone who has bought a house or is buying a house with a friend or significant other should read: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/23/AR2006062300646.html

Interest rates continue to go up slightly but they are still low. Dive in the water's fine!

The tax sale

The tax sale list came out yesterday. Is your home on it? Actually mine was a few years ago. Not because I hadn't paid my taxes. Because DC applied my tax payment to someone else. It took me six months to clear it up. It's always a good idea to go to the DC real property database to check your status just in case.
Anyway, people always ask if they should buy a property from the tax sale. The answer is yes, if you have the time and the money. It takes about a year for you to actually get possession of a housed purchased through the tax sale but even if you buy it, there's no guarantee that you'll get it. Oftentimes it could be a mistake that caused the house to end up on the list (like my situation a few years ago-someone actually tried to buy it too). The owner has a year to pay the taxes and get straight with the city. In the meantime, the money that you put down for it is sitting earning a small amount of interest until it's even sent back to you because the owner paid the taxes or until you actually get the house. There's a little more involved but that's basically how it works. I don't know about you but I rarely have a couple thousand dollars or so I can stand to part with for a year or so.
I have a new listing. It's in the neighborhood at 53 Seaton Place NW. The list price $645,000. It's the house in the picture. It's a beautiful 6 bedroom, 2.5 bath Victorian in the heart of Eckington. For more information about it go to my website at www.angelajonesrealestate.com. I'm having an open house for it on Sunday, 1-4 pm.
Hope to see you there.

It's not down for the count yet

All the pundits continue to inject gloom and doom into reports about the housing market and what's going on. People continue to buy and sell houses though so I don't think you can say that the housing market is down for the count. Granted, the frenzy isn't there like it was two years ago but the market is still robust. Here's an article from the Wall St. Journal that points to the fact that housing starts are up: http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/markettrends/20060620-blackstone.html

What that means to you is this. Ignore what the pundits say. Yes houses are staying on the market longer. Some sellers haven't figured out yet that they probably won't get as much for their house as they would have gotten three years ago. They're still in denial about it and are less willing to reduce the price when they need to. Get over it. The market is what it is, today. Deal with it. And some buyers are still waiting to see what happens. To them I say, what the heck are you waiting for?

The dog days of summer

It was so hot this weekend, not just the temperature, although 95 degrees was pretty darn hot. The real estate market was hot too. These are the dog days of summer and in real estate, this is when people who have been thinking about buying or selling usually decide to act. I'm busier now than I've been all year. A lot of my clients have decided they want to make a move so things have been hopping. Fortunately for them all, there's more out there to choose from so they have greater selection now. There's no way to tell how the market will be in the coming months, I certainly don't have a crystal ball. But if you're still on the fence about buying or selling, now's the time to do it. Sure things will slow some in the coming months, prices may even go down slightly. If you wait, however, you lose the benefit of having a house now and all the advantages that come from that and with interest rates edging up still, you'll basically pay more even if prices go down. Now's the time to strike.

The real estate section of Saturday's Washington Post the past two Saturday's had two excellent articles. One was on how deals can fall apart at the settlement table. I have three settlements in the coming weeks and I always worry about what can go wrong. So much so that I often don't get much sleep the week of a settlement. I had one last week and for several days prior to the closing, I was waking up at 3 a.m. and I couldn't go back to sleep. Here's the Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/16/AR2006061600749.html

The other article was on loans. When choosing the type of loan to finance your home purchase, be careful. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/09/AR2006060900027.html

There's a lot involved when buying or selling a house so keep me in mind if you have questions or need the services I can provide. Enjoy the rest of your day and remember you can rest when you die.

So much happening in real estate these days. The inventory is high and the buyers are out there looking like crazy. If you have a house to sell and you want to take advantage of the developing buyer's market, there are some things to do to get your house ready for sale. Check out this info from the Wall St. Journal: http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/tactics/20060606-hoak.html

If you're buying and you want to take advantage of the market, make sure you are prepared, meaning make sure you are already pre-approved by a lender. Stay away from Internet lenders though because you can't be assured that your loan will get to settlement and listing agents don't like dealing with the prospect of a home not going to settlement. If you have questions about that process, give me a call or email me.