Barbara A. Reagan

Hello, Nina,

I hope you are enjoying your real estate class. If you visit my website, http://www.YourRichmondHome.com, I have a separate page for Chesterfield County, Short Pump and Henrico County, in which I track the single family closings for the year. Feel free to visit that as I have information on the first 3 quarters sales informations for those areas (January to June 2008) vs. the first 3 quarters sales informations for these areas (January to June 2007). I have also added the same information for October. I do not separately track the condo closings, as well as the city of Richmond and Hanover County and the other outlying counties, but could easily pull that information together for you.

As for what next year holds, I would not want to predict with any type of certainty. A few months ago I would have said that our sales should be steady, but with recent layoffs at Circuit City and Quimonda, as well as uncertainty with Genworth, and the still high inventory figure that we have in the area, I am not sure if sales will continue to be at this level or if sales will drop even further next year. Richmond still continues to do better than many other areas, so it is hard to predict what will happen next year. Of course, much will depend upon which segment of the market you are talking about. The first time buyer market and those buyers who are relocating into the area who do not have a home to sell still seem to be the strongest market and the market that continues to purchase. Investors are still out there buying up properties because there are many that they can get a good deal on. I know that this is not a good answer as to what will happen next year - I feel that next year will also be a bit tougher but the good news is that buyers are still out there buying - but sellers need to have their homes in the best show condition and priced well to sell, even if the price is considerably lower than they feel they should be getting for their home.

Again, please feel free to visit my website in order to get statistics on this years sales and to email me if you would like me to pull the sales for condos, city of Richmond and Hanover County. Good luck to you. - Mon Nov 17 2008, 05:44

Hello, Jennifer,

Although I am not a commercial Realtor, perhaps a commercial Realtor would be able to run a search of recent sold properties and email that to you. That would be assuming that the property was listed in MLS. Otherwise you could contact a commercial Realtor, who may have another source of recent solds in the Richmond area.

Please feel free to contact me should you have any other questions.

Sincerely,
Barbara A. Reagan
Long & Foster Realtors - Thu Oct 16 2008, 17:19

Hello, Elinor,

Most of the short sales that I have seen in the Multiple Listing Service here in the Richmond VA area indicate that it is a short sale & as a Buyer Agent, I have an obligation to let my buyer know that, since it is considered a material fact. However, I am not sure what the obligation is on the part of the seller's agent to reveal that. Most of the short sales that I have seen show the seller's name as the owner but the remarks that I have seen in the Richmond MLS indicate that the sale is subject to bank's approval, as well as the bank's approval on any commission. Did your agent ask the listing agent if it was a short sale? Normally, those listings in Richmond have indicated that it is an "as is" sale and most of them seem to be priced well under the market value, which I would think should prompt a question to the other agent about if it is a short sale or a foreclosure or to find out the seller's situation on the sale.

So, in answer to your question about whether the seller's agent was unethical in not disclosing the short sale/potential foreclosure status - I am not sure if it was unethical. It may leave you with a bad taste but I am not sure that it was unethical, especially since you were represented by your own buyer agent, and I would not think it broke any laws, unless your state has laws specifically dealing with this situation. I am sorry that I could not give you a more definite answer. Good luck to you on your transaction.

Sincerely,
Barbara A. Reagan
Long & Foster Realtors - Wed Oct 15 2008, 19:41

Hello, Elinor,

I cannot speak for the entire market, just the buyers & sellers that I am working with. Whenever you do hear information like this on networks like CNN, they are really speaking about the entire country as a whole. In Richmond, our housing crisis (in terms of foreclosure rates, etc) are not nearly as bad as they are in other places like Miami, Las Vegas, even northern Virginia. From my experience with the buyers that I am working with, none of them have backed out of signed contracts before closing. And with my listings this has not occurred.

One thing that may be happening is that if a buyer begins to look for homes and has not made loan application and has been pre-qualified prior to finding a home, as we always recommend that they do, sometimes the loan program that they were originally pre-qualified on may go away. For instance, on Friday VHDA took several rate increases, putting the interest rate over 7%, which is the highest I can remember VHDA being in the 12+ years I have been a Realtor in Richmond. If the buyer I was working with had been pre-qualified for a loan on a VHDA mortgage and the rate was in the 6% range, as they had been, then if I did not check on the rates before writing up a contract and the contract was then accepted and then the buyer went to make loan application and then found out what the interest rate then the buyer may end up not getting financed or the financing contingency may be used to try to get out of the contract.

Always keep in mind that when the buyers sign a contract, and then decide to just walk away from the deal, there may be penalties for breaching the contract. There will also be contingencies in the contract which may allow the buyer to void the contract, but most buyers don't want to breach a contract.

I hope that helps answer your question. In this market, you will want to make sure that you are qualified to purchase the home, that you have a financing contingency in your contract that protects you and that you check what the rates and loan program is before you write up a contract on a home. You want to make sure that your Realtor stays on top of the various changes that are happening in the mortgage market, on all types of loan products (FHA, VA, VHDA, Conventional).

If you are not working with a Realtor and have any other questions, please don't hesitate to call me or email me. Good luck to you in your home search.

Barbara A. Reagan
Long & Foster Realtors
ABR, GRI, ePro, CRS
Cell: 804-869-1191
Email: Barbara@YourRichmondHome.com - Sat Oct 11 2008, 10:04

Hello, Nina,

The Stonewall Manor condos still seem to be pretty good sellers, even in this market. The reason is that the units still offer a good buy to the buyers out there, when you compare the prices here to the other condo & townhome communities that are in Henrico County, particularly the Far West End. And the location is excellent - 15 minutes to the West End, 5 minutes to I95, 10 minutes to the Virginia Center area, 15 to 20 minutes from downtown. There are a lot of units on the market in Stonewall Manor, and there are a number of different layouts to choose from. But these units still sell pretty good. Condos & townhomes are still good buys, because prices on single family homes are still so much higher than the prices of the condos/townhomes. Additionally, even though you must pay an association fee, many people, especially first time homebuyers, like the idea of having someone else take care of the exterior items (painting, mowing the grass, roof, etc). So to answer your question, yes Stonewall Manor condos are still a good buy and people are still buying.

Having said that, I would still tell you, that as a buyer, you will want to make sure that whatever you end up purchasing - whether a condo, townhome or single family home - you should be like the home and the neighborhood enough to be willing to stay in your home for the next 5 or more years. This is not a market that you will be in a position to build up your equity in only a couple of years.

If you are interested in Stonewall Manor, or if you would like to know what other condos & townhomes are on the market, please feel free to call me or email me and I will set you up with your own Personal Home Finder link through MLS, which will let you know everything that is currently on the market. If you are not working with a Buyer Agent, please feel free to call or email me with any questions, or if you would like to see any of the homes in the area.

Thanks for the question.

Barbara A. Reagan
ABR, GRI, ePro, CRS
Long & Foster Realtors
Cell: 804-869-1191
Email: Barbara@YourRichmondHome.com
Web: http://www.YourRichmondHome.com - Mon Oct 6 2008, 08:15