Market Trends

Home Prices Fall Slowly. But Why?

I just read an incredible article entitled “Why Home Prices May Keep Falling” published by the New York Times. It describes, in pretty good detail, why home prices fall, and fall slowly. The most interesting part of the article is when the author describes the points of view held by...

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Amazing Facts About Today’s Real Estate Market

New home construction was up 22% in February compared to January of this year. It is the first time housing starts have increased since June 2008, when they rose 11%. (source: US Commerce Department) Nearly one-quarter of first-time buyers are single females who purchased their first home on a median...

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January Real Estate Market Report

Home sales were down significantly in January compared to the previous year. Here are the numbers: January 2008: 52 January 2009: 36 That’s a plunge of 30.7% in the Harrisonburg area. Is the sky falling? I don’t think so. January’s sales reflect contracts written in November and December — which...

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National + Local Real Estate Markets in the News

The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 6.5 percent from November 2008 to December 2008. This a rare bit of good news for the national real estate market, which saw a drop in sales prices around 15% in from 2007 to 2008. Read more here. The...

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Is Now the Time to Buy a Home?

Maybe. It is certainly a buyer’s market, which means that home buyers have the advantage in negotiations, as well as a broad range of choices. However, since it is a difficult market for sellers, our team’s counsel to inquiring would-be buyers is that they need to be reasonably confident that...

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Fuzzy Math on Average Home Price? Or Not?

As I wrote in a post a couple of days ago, home prices in the Harrisonburg area did not drop significantly in 2008. When I ask friends and clients how much they think prices have dropped, on average, from 2007 to 2008, the answer is reliably between 10% and 25%....

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