Loading ...Buying a New Home in Northern VA or DC…Now?
February 4th, 2008 by Tyler | 435 views |
Email This Post
| Invite Your Friends
(7 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5)
Loading ...As most of you know from the recent real estate news, new home builders are having a hard time selling homes in the DC Metro area. Therefore, more homes and condos in Northern Virginia and Washington DC are available to purchase than one would expect. Is this a good time to buy? It depends on your situation. If you plan on buying a home because of the recent interest rate cuts, make sure you plan to living there for at least 3 - 5 years. This way you can weather the times if there is any downturn in the market.
If you plan on buying a new home, then turning around to flip it for a profit in the next year or two - I would say that now is NOT the time for you to buy. The best deals from what I’ve seen lately in Northern Virginia and DC are new construction homes and foreclosures. I have typically seen the largest price drops in these types of homes recently. Not to say you can’t find a great deal on a resale home, but sellers who have bought within the last 3 years (and did 100% financing) are many times “upside down” and don’t have much room for negotiations.
Many first time home buyers are unaware that the sales agents at these new home communities work FOR the builder. What does this mean? Well, it means that they are on the builder’s side and are looking out for the builder’s best interest. The reason I bring this point up is because you should always visit a new home community with representation from a real estate agent. Your agent will look out for your best interest, including pointing out design flaws, giving resale pointers, justifying comps, factoring in incentives, assisting with contingencies, making sure you are protected and negotiate on your terms. It doesn’t cost you any more to use an agent and the price of the home stays the same, so why wouldn’t you utilize the expertise of a real estate professional?
Click the link below to watch the video from Kiplinger. (heads up, there is a 10 second commercial before the actual video)
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Buying a Home, First Time Home Buyer, New Construction Homes, Northern Virginia Real Estate, Virginia Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
