I received a call from a buyer yesterday who wanted an unbiased opinion about a contract she is involved in.  She's working with another agent.  I rarely accept those kinds of requests.  I don't like the idea of offering advice to another agent's client without his/her agreement, but this one came from a good friend who is a lender.  So, I agreed to listen and offer limited input. What the conversation evolved around was her agent's unwillingness to be assertive on a short sale contract she has submitted.  The breaking point for her was the foreclosure listing that showed up in the paper yesterday.  When she called her agent, he said there was nothing he could do.  She asked him to call the bank, call the listing agent, call somebody.  He refused.  He told her it is what it is, and they... 04/15/2012

When picking a real estate agent in Winchester, VA , make sure you ask questions up front, but don't be surprised if they ask you a few questions too.  Most agents have a good idea how to do a straight sale or a straight buy of real estate.  If you don't have any issues with your real estate opportunity you most likely won't have any problems with your sale or purchase. Richie Naggar's blog, "Real estate agents should brief you on what to expect" caused me to think about all of the complications I've run into on deals.  The majority of time it's missing information either from the client or from the other side of the table.  You may want to add a few questions to your client interview.  Remember, clients aren't the only ones doing interviews.  You should be interviewing them too. Agent ... 04/13/2012

The available houses in Winchester, VA in April 2012 has risen to 582.  That's a 7% increase in inventory over March listings.  In contrast, the number of REOs and short sales have declined slightly. Winchester City holds 112 of the available listings, down three from March.  The number of REOs in April stand at 4 and short sales at 11.  The March numbers are basically unchanged.  March had 115 listings with 4 REOs and 11 short sales.  Winchester has seen less movement than Frederick County. Frederick County, VA has 470 active listings.  Of that number, 33 are REOs and 43 are short sales.  The March listings were 448 with 36 REOsand 45 short sales.  Both REOs and short sales are down in the county.  The overall number of listings has increased by 22, but the distressed properties are dr... 04/08/2012

If you've ever had a pet fall into an emergency situation you know it can be terrifying and seconds can make all the difference.  A number of years ago, I was working on our garage door when one of my dogs walked under it and the door collapsed just as she crossed the threshold. The door pinned her to ground and she started struggling for air.  I could see the life draining out of her, and I literally torn the door apart getting her out from under it.  When I freed her, she was bloody and in bad shape.  After quick run to the vet's office she was checked out, stitched up and sent on her way.  It was a horrifying few minutes while she was pinned there.  Another dog in our family fell into our pool just as 30" of snow had fallen on the ground.  He didn't see it anymore and walked right ov... 04/06/2012

I've had a strange phenomena taking place over the past 8 years.  A number of the houses I've sold hang around.  What do I mean?  A number of my investor buyers like to buy houses as long as I promise to manage them as rentals. I make sure I only show them marvelous houses so I will enjoy the pleasure of them when I end up with them in my rental portfolio.  It has been kind of humorous.  The photo below is from one of those houses.  We went by today to swap out a water heater and to repair an attic fan.  I couldn't help but stop and photograph the driveway. 04/05/2012

Did you ever have one of those days where everything went sideways and you were just fascinated with each new development?  That was my day. Things are back to normal now, whatever that is. My morning started with a forgotten appointment, but thanks to my trusty iPhone it reminded me before I was late.  I had totally forgotten it.  There was really no chance I would have made it without the beeping phone.  No problem.  Crisis averted. Then, I had to be in two different communities photographing properties.  No problem.  I arrived at the first one and began taking pictures.  When I had taken five pictures, my camera started flashing that it was out of memory.  What?  I have a 16 GB  memory card in that camera.  I messed with it for a couple seconds and then I realized, no disk.  I had le... 04/04/2012

Fall and Spring are my favorite seasons.  I love to see the world around me going to sleep in the Fall, and I enjoy seeing it wake up in the Spring.  I'm a little less trusting of Spring than I am the Fall.  I've seen some of the deepest snowfalls of my life fall in April, and yet I've seen some of the most beautiful weather in April.  It's unpredictable. When I started college, I lived in Tulsa, OK.  I had lived most of my life in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, and our worst weather was comprised of rainy days or a couple feet of snow over a Winter.  We had all four seasons, and they typically changed like clockwork. I was surprised to learn that during the Spring months in the Tulsa-Broken Arrow area we had tornadoes.  If you've never been around a tornado, you're blessed.  They a... 04/02/2012

I just watched a video that was outstanding, and it made me stop and think, "When is the last time I stood in awe of something?"  How about you?  With our fast paced hyper-connected world, it is so easy to miss the amazing while moving along with rote routine. While driving to the office last week I saw a hawk sitting on top of a fence post.  I knew he was on the hunt.  He totally ignored me because something in brush caught his eye and he was focused.  I'm sure if I had made a move in his direction he would have taken flight, but for that moment, the world stood still and he concentrated on his prey.  I was fascinated watching him. We accomplish great things when we allow the world to slip away while we gaze into dreams that become our passion and then reality.  Without those component... 04/02/2012

I had the privilege of honoring one of the most amazing men I've ever known, today.  My father-in-law turns 80 on Monday.  That alone is hard for me to believe.  He has always been 49 in my world.  That's about the time I met him, and he is ageless.  My father-in-law, Alfred Snapp, Jr., has been a friend, a leader and a spiritual man in my life.  Ironically, he was also my student for nearly 25 years.  He is proof that a humble man can learn from anyone.  He was my student when I was a Bible school director and instructor, and he served in my church throughout my twenty years as a pastor.  He has another legacy that follows along behind him that I only played a small role in, and he perfected it.  In the early 90s, I was a pastor and chaplain at a regional jail.  I had ministered to tho... 03/31/2012

As Realtors, we talk about overpricing a lot.  An overpriced house is a lonely house.  It soon becomes stigmatized and ignored by most Realtors.  If it receives low offers that are countered by an insulted seller it will also acquire a reputation as a house that is not worth the trouble. I had a seller in 2010 that wanted to list his house just slightly too high.  It was about 10% over market, and we had discussed a system of moving it down over a designated time.  That never happened, of course.  It was the last house I ever overpriced. It was at the time when the market was just starting to experience a new wave of price weakness.  If I had run comps 45 days after list, the list price would have been lower.  Anyway, I received an offer within the first two weeks at 94% of list.  He co... 03/29/2012

I have a mantra I wish more people would follow.  It is "Stick with the professionals!"  My electrical contracting company does a lot of work for the Community Housing Partners.  CHP is a Federally funded weatherization company that helps low income homeowners weatherize their homes. Weatherization can only happen if all of the circumstances are right before the work is done.  Some of those conditions might be removing all knob and tube wiring from the attic or basement/crawlspace of a house.  Once that wiring is removed and replaced by updated and up to code wiring, the weatherizing team can come in and seal the house. We were called out on a CHP service call today.  This time, the homeowner had a service panel that had a problem.  He couldn't have his weatherization complete until the... 03/28/2012

The rental market in Winchester, VA is on fire.  Much like the housing sales market during the 2000s boom, the rental market has become very competitive, and good properties don't stay on the market long. The Winchester, VA rental market only has 61 properties currently available for rent.  Of those properties, 42 are listed in the $500-$1200 range, 6 are listed in the $1200-$1500 range, 11 are listed in the $1500-$2000 range and 2 are listed in the $2000-$3000 range.  There is a property to fit just about any budget.  Of the 61 available listings, 47 are in Frederick County.  That might mean a townhouse in Stephens City or on the outskirts of Winchester, a beautiful home in one of our many subdivisions or it might mean a detached property with a large yard and a barn.  The Frederick Co... 03/27/2012

Market reports aren't always exciting or sexy, but they do give you a great snapshot of what's happening in a specific area at a specific time.  When the national news is giving buyers and sellers one view of the real estate market it can skewed very fast.  The reality is that all real estate is local. The available homes for sale in Winchester, VA are increasing.  The current available listings total 563 at week three of March 2012.  Each week in the month of March has seen a change.  This week, inventory is up slightly, distressed properties dropped another 1.2% and prices are starting to stabilize, though not climbing radically. Winchester City has 115 current available listings.  Of that number, 11 are short sales and 4 are REOs.  Frederick County has 448 available listings with 45 ... 03/23/2012

The short sale market in Winchester, VA is beginning to show signs of a slight decline.  When the real estate market took a hit in the Fall of 2008, REOs exploded onto the scene as the prominent available listings.  As the the market has shifted back and forth, REOs are declining and short sales are the primary distressed properties.  Now, short sales in Winchester, VA have declined slightly, but they still make up 10% of the overall available listings.  Between Winchester City and Frederick County, VA, distressed properties make up 17% of overall available listings in this third week of March.  The overall distressed listings in the Winchester/Frederick County are have declined 1.2% in the past week.  That's a good sign. There are still opportunities available to buy a short sale or an... 03/23/2012

I listed a Chase foreclosure in January 2012.  It was the worst REO I've ever taken.  I've blogged about this one before.  I actually turned the listing down initially, but the REO asset manager and I came to an understanding and I took it. Ironically, that horrible place sold in 60 minutes after I loaded it in the MLS.  How crazy is that?  Then the second Chase nightmare began. Chase went back and forth asking for more and more signatures and initials on docs. It was reduncancy gone wild.  It got to the point that I was sure the buyer was going to walk.  I would have if I had been him. The closing was supposed to happen today.  Everything was ready.  The title companies were ready.  The buyer took the day off and had all of his money cut into certified funds.  Everybody was ready to ro... 03/14/2012

Like Spring that is just around the corner, a new revitalized real estate market is emerging in the area.  The Winchester, VA real estate market is getting a face-lift.  The number of active fair market listings in the Winchester / Frederick County area total 394.  When short sales and foreclosures are included in the active listings, the total listings come in at 480.  The number of short sale and foreclosure listings currently on the Winchester / Frederick County market make up 18.8%.  That's down from 20% in January-February 2012.  Of that number, Frederick County has 13% of the distressed active listings.  Frederick County is much larger in overall volume of residential real estate.  So, it stands to reason that it would have the higher number of distressed listings. There is an inv... 03/12/2012

The short sale market in Winchester, VA is showing signs of change, but it's hard to tell if it's good change, bad change or just change.  The current available listings stand at 544.  Of that number, 51 are potential short sales.  That's currently standing at 9.1% of total active listings.  Foreclosures make up another 6.65%.  That foreclosure number is a declining number since February 2012. The low number of short sales may only be masking what has been going on in the past months.  The short sales that are currently under contract make up 41% of all listings that are pending.  That is an incredible number.  It's like watching a creature writhing and you can't tell if it's in the early stages of birth or the last stages of life.  The shift away from foreclosures has not been totally ... 03/10/2012

The foreclosure market in Winchester, VA has been changing this year.  The current market has 544 properties listed and available as of March 10, 2012.  Of that group of available listings, only 35 are foreclosures.  That brings the current foreclosure listings down to 6.65% of available listings. If a buyer is looking for a great deal on a foreclosure, he better act fast.  The foreclosure market in Winchester, VA is contracting at a rapid rate.  How do the current available listings compare to pending sales?  There are 253 sales pending the Winchester market.  Of that group, 41 properties are foreclosures.  That's 16% of the current pending sales.  That's a substantial drop from the February 4 - March 4 closings.  During that period 29% of closings were foreclosures.  When you add shor... 03/09/2012

Entering into foreclosure may feel like you're falling into a foreclosure pit.  Foreclosures in Winchester, VA have fallen to 9% of the current active listing market, but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet.  Our previous 30 day marketing report included 51% distressed property sales.  Depending on the resource you use for your daily updates, the foreclosure market is either declining or increasing.  It's no wonder that homeowners don't know what to do.  Don't fall into a foreclosure pit.  There are a few things a homeowner can do to avoid foreclosure. Have you lost one or more sources of income? Are you current on your mortgage payments?  If not, are you far enough behind that catching up would take a miracle? Are you receiving letters from your lender encouraging a short sale... 03/08/2012

Early in my real estate career, I had an REO company contact me to list and sell one of their properties.  That was the beginning of my relationship with distressed properties.  I love working REOs.  I've sold 100% of my REO listings, and I've sold most within 2% of my list price.  It's an area that I really enjoy, and I do it very well. This January, I had an new REO company call me to list one of their properties.  I told them I would need to see it first, and then I would decide.  I went to the property and called them immediately and declined the listing.  It was without comparison the worst REO I have ever seen.  I've had some that were not the best, but they weren't nasty. I wouldn't even let my employee go in this property without a mask.  I tried to get the REO company to donate... 03/04/2012