Join us for our next FREE class - Building Wealth Through Real Estate - It’s easier than you think! 

Please join us for an hour-long seminar on how to build a real estate portfolio to provide an ongoing stream of cash flow.  We will touch on market conditions, distressed properties, property management, tax benefits, the financing of investment properties, and building your real estate team.  Sign up now to guarantee a seat – this seminar is filling up fast!  Email amber@brandongreen.com if you’d like to reserve a seat.

 Where and When:
2410 17th St NW Suite 200
Washington, DC  20009
Wednesday, April 22nd
6:30PM

Historic learning experiences tend to look better from the rear view mirror, so I can’t wait until we are at the moment in time to look at everything in hindsight…  Until then, what the heck does this all mean for the DC Metro area real estate market?  The answer is - probably not much.  Credit has already tightened and the Fed’s recent move to secure AIG indicates no further tightening of the credit market is expected.  Today anyway…  It is the availability of financing that has caused us great pain recently so I think the damage caused by the tightening has already been done.

The volume of real estate transactions is down about 17% from this time last year (depending on which segment of our local market you look at) but inventory numbers are up only slightly.  More foreclosures are selling quickly which is chewing through or excess inventory at a respectable pace.  The recent drop in interest rates has helped spike activity and everyone is cautiously optimistic that an administration change will mean nothing but good things for the real estate market.

Bottom line - nearly everything in the US is on sale right now, including some great deals in real estate.  We don’t know when the sale will end, but like all great sales - they don’t last forever!  Keep affordability in the forefront of your mind and make decisions that are right for your life right now - and don’t worry about the market.  If it makes sense for you to buy right now - based on where you are with your life - buy.  If you want to sell because it will help you move on to something else you want in your life - sell.

We are helping about six people every month sell and buy real estate.  Let us know what we can do for you.

With the recent pick-up of foreclosure activity in the DC area, many of our clients are calling to ask if this is a buying opportunity for investment properties. It’s common knowledge that you can get a great deal in a foreclosure sale, right? The current market might prove that common knowledge isn’t always right!

In a Washington Post article on February 2nd, a foreclosure auctioneer was followed through several auctions held in northern Virginia. He stood on the front steps of the county courthouse in Prince William, and auctioned off many houses. One in Woodbridge went for $380,515. A house in Manassas went for $244,000. It was a lonely job that day - no one showed up at the auction. Not the bank, not investors, not even a curious pedestrian! The houses went to the bank for the balance of the mortgage. And therein lies the rub!

Many homes bought at the very top of the market with 90% or 100% financing are under water - in other words, the house isn’t worth what is owed to the bank. Typically, the bank will buy the home for the mortgage balance, and then hire a Realtor to sell the home at market value. In the end, the market still relies on real estate professionals to price, market, show, and finally settle these homes.

If you hear about a foreclosure on a home you are interested in, either as a new primary residence or a rental-income opportunity, please give Brandon Green Companies a call to review the different strategies available to purchase foreclosed homes.