Helmet not required
(written in 2011)
When a Facebook friend posted a link to an MSN article that ranked Vienna Virginia the 2011 #5 Best Housing Market in America, I just had to cringe since those statements never hold true for long. Most articles on MSN come from somewhere else and I quickly discovered that the article originated from Bloomberg BusinessWeek — based on data provided by Zillow.com .
Our Headline Economy
I cringe because when I read headlines like Best in America then I know we are in for a soft patch… a soft patch that’s good for home buyers.
You need to know that your average real estate agent is a “boots-on-the-ground”, muddy grunt of a business person. In the trenches, feeling the day-to-day breath of their local market based on what they are hearing from current clients. Seriously, an agent like Fran Bailey in Chicago probably has a far different take on the real estate market right now than Kris Berg in San Diego.
And I have a different take here.
Any real estate market can go through a personality change in 14 days
If you asked us to discuss our real estate markets based upon data from Zillow then you would probably get a good laugh. To gauge an active real estate market on data compiled from county tax records is guaranteed to be wrong.
So let’s look at Vienna, Virginia 22180 just like in the Bloomberg BusinessWeek article except using data provided by our MLS, the Metropolitan Regional Information System and the RealEstate Business Intelligence unit .
The way I see the Vienna real estate market
MRIS is using data that it compiles daily. Take a look at the chart and notice how nicely the Actives, the Pendings and the Solds paralleled each other up to May and June 2011. Then you will notice a distinct change in the market. This trend actually spills over to all Northern Virginia real estate so it isn’t unique to Vienna stats.
As a “grunt”, I feel there has been a shift that favors home buyers. The inventory of Active homes has been rising while the number of Pendings and Sales has dropped. Home buyers need to recognize this trend because it works naturally with the recent drop in long term mortgage rates.
The only “Bad News” is that the number of sales is slowing if you are a home seller, but this is “Good News” if you are a Vienna home buyer because there are more homes to look at to buy.
Read more about Vienna real estate trends in 2014.
