There is nothing wrong with purchasing a foreclosure IF you are willing to accept that you may need do some repairs. (It also helps if you know how to do them yourself–if you’re the sort of person who needs to call the heating/ac company because the ignitor on your furnace stopped working–then a foreclosure may not be for you).

Also, when the MLS listing says to bring a “hammer and nails”, read that as a “sledgehammer and a trashcan” and it’ll probably be closer to the truth.

I think it’s going to take a bit longer than a year or two for the prices on these houses to rise to the point where you can break even, given taxes and closing costs.

The two bank sales on that street are both owner-occupied (based on the owner mailing address being the same as the property address).

The problem with buying a property just to rent it out in this market is that you’re competing with the people who had to (or just wanted to) move, don’t want to sell because the market is down right now, and are renting their property too.

Read the post from Anonymous said on 14 Aug 2008 at 6:50 pm: Same deal in that neighborhood.

I can’t remember who said loans are hard to get so that person did not believe investors were buying the houses. Yes, loans are hard to get but many investors have lots of cash to invest. I have a family member who invests in real estate and has no problems in buying houses in this environment.

Location is the most important but the way a government is run and how it is perceived does have an impact on the value of RE and what businsses want to be in those jurisdictions as well. Do you ever hear PWC being advertised welcoming business such as Stafford does for the BRAC impact? You should be a business trying to remodel or build in PWC and see the run around the Staff and BOCS give them. Look at the gas station where Lake Ridge demanded they have a white border around their awning. what do you think of taking 15 months to get a 12 X 15 dance floor put in. What about 9 months to get approval to put some banners on light poles in a SC and if they change the design it will be another 9 months to get it approved. The BOCS think they own the world and the world needs them. This county has one of the worst reputation there is and the lower the value of RE goes the less retailers want to be here.

Transfer taxes are based not on the number of units sold but on the value of the property. Arlington can sell one house and generate more income then PWC does selling two houses. What is glaring to me is that PWC is the lowest valuation then those counties where the people have to drive even further to get to N Va or DC to work then PWC. This county is in terrible shape and it will be at least a year before there is any turn around. Wonder what the ” NO TAX INCREASE IN RATES ” supervisors will do for the next budget as they have no concept of the fiscal impact on the citizens of PWC or what their actions cost us to live here. Why doesn’t the BOCS use the transfer taxes to allow us to issue the bonds for the 800 million dollar bond issue that ” will not cause an increase in taxes “. Stewart should not complain about being sold a “pig in a poke ” by the GA when he and the BOCS as well as the Government of PWC lied to everyone about what the bond issue would cost us in taxes.

I do know that for the past few years, I looked at the new construction and started to see “starting in the $900 thousands.” If anyone wants to be real about things, do they really think that was an actual value? Who couldn’t see the handwriting on the wall, when you could buy the house with no money down, low rates in the beginning and the chance of unbridled increases. That is why when we refinanced, we did so within a value we believed reflected true value rather than an inflated one that the bank was “selling.”

I am not so concerned right now about the valuation because real estate has always been a slow but steady investment. So any positive movement sets the stage for a correction back to normal rates of increased value. But there had to be a negative course correction to begin with and frankly, if your timing is off, you can lose a great deal. I have benefitted and also lost depending on my need to sell a house and the timing of the sale.

PW has always been a place where growth has occurred because of a lower real estate valuation than neighboring communities and with lower values, should have higher rates of sales after the initial value correction. (It also used to be a place that had a rural setting but that positive has been decimated in recent years. Or as I like to quote from the song, “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot.)

I will let sociologists, economists or others spar over the effect of the resolution. I have never bought into the argument that our current real estate issues were negatively impacted by the resolution but I am also not ready to say that the resolution was the sole reason for its recovery.

Yes and where exactly did all that money go?

- We are part of a national burst real estate bubble –
nation wide numers indicate that the values that went
up the fastest have gone down the most — look
at Florida, California, Nevada and, yes,
northern Virginia.

- Many modest neigborhoods in PWC were built in
the last thirty years to house families that
couldn’t afford to live in Fairfax. In fact, the most
recent study of comparatively affordable housing
in northern Virginia showed, as a percentage,
Manassas Park ranked first, Manassas City
second and PWC third. We had less expensive
homes before the bust and afterwards - we still do.

Short term and from a fiscal planning standpoint irresponsible thinking, any perceived benefit is grossly outweighed by the likely negative impact on next year’s assessments. The only way to balance the impact on assessments and offset the revenue loss is the raise the rate meaning properties owners will likely pay the same or greater number of real dollars for properties of now lesser values. No big deal in the short term, residents should expect to pay a relatively equivalent amount from year to year as cost of public services does not generally rise or fall with the real estate market, but it will cause cause for griping. The real problem occurs if and when the market does recover, we all saw the games Lord Connaughton played with rates in a rising market, a strategem that played a large role in getting the county into the fix it is in now.