Northern Virginia Real Estate Podcast with The Gillies Team Cindy Gillies

We recently hosted a great client appreciation event, and we want to thank all of our friends, vendors, and past clients who attended. Looking to buy in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Perform a full home search  Looking to sell in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Today, there are a couple of messages we’d like to share with you all. First, we want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. There’s something about this holiday that gives it a special place in my heart. There’s no better feeling than gathering with loved ones to enjoy great food and great conversation. Thanksgiving is also a great time during which to reflect on the things we’re thankful for. And here at the Gillies Team, we’re thankful for you. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you. Moving on, we would also like to let you know about the launch of our new neighborhood spotlight series, which we’re kicking off today with a look at Park Ridge. There’s something for everyone in this neighborhood, including townhomes, as well as single-family and multi-family properties. “ There’s something for everyone in Park Ridge. ” Located right in the middle of North Stafford, just a few minutes off of I-95, Park Ridge offers convenient proximity to neighboring areas, but also has many amenities and resources of its own. One of the main reasons Park Ridge is so popular, though, is the fact that there are over 1,200 homes within it. 80 homes have sold in the past 12 months in this neighborhood, which just goes to show how active the market here is. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about this neighborhood, please reach out. My team would love to help in any way we can. Speaking of which, if you happen to be without plans on Thanksgiving and are looking for someone to spend it with, there’s always room at my table. I can’t tell you how many years I’ve been blessed to have someone turn up to celebrate with my loved ones and me. We’d be glad to have you. If you have any other questions or would like more information on what's happening in a different neighborhood, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

We recently hosted a great client appreciation event, and we want to thank all of our friends, vendors, and past clients who attended. Looking to buy in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Perform a full home search  Looking to sell in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Get a free Home Price Evaluation We want to thank all of our friends, vendors, and past clients who were able to join us at our most recent client appreciation event. Thank you for trusting us with your real estate needs, and thank you for trusting us to help your family and friends as well. We had somewhere between 250 and 300 people in attendance at this party, and we had an absolute blast. We had catered food, live music, and all sorts of fun activities for the kids. We were also able to partner with S.E.R.V.E., our local food bank, and raffle off some donations and other great prizes. “ We want to thank everyone who came out to celebrate with us. ” We also managed to sit down with some of our previous clients, and they were kind enough to share their experiences working with our team. You can see what they had to say starting at 1:57 in the video above. Once again, we want to thank everyone who came out to celebrate with us. If you weren’t able to make it, we look forward to seeing you next year. We also look forward to hosting other events throughout 2019, so stay tuned for those as well. As always, if you have any questions or real estate needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to help you.

Do not waste money by throwing away your outdoor furniture and buying brand new pieces. Do this instead. Looking to buy in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Perform a full home search  Looking to sell in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Today we just wanted to give you a quick outdoor home tip. Instead of replacing your dirty outdoor furniture cushions or trying to wash them in the washing machine, you should consider power washing them instead. Not only will it save you time and money, but it is also pretty fun to do. The cushions in the video above are a few years old and as you can see, they are pretty gross from wind, rain, pollen, etc. Instead of replacing them, I decided to use a power washer to make them look brand new. One thing you do not want to do is get too close to the cushion with the sprayer, because the power washer will rip it. If you maintain a little distance, however, you can get into every nook and cranny and your cushions will be looking like new by the end. “ Consider power washing your concrete steps and your driveway as well. ” Check out how easy this is in the video above. In just 30 seconds, I got the cushions looking brand new. A few more things you should consider power washing are concrete steps, your front door, and your driveway. Once you are done, make sure you get those cushions out to dry in the sun. That is just a quick, fun tip for you today. If you have any questions about the real estate market, or specifically about how to prepare your home to sell for top dollar, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email today. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Interest rates have risen since the beginning of the year and are expected to increase again. Let’s discuss what this means for buyers and sellers in today’s market. Looking to buy in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Perform a full home search  Looking to sell in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Get a free Home Price Evaluation A question many have been asking lately is, “What’s going on with interest rates?” The short answer is that they are going up. Rates have already risen this year and are expected to do so again in the future. Based on positive indicators in the US economy, the Fed is pushing rates back up and tempering years of policy that has been keeping them artificially low. Since the first of the year, rates have increased from around 3.99% to 4.5% as of May 2. It’s hard to say what the future holds, specifically, but I think it’s safe to anticipate a couple more increases by the end of the year. This could put us at, or even above, the 5% mark. However, even if rates do reach this level, they would still be low compared to historical averages. Freddie Mac has easily accessible data going back to the 1970s that supports this. “ If you’ve been thinking of buying, now is absolutely a great time to take advantage of our market. ” So if you’ve been thinking of buying, now is absolutely a great time to take advantage of our market. That said, it’s also a good time to sell. Rising rates will translate to decreased buying power, meaning the current market presents an opportunity for sellers to capture higher prices before this happens. Affordability has a major impact on how buyers make decisions. Even what seems like a small rate increase can have a significant effect on the dollar amount buyers pay for a home. If a buyer would have bought a home for $350,000 at the beginning of this year when interest rates were around 3.99%, their monthly mortgage payments would be $115 less expensive than if they bought a home at that same price today. By the end of the year, a buyer for that same home could see a $200 difference. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

There are four ways to determine your home’s value. Some of these ways, however, are more reliable than the others. Looking to buy in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Perform a full home search  Looking to sell in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Get a free Home Price Evaluation What are four methods to determine your home’s value? The first and most basic way is to take a look at your tax assessment. If you got your assessment in the mail, you can look at that. In most counties, you can also visit the county assessor website and check there. In our area, the county assessed home values every two years, and they do so using basic information such as the size of the land and the size of the finished space. There are a couple issues you might have with this method. First, the information they use might be old. The other issue is it’s a very basic method that’s applied with a formula using only certain criteria. This is a decent method to compare your home’s value against your neighbors’ homes, but it’s not the most accurate or up-to-date valuation method. The second method is a free home evaluation website. One of the more popular free home evaluation websites is Zillow, which features their Zestimate tool. A Zestimate gathers information from the county records and combines that with recent sales of other homes in the area. It’s beneficial that Zillow takes into account recent sales of other homes, but what’s not beneficial is they don’t have anyone actually walk through your home. This means they can’t tell the difference between a home that’s been completely remodeled and a home across the street that’s in the same condition it was years ago. If you’re curious about what’s happening with home values in your area, this is a good way to get started. “ Having an agent do a CMA is the most comprehensive method to finding your home’s value. ” The third method is an appraisal. An appraisal happens when you either refinance a house, you buy a house using financing, or you sell a house and the buyer’s lender has ordered the appraisal. The downside to this method is an appraisal typically costs between $500 and $550, so if you’re just curious what your home is worth, it’s probably not a good investment because in two years that appraisal won’t be valid anyway. For the most part, appraisals only happen in a transaction when there’s a loan involved. The appraiser’s job is to make sure the lender is able to safely lend the purchase amount that’s been requested. Lastly, you can contact an agent and ask them to do a CMA, or comparative market analysis. There are a few benefits of a CMA. The first is most agents don’t charge for one. Second, they’re able to look at the market as a whole instead of recent home sales. We can then make some projections and give you an idea of not only what your home’s value is, but also what it may be going forward. Unlike automated websites, agents can actually come out to your home and make adjustments for its different features. If your home is similar to your neighbor’s home that sold a month ago but yours has an extra 300 square feet, that needs to be accounted for. If you have any questions or you’re thinking of selling your home in the future and you want to know what it’s worth, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.

Is it better to buy or rent a home? I have a few things to consider when it comes to that question. Looking to buy in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Perform a full home search  Looking to sell in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area? Get a free Home Price Evaluation Is it smarter to buy a home or rent in the market right now? The answer to that question will always depend on your situation. So, today, I’ll give you a couple things to think about as you’re trying to make that decision. A recent Fed report said that long-term homeowners have as much as a 36x higher net worth than long-term renters. The important thing to know is that if you put yourself in the right situation when buying a house for long-term residence, it’s usually a good decision. On the flip side of that, there are times when you absolutely should not be a buyer and when renting is a much better option. The first thing you need to consider before doing anything else is whether or not you are financially ready. A preliminary call with a lender can help you figure out what your credit looks like and how your current debts may affect your mortgage qualification. At the lender’s recommendation, you may want to work on paying down debts or making some changes to your credit situation before starting the home buying process. If that means renting for a couple of years while you work through that, then that might ultimately be a good financial decision for you. Next, are you in an overall stable financial position? Do you have an emergency fund that enables you to take care of certain issues that might pop up without warning? The great thing about renting is that the landlord takes on that responsibility if the issue is with the property itself. With renting, you don’t have the long-term gain that you would with owning a home, but you also don’t have the short-term pain of having to pay for the repair of an appliance or roof for example. “ A lender can help you figure out what your credit looks like and how your current debts may affect your mortgage qualification. ” When you feel you’re ready, talk to a lender to get pre-approved. A great lender is there to help you make good financial decisions. They can tell you about the state of your credit, whether your income is large enough to make purchasing affordable, and other critical specifics about your finances. Another benefit that comes from speaking with a lender is that they can answer your questions about down payments. We’ve got a huge military presence locally and the VA loan allows a lot of people purchasing in our area to purchase without the requirement of a down payment. If you aren’t a veteran or an active service member, your lender can discuss different loan options with you that offer flexible down payment amounts; you won’t necessarily need to put 20% down. With cash-on-hand being a barrier to homeownership for many, this is an important call to make. Finally, consider how long you plan to live in that home. You might be in a great financial position now, with qualifications for a good loan and down payment, but if you’re only going to live there for a couple years, you might want to consider your long-term goal before moving forward. During that short period, the market may not have increased enough to cover the expenses to sell. You may be buying with the plan to rent the home and hold it as an investment. This can be a great decision as long as you have spoken with your agent about what’s involved with being a landlord and how to set things up to be successful. If you have any questions about buying or renting or would like to review your current situation, feel free to give us a call. We’d love to help you through the process.