Haymarket Condos / Buyer – Seller Tips

DC METRO REAL ESTATE

Serving the Real Estate needs of the communities of Manassas, Bristow, Haymarket, Warrenton, Gainesville and Culpeper  in Northern Virginia


Dave Scardina  
Broker / Owner

703-829-SOLD

866-909-0900

Haymarket Condos / Buyer – Seller Tips

Haymarket FAIR MARKET VALUE


When you buy Haymarket real estate or refinance your present home, your lender will ask you to pay for an appraisal to help ensure that the sales price and mortgage amount is consistent with the property's market value. The appraiser uses the Rule of Three. What that means is the lender wants to evaluate three "comparables"—recent sales of nearby homes that are very similar to the one you are buying. Based on this information, the lender will make adjustments to reflect the differences between the properties and arrive at a fair price for your home.

Guidelines for Buying Haymarket


Let’s say everything is a GO! You have found the perfect Haymarket home. You know you can afford it and it is actually priced below what you expected to pay. What a bargain! Yes there are bargains to be found in Haymarket. At this point it is fine to put in an offer on the property but only with a well-planned contingency. Of course, it the home is going to be financed, the lender will want a Home Inspection before agreeing to lend money on the property. However, you need to protect yourself by making an offer SUBJECT TO a clean bill of health from the Home Inspector of your choice. This kind of a contingency gives you an out if the inspector finds a problem with the roof, or foundation or other structural problem that was not apparent to the seller or to your agent. This does not mean you will not buy the house but you will have a good reason to renegotiate the price with the seller.


Bitten by the Haymarket Home Improvement Bug?


Money isn’t everything however so that if the most important consideration for remaining in your Haymarket home happens to be the school where your children attend or the proximity to your work or to a particularly attractive recreational opportunity then remodeling may be the best option. On the other hand, if the idea of having your Haymarket house torn up for weeks at a time makes your blood run cold, it really doesn’t matter how much money you might make turning a fixer-upper into a model home. You will be far better off selling the home you have and moving to a home that better fits your needs.

Bitten by the Haymarket Home Improvement Bug?


Before you finalize your decision regarding remodeling versus moving, it is wise to get a professional estimate of your Haymarket home’s current value, the actual costs of moving to a different home and the estimated return on investment of the most common types of home improvement. I’ll be happy to provide you with a complimentary analysis of your home’s current value. Simply call or E-mail me whenever you are ready. As for improvements that traditionally bring the highest rate of return on investment, here are some statistics. Kitchen remodeling and adding a bath tends to bring rates of return with averaging anywhere from 85% to 95% return on your dollars spent. Compare that with the 64% return on investment for adding a home office.

Choosing Your Haymarket Neighborhood


The fact is that much of the value of Haymarket and real estate in general rests in its surrounding economic and social environment, which means it’s neighborhood. In addition to being located in the right neighborhood, the Haymarket that you buy must not clash with its surroundings. To picture what we mean here, visualize the most expensive home you can imagine and then place it in the middle of a run down neighborhood. Not so desirable is it?

To sum up, the Haymarket that you buy gets its value from a combination of the home’s location and its size, style, age and amenities. You can change the home’s size, style and amenities but you are stuck with the location.

Green Remodeling Your Haymarket


Reduced material waste and resource conservation. When remodeling your Haymarket, there is often a large amount of construction waste: 136 million tons of waste annually, or about 20% of the waste in landfills, according to the EPA.

If you are planning to remodel your Haymarket anyway, going green offers money-saving advantages. In addition to increasing the value of your home, you will cut monthly operating costs, reduce waste and improve overall health.