Learn About Buying Manassas Homes

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

Learn About Buying Manassas Homes

Manassas Homebuyers Quandry


Before you begin your next home search, make sure the Manassas you have is Market Ready. If painting or landscaping or repairs need doing, get them done. If you are going to go out house-hunting you may save yourself a lot of heartache and headache if your house is ready to be listed at a moment’s notice.

In many cases the amount you expect to realize from your existing Manassas real estate will determine the price you can afford to pay for your next home. Start with a Comparative Market Analysis so you will know about how much you can afford to spend.


Manassas Homebuyers Quandry


When you find the home you want to buy you may make an offer contingent upon the sale of your existing Manassas. In a Seller’s Market, offers with such contingencies are not well received because the seller must remove his home from the market while you sell yours. However there are times when this kind of offer is successful, even in the Manassas market. A backup strategy might be to put in your offer with a very long escrow giving yourself time to sell your home. Very few sellers will accept these kinds of contingencies or long escrows if your house is not already on the market.


Manassas. How Much Should You Offer?


A good starting premise is that everyone wants to buy a home for thousands of dollars under market and when the time comes, to sell that home for thousands of dollars over market. This is basic human nature. When you are in the position of making an offer on Manassas real estate property there are certain facts you need to know.

Is it a Buyer’s Market or a Seller’s Market? In a Buyer’s Market conditions favor the buyer. Manassas real estate listings are plentiful, home sales are declining or stagnant. In a Seller’s Market the opposite is true. There are more buyers looking for homes than there are homes available. Your low-price offer is far more likely to succeed in a Buyer’s Market than in a Seller’s Market. How do you know what kind of a market exists? Ask your REALTOR, read the newspaper, check online.


The Benefits of Selling Manassas


As you know, you are allowed to sell your Manassas principal residence once every two years and exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) of the gain of the sale on your Federal income tax. Please note: This is not a once in a lifetime tax savings and you don’t have to be any certain age or buy a more expensive property. If you meet the two-year residence test you can sell your principal residence every two years if you are so inclined and the market cooperates. But this tax saving does not affect rental property unless you convert the rental to your personal residence, live in it for two years and then sell it.


Tips for Buying or Selling Manassas


Most people, when they want to buy a house, contact a real estate agent or broker. That is why it is true that the best way to sell your Manassas is to list your property with a qualified agent. Make sure that the agent you select will list your home in the local MLS and will make sure your property appears on the Internet. Since most buyers start their search online, you want to make sure that your Manassas is available to those who search the Internet.


Tips for Buying or Selling Manassas


Most experienced real estate agents and brokers already have Websites that showcase their local MLS data so your Manassas can show up online as soon as it is listed. On the other hand, if you are selling on your own it will take time or a considerable advertising budget to get your individual Manassas property to show up on the major search engines where prospective buyers will find it. You could tap into one of the several For Sale by Owner Websites but that would limit your market of buyers.

Buying real estate in Manassas is also much easier when you work with a real estate agent who knows the area and the market. While there is a great deal of information online about real estate asking prices, it is not always so easy to find out what a property actually sold for. And even then, specific terms of a sale often make a difference in how to interpret the sales price.