Manassas Real Estate News

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

Manassas Real Estate News

Manassas has special regulations


Every area has its own building regulations. You need to know how these restrictions will affect the design of your Manassas home. Issues to consider include zoning, setbacks, rights of way and easements. Most subdivisions have CC&Rs (Covenants, Codes and Restrictions). Studies of Manassas demonstrate that these carefully to make sure they are not too restrictive for your needs or create excessive building costs.

Manassas Housing Patterns


Manassas Housing patterns tend to be homogenous, meaning homes worth $100,00 are located in $100,000 neighborhoods. It is important for properties to be within the general pricing patterns of their neighborhoods because over-valued homes, even if they are exceptional, are sometimes difficult to sell at full market price. Remember, lenders want to compare your home to nearby homes. If your Manassas real estate is located in a neighborhood of $100,000 homes but you have added another $100,000 in improvements, you may have over- improved your property in that lenders will be reluctant to lend the higher amount.

Many sellers think that the price of their home is determined solely by what they are willing to accept and what the buyer is willing to pay. However, the lender’s appraisal in Manassas is one more variable and it can complicate the sale of your home. In these cases, it helps to have a knowledgeable REALTOR working on your side.


Manassas Real Estate Cycles


During a slow economic time, fewer people are buying homes in the Manassas market. Even so, some homeowners find themselves in a situation where they must sell. Families grow beyond the capacity of the home, employees get relocated, and some may even find themselves unable to make their mortgage payment - perhaps because of a layoff in the family.

During sellers' markets, Manassas real estate sells quickly and sellers have a lot of pricing power. As a result, prices rise more rapidly than at other times. During buyers' markets, Manassas real estate may sit on the market for a while before selling, so sellers become more flexible and may even drop their prices.


Bitten by the Manassas Home Improvement Bug?


Money isn’t everything however so that if the most important consideration for remaining in your Manassas 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 Manassas 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.

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.


When Manassas Does Not Sell


Let’s say a home is in excellent condition but simply messy. The cat box needs changing, the dog dish is a mess, the dishes haven’t been put into the dishwasher and the beds are not made. Should these conditions affect the price of the Manassas? No, but they do. Take two identical houses next door to each other and priced the same. The sparkling clean house will sell much faster than the messy house and the messy house will more than likely sell for a lower figure. This is true of Manassas as well as real estate nationwide.

When a home does not sell, the owners tend to think that the REALTOR didn’t do a good enough job of promoting the property. There is a difference among agents and brokers and some will promote a property more than others. However, the main and most important method of promoting Manassas for sale is listing it in the local MLS.