Tips for Buying Haymarket Real Estate

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

Tips for Buying Haymarket Real Estate

Haymarket HOME BUYING PITFALLS TO AVOID


Sellers usually rely on sales of Haymarket homes of comparable value to determine a fair and realistic price to set for their home but many sellers feel their home is worth much more and price their home accordingly. Buyers must also be tuned into sales for comparable homes in Haymarket in order to judge the price of any home that is under consideration.

Being “House Poor” gets to be “Old New” real fast. A large and beautiful home with little or no furniture tends to be empty and cold. A life where almost every dime of income goes to the support of the Haymarket house wears thin very quickly and is a frequent cause of family stress. Pushing yourself right up to your limit leaves you highly exposed when the inevitable changes to the national or your personal economy occurs.

Haymarket. How Much Should You Offer?


Comparable sales figures is a good guide for homeowners who are pricing their Haymarket and a good guide for prospective buyers. Make sure you compare homes that are similar to the one your are considering...the same neighborhood, the same size, the same condition. Also, make sure you compare sales within the past six months.

Ask your REALTOR for a comparison of the list price and sales price of comparable Haymarket sales. This information may give you a trend and a guideline for your offer. For example, maybe homes in the area have consistently listed for more than they actually sold for. If that is the case, find out what percentage of reduction occurred. Use this information as a basis for your offer.


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.

Does Your Haymarket Have Curb Appeal?


Every prospective buyer who visits your Haymarket home is struck by a variety of impressions regardless of whether your landscaping is eye-catching or merely so-so. Plants that overrun the walkway, trees that badly need pruning and visible suggest to the prospective buyer that this home will take a lot of landscaping maintenance and yet if your yard is well-maintained, the prospective buyer is inclined to simply admire the fact and move on. If your Haymarket front porch or front door need paint, the prospective buyer is likely to notice the paint job inside and out and think about how much maintenance that will take on a yearly basis. The important message here is that things that look bad or run down call attention to all the work that needs to be done while things that are well maintained conjure up ideas of how pleasant it would be to live there.

Tips for Buying or Selling Haymarket


Most experienced real estate agents and brokers already have Websites that showcase their local MLS data so your Haymarket 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 Haymarket 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 Haymarket 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.


Haymarket DOWNTURNS


Real estate markets are affected by the economy as a whole and in turn, can affect the general economy. Of course, a buyer’s dream is to buy Haymarket when prices are low and sell when prices are high. However, real estate is not exactly like other forms of investment and most people become comfortable and attached to their homes and are not interested in selling just because the market is right.