The Real Estate Tide is Changing in DC

Hello friends and clients. Below are a few articles that I wanted to send along to you to keep you informed about what is going on in the economy and how it affects real estate. As many of you may know, our stock market (specifically the DJIA) is at the lowest level in 11 years. While this is bad news for all of our IRA’s it is good news for the Washington DC real estate market and here is why. As with the great depression, in times of economic crises, Washington DC receives a lot of money in fiscal stimulus. Jobs are already coming to DC and a lot more will be created as the government grows to spend this money.

While the US and world economies will continue to experience turmoil for the near future, Washington DC exists in a little snow globe of security since so much of it exists on Federal spending. With over 2 trillion be spent by the government, DC is going to see a lot of that money and by default growth. People will be coming to D.C. where a lot of the jobs will be.

For the local housing market that means increase in demand. It is very likely that the best opportunities to take advantage of the downside of real estate market are dwindling if they haven’t already passed. For sellers that means that brighter times are ahead for you and for buyers it means that now is the time to be looking. Outside of D.C., there are few markets that will be good investments in the near future. If you know someone around the country that is thinking of moving anywhere, I would be happy to talk to them to give them some insight into what is happening. Feel free to have them contact me.

We will be holding a home buyers seminar in the near future where I will be expanding on some of the economic data and providing more details. Please contact me if you would like to attend and please forward this email to anyone you know who is thinking of buying or selling so they can be informed as well. More information to come but here are some interesting articles that illustrate what I am talking about.

While New York Bleeds, Washington Thrives
At the same time Wall Street is losing jobs and prestige, the nation's capital is gaining steam as it ramps up to fight the recession
By Peter Coy

“Look out, New York. Washington is gaining on you.

As the nation's most populous metro area feels Wall Street's pain, the fourth-largest—Washington—is barely sensing the recession. In fact, Moody's Economy.com estimates that metro Washington's economy will actually grow 2.5% from mid-2008 through mid-2010. New York's economy is expected to shrink 4.2%.

It wouldn't be the first time that Washington benefited from a national crisis. Back in 1930 the District of Columbia was a quiet Southern town, scoffed at by New York sophisticates. But as the federal government ramped up to fight first the Great Depression and then World War II, its population grew 65% in two decades, vs. just 14% for New York City.”
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2009/db20090219_655989.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

Washington D.C. ranked as the #1 city in the WORLD for real estate investment by Forbes Magazine
http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009012207?OpenDocument

Mortgage rates to 4.5% within 1 year???

This is really important to real estate buyers, owners, and investors!

Here is my advice. Buy now and get a mortgage with no points and plan on refinancing with a year or two....

The Treasury department is considering a plan to lower interest rates on new mortgages to 4.5% and force a lowering of refinance rates to make housing more affordable. Here is the full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122833771718976731.html

WHAT THIS MEANS...

The inappropriate use of financing products and the resulting declining housing prices is what started the economic downturn. There was a 2 year lag between when real estate started to slow down and when the whole economy started to slow down. The take away here is that real estate is a leading indicator of what the economy will do. If interest rates go down, demand will increase and housing prices will go up. Housing prices are extremely good right now and we are likely at the bottom if it hasn't already passed. If you are at all interested in purchasing real estate, you should buy before the interest rates go too far down. It is better to pay $3,000 to refinance your mortgage a year from now than to wait and pay $20,000 more on the purchase price.

If you currently own a home. I would be patient and refinance when the rates go below 5%. If you can't refinance and you are in a short term arm, you still may be in good shape because if your arm is tied to Prime or Libor, your interest rate may adjust down in the next year!

This is great news for the whole economy. The government is moving aggressively to minimize foreclosures which will stabilize the real estate market and bring stability within a year or two to the financial markets (which appear to still have some time to go before they bottom).

If you have any questions about this, please email or call me.

Tim Pierson
tim@piersonrealestate.com

Should I pay for a radon test?

What is radon?

You can't smell or see radon. It's an odorless, colorless gas that is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. If you're a smoker, the presence of radon in your home will considerably increase your chance of getting lung cancer. A study published in 2005 in the journal Epidemiology concluded your chance of getting lung cancer increases by 11 percent to 21 percent at average radon concentrations of about 3.0 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) of air over an exposure period of 5 to 30 years. The EPA recommends radon mitigation at 4.0 pCi/L.

The presence of radon doesn't mean your home was built over an atomic-waste dump. Its origins are natural--from the breakdown of uranium found in almost all soil. The gas finds its way into a home through such paths as cracks and other holes in the foundation. The greatest concentrations of radon gas are found in the Northeast US and the levels are usually higher in below grade basements with poor ventilation.

All homes have Radon, it is everywhere, but at a certain level it can become dangerous. If you have a below grade portion of your home with poor ventilation that you are going to spend a lot of time in, you should get a radon test. If you already own the home, there are plenty of affordable tests that you can get from your local hardware store for less than $30.

If you do have radon, it is fairly easily fixed by drilling a hole through your foundation and venting the air in the rocks under your foundation through a pipe and out of your home. This will free the pockets of air with high levels of radon from seeping into your home. You probably won't want to do this yourself. It can cost anywhere form $600-$2000 to fix. You can find one through your state radon office or through these private organizations: the National Environmental Health Association and the National Radon Safety Board.

What Constitutes a Legal Bedroom?

When I am asked to list properties or am showing properties with small rooms, I often get the question, "Is this considered a bedroom?" The number of bedrooms in a house is important because sellers want to appear in the search results of as many buyers as possible; however, any bedroom listed needs to be legal size in order to get the nod, so I thought it would be useful to share the actual requirments for legal bedrooms...

According to the International Residential Code (IRC), a legal bedroom must be at least 70 square feet in area, with a width not less than 7 feet. The minimum required ceiling height is 7 feet 6 inches. If the ceiling is sloped, the required height applies to at least half of the ceiling. As for windows, bedrooms must have windows for light, ventilation, and emergency escape. If a basement room does not meet these requirements, it cannot be considered as a legal bedroom. The minimum size requirement for bedroom windows that provide natural light is at least 8% of the floor area of the room, and minimum size for openable windows is at least 4% of the floor area of the room.

For emergency escape, the openable window must have a sill height of no more than 44 inches above the floor. The size of the opening should be at least 5.7 square feet, measuring no less than 24 inches in height and no less than 20 inches in width. Windows should be able to open without the use of a key or tool. Screens and bars are permitted as long as they can be opened or removed from inside the dwelling, also without the use of a key or tool. The code makes no mention of bedroom closets because these can be provided by means of portable cabinets.

Happy hunting!

Virginia Claims 10 of America's Top 100 High Schools

Virginia has received great marks when it comes to public high schools placing 10 schools in Newsweek's list of the top 100 public high schools in the nation. Top Va schools were H-B Woodlawn in Arlington (13), Clarke County in Berryville (32), Washington-Lee of Arlington(33), and Yorktown in Arlington (59).

Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors.

Click here for a complete list of all ranked schools

D.C. Ranked Fifth Best City for Young Professionals

Washington D.C. was ranked as the 5th best city for young professionals by Forbes in a recent article. The list was compiled by tracking where the graduates of top universities across the country ended up 10 years after commencement; where the best business opportunities exist; which cities had the most young and unmarried people; and which cities paid young professionals the best.

Read the full article.