HAP – The Homeowner’s Assistance Program - Virginia Beach Neighborhoods

While I don’t particularly care for the idea of government handouts, I am a supporter of at least one, the Homeowner’s Assistance Program, also known as the HAP. In 2009, Congress expanded the benefits to include military members who are required to relocate and face financial loss when selling their homes in areas where real [...]

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I loved being a do-it-yourselfer. When I needed a new “camera” (insert your passion here, instead of camera), I would spend hours online becoming a camera expert so that I would have the knowledge to make the right decision. It would have been a lot easier to just trust the guy at the camera store, [...]

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“You have a beautiful home, but you might want to take down the family pictures. You don’t want the buyer to be distracted.” I said this to a client recently while taking pictures for a listing. The home was immaculate. The furnishings beautiful. The only thing I noticed that would be an easy change was [...]

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Before even considering finding the right home or the right neighborhood, most home buyers must be convinced that the benefits of home ownership outweigh the risks. Until three years ago, this was a no brainer. Home prices in Virginia Beach had made new highs every year for 50 years. There seemed to be very little [...]

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If you were to buy a home today in Virginia Beach, how long would it take for you to break even? a. 3 years b. 5 years c. 7 years d. All of the above The answer is “All of the above,” of course, because it depends on the details. The important thing to understand [...]

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John and Jane eventually put an offer on the waterfront home they chose in Virginia Beach. Here’s how it started. The home was listed for $350,000 but the bank was never going to accept such a low price. After talking up the listing agent, I found that they had a previous offer that the bank [...]

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I just spent a couple hours sorting through the latest Virginia Beach home sales data. Things are starting to look up! 1. Home prices in Virginia Beach are steady. 2. Asking prices are still falling. 3. Short sales and foreclosures are only a small portion of the market. While the median home sale price is [...]

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Back in 2006, a local Navy family bought a home in Princess Anne Quarter in Virginia Beach, off Princess Anne Road, for about $630,000. Interest rates at the time were about 6.5%. Their monthly payment was about $4500 which included taxes and insurance. The home was sold to another buyer for $540,000 in 2008. Today [...]

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Because buying a home isn’t a one step process, one must remain vigilant to ensure a smooth process. Unfortunately, sometimes things just don’t work out. Dick and Jane Smith (names changed to protect the innocent) were having trouble finding the perfect home. Getting a husband and wife to agree on the something like this is [...]

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Everybody wants to know whether they should buy a home now or wait until prices drop further. The answer depends, of course, on whether or not prices will continue to drop and by how much. Since no one knows this answer, it becomes a judgment call. I think we will look back on today as [...]

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