How To Buy A Home In Virginia Beach - Virginia Beach Neighborhoods

If you ask ten people their favorite neighborhood in Virginia Beach, you’ll likely get ten different answers. Most people think their neighborhood is the best. If the house next door is for sale and they like you, they’ll try to get you to move into it. “This is the best neighborhood in Virginia Beach!” they’ll [...]

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I like to think I’m an optimist, but I’m really a realist. Things have been crashing down around us lately; rising unemployment, falling house prices, foreclosures. However, as a realist, I am now very optimistic. Unemployment is stabilizing. Home prices in Virginia Beach have stabilized. Interest rates are the lowest we will ever see (that’s [...]

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Tax Credit For First Time Home Buyers

The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 has extended the tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence. The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, [...]

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Most people assume that the listed price is negotiable when a home is for sale. But how negotiable? Will a buyer accept an offer $20,000 below asking price? How about $30,000? Here’s the answer!

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There is a trick to selling your home quickly in today’s market. Present your home in its best light and price it very close to where it is most likely to sell. Your home will stand out because it shows nicely and is priced fairly. This brings lots potential buyers and multiple offers very close [...]

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John and Jane bought their home in 2006 for $400,000 with a 20% down payment ($80,000). Today, the market value of their home is about $300,000 and there is a 10 months supply of homes on the market in their neighborhood. They have $5,000 is savings and John expects to lose his job in the [...]

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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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The problem with recoveries is that we don’t usually recognize them until they have already happened. Is the housing market recovering right now? The stock market is certainly having a great rally and pending home sales seem to be on the rise in Virginia Beach this month. But one month of improving data hardly defines [...]

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There has been much talk about the current financial crisis and who is to blame. The same goes with the housing crisis. It can be argued that they are one in the same. I claim that you can’t blame someone for something that they couldn’t see coming.
If anyone truly saw this crisis coming they would [...]

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Here’s a piece I wrote at the end of 2008.
Happy New Year! 2008 is over! Usually we cheer the oncoming New Year but this around time we are celebrating the passing of 2008. The stock market was down 35% and home prices were down… It depends who you ask. But everyone agrees that last year [...]

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