Dominion Valley Villages Report: January-February 2022
Despite the pink buds on trees starting to pop, we happened to have one of our Northern Virginia March snow events this past weekend. It was quite stunning to see tree branches adorned with pink buds, having the additional dusting of snow. I passed so many in my travels on Saturday and kept thinking, “I need to stop and get a picture of that.” Alas, the busy life of this Top Producing Western Prince William County Real Estate Agent did not make the limited window of time for that shot conducive to getting one.
What I did manage to do this weekend was get this edition of the Dominion Valley Villages Report together. The back end of compiling market reports is the work intense part. As with so many things in real estate, what a licensed agent HAS to do as part of their job is very limited. You can tell a lot more by what any licensed agent CHOOSES to do. In my case, and Sandra’s, we have made a commitment to compiling neighborhood driven market reports for Dominion Valley. The entire snapshot of the 20169 zip code isn’t local enough. And real estate, after all, is all about location. Dominion Valley home owners deserve the most hyper-local information. So without further delay, let’s get right to the latest market report for the Villages.
What defines a home in the Villages Collection is simple. Gorgeous covered front porches in many cases and in every case, a rear load garage. The streets where the Villages are located are among the most beautiful street scapes, with sidewalks uninterrupted by driveway entrances.
There were two Village style homes that sold in Dominion Valley during the first two months of the year. The details of those sales are listed below:
There is very little difference in the final sold prices of these two homes, but a tremendous difference in the amount over list price they each received in their sold prices. I do not find it any accident that the one that took longer to go under contract also got the lowest lift above list. In this seller’s market, if a listing is on the market longer than a week, buyers are inevitably going to wonder what is wrong with the home. Proper preparation and professional market help to create the buyer enthusiasm that gobbles up homes quickly and for max profit.
Taking these sales and combining them with the sales from the Villages Collection going to back to March 2021 gives us a year’s worth of home sale data . From that we pull relevant data points that show us how our market is trending.
Starting in the sold price column, there is a little upward movement from the twelve month average sold price to the six month average sold price. This would be an indicator of a push up in value. However, the six and twelve month median sold prices being identical at $720,000 shows little movement in home values in the shorter term vs. longer term. If sales keep up like what we saw in the first two months of the year, both average and median values are going to show growth in value.
Seller subsidy, also known as closing cost help to buyers, has come down significantly in both average values compared to last report. And both median seller subsidy values at zero tells us that more than half of Dominion Valley Villages sellers in both time periods gave nothing in closing cost assistance. In such a competitive market with limited inventory and too many buyers, seller subsidy is a non-starter in multiple offer situations.
Days on market is simple. It is the time it takes for a home to go under contract. In the case of Villages in Dominion Valley, it is single digits down the line of average and median values. That is one of the reasons why the most recent sale that took twenty-one days is perplexing. When marketing your home for sale, even in seller’s market, first impressions are crucial.
If you placed your Village style home on the market, priced to current conditions, you could expect it to be under contract in less than one week. You could also expect to give nothing in seller subsidy. Hiring skilled negotiators to be on your side of the deal certainly helps where that is concerned.
The next Dominion Valley Villages Report will be out in May. Until then, if you would like to talk over a possible sale in 2022, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Consultations are complementary and confidential. With over 33 years of combined local real estate experience, we know how to make outstanding impressions and negotiate the best outcomes. From listing preparation advice to professional marketing and contract negotiations, we understand that even in a seller’s market, there is additional profit that can be made. Selling in a seller’s market is not a guarantee of the best possible outcome. Who you hire matters. Let us when we can help you. We Love Selling Dominion Valley!