Hubby's house shopping expereince today....

[disfan07]

we used to live in fairfax county and house prices there are absolutely astronomical. We lived in one of the middle of teh road areas price wise and our house (4 bdrms/3 1/2 baths and 3500 sq ft) was valued at $690,000. (houses in our neighborhood ranged from $350,00 TH to $750,000 homes) We bought it 11 years ago for $210,000 and becasue we had to sell it at teh height of the market slump (october 2008) we only sold it for $550,000.

But....we never realized how nice those prices were until we moved to santa clarita, ca. A foreclosure 1700 sq ft house cost us $430,000. Any houses that we looked at around 2500 sq ft started at $600,000+ Its insane.

And...Northern Virginia is more yankee than the rest of virginia...at least FFX county is

 

[barkley]

you have to consider that for a certain percentage of the seller's population, a 'short sale' is, for them, a technique to further delay foreclosure. so-if they can make the home appear undesireable it can create additional months before they are forced out.

there are people in danger of foreclosure who have been advised by 'professionals' that b/c of the insanely high rate of foreclosures occuring in the u.s., that in the future, a foreclosure won't look as bad on a credit report as has traditionaly been the case. they are told that if they want to 'buy' more time in their homes to consider going through the motions with their lender of listing as a short sale. then they don't make any effort to make the home marketable, but it maybe buys them an additonal 6 or so months before the lender starts the full bore foreclosure process.

so you may encounter homes that are listed for sale, but that's the last thing the current owner wishes to occur.

 

[sunnyday123]

Thankfully---not all of the listings we have received are like this.

It happened that the properties that had problems had no pictures--or just a facade. But the MLS description was enough to pique our interest.

The area as a whole is pretty nice and not all the properties are like this. It just felt like we were bamboozled, KWIM?

I hope for the homeowners that the right buyer comes along--we were just not it today.

I always do a ride by a house that had no pictures provided BEFORE I take a client-no pictures=equals a hot mess. They want to get you there without seeing the house and it's issues. I had one that was described as "delightful" but had all the windows in the front boarded up. Delightful my behind.

 

[Christine]

We used to live in Lake Ridge. I hope you find something soon. VA is definitely a great place to live for homeschooling (you homeschool, right?) One nice thing about that area is everyone is a transplant from somewhere else and as a result they tend to be friendly. Lots of parks in the area too!

I did steer her towards Lake Ridge.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I always do a ride by a house that had no pictures provided BEFORE I take a client-no pictures=equals a hot mess. They want to get you there without seeing the house and it's issues. I had one that was described as "delightful" but had all the windows in the front boarded up. Delightful my behind.

The one he was extremely disappointed in...he drove by on Saturday and the exterior photo matched and it was beautiful.

He now has a new outlook, we have advanced the suggested communities to our realtor and we await for updated listings that are in much better areas.

Our budget is tight--but doable. We just didn't know where to look.

Our move at the earliest won't occur before July/August and at its worst, we have until December to find something (cheap rent living with a friend in a nice townhome) before he is homeless.

If we can't find anything to buy in 10 months, we will surrender to renting.

 

[perdidobay]

Reading this thread has reminded me of one of my favorite websites....

lovelylisting.com


I'd never believe it if I hadn't seen it!

 

[kellyg403]

My hometown is Stafford,VA. I remember when that area was all woods! You would get off the exit on 95 onto Rt 610 and drive 6 miles to see a house. The only thing on the exit was a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a gas station across the street! The area now, well people commute as far as Spotsylvania these days to jobs in DC. Everytime I go home I am AMAZED at the growth. There was a time when you said you were from Stafford and people would say where is Stafford...oh you mean Fredricksburg!

I lived breifly in Lakeridge as well..great area. The prices are so bad now. I hope that you find something soon and in your price range. I wish I could move home just because there are so many things to do there. The lifestyle change is, alone, the best part. Big City (DC) but live out in the burbs.

Good Luck to you!
Kelly

 

[minniebeth]

When I lived in Stafford, other than Walmart and a grocery store, we had to drive either north to Woodbridge or south to Fredricksburg. I can't believe what they have now!

 

[dis-happy]

Also, Lisa, don't underestimate the traffic!!! At one point my dh drove all of 10 miles from Lake Ridge to Newton and it would easily take 30+ minutes. Start from your dh's place of employment and try to find something as close as possible that you wouldn't mind living in. If you decide on a place make sure he checks the commute out (during commuting times) before making an offer. It can be shocking. For that reason alone I would try not to go south of where he works.

When we moved out of state my number one criteria for a house was a place close to work. We got back so much more family time! (when we left VA he had been commuting over an hour each way to MD...and that was leaving at 5:30 am).