Active listings were down 18.8% in January 2012, compared to 12 months ago. Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach saw a decrease in the inventory of homes for sale.

Under contract sales for January 2012 jumped 32.9% when compared to a year ago. This is the largest increase for the month of January for more than 5 years. All seven of the major local cities experienced gains.

The increase in under contract sales shall be followed by settled sales figures over the next few months. The under contract sales led to a rise in  settled sales for January 2012, up 5.27% when compared to January of 2011.

The distressed homes market, grew in active listings by 26%, but fell by 37% percentage of settled sales.

January 2012  Absorption Rates by Cityfigures

Virginia Beach – 5.77 month supply of homes

Norfolk – 7.22 month supply of homes

Chesapeake – 6.98 month supply of homes

Portsmouth – 7.93 month supply of homes

Suffolk – 8.86 month supply of homes

(Note: 6 month supply is considered a stable market)

To nail down the exact value of your home in today’s market, shoot me an email at: AgentFaircloth@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to give you an accurate assessment of your current market value.

All figures provided herein are a courtesy of REIN (Real Estate Information Network).

These tips will help you prepare for the sale.

• Remove extra furniture.
• Paint the rooms a neutral color.
• Remove personal memorabilia and keepsakes.
• Create focal points in each room. By staging, you begin the process of disassociating yourself from the house. You want potential buyers to see “your home” as “theirs.” If you do the preparation up front and price the property properly, you should see results
• Hire a handy man to come in and do minor repairs around the house. Address those things you’ve ignored for years.  The best way to avoid problems due to unforeseen home repairs is to have a home inspection before you list it, not after there’s an offer on the table. Why dread the results of a home inspection when you can be proactive and preemptive? Call your agent, who can surely give you a list of qualified home inspectors. Listen to what he says and fix what’s wrong.

The next step is pricing the home.

It is inevitable that homeowners will not agree with the agent about setting a price on the home. I find that emotional attachment is more a factor, than assessing the sales prices of the comparables in the neighborhood. Remember, an over priced home becomes “market worn”, and costs you far more to carry then to price right in the beginning.

An agent should be able to advise you on:

• How to set an accurate price for your home.
• How to negotiate and get the best price.
• We have no emotional attachment to the home and will not be offended by buyer criticism.
• We sell far more homes in a year than a home owner does in their lifetime. Experience matters.

Selling your home is business and one of the biggest transactions you will ever make. Treat it that way and make the experience smoother for you and for your buyer.

Are you buying, selling or leasing a home in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake or Norfolk? Chris Faircloth can help you if you’re shopping for Hampton Roads homes for sale or planning on moving to or from Virginia Beach in the future. Visit AgentFaircloth.com and browse ALL the homes for sale (and ALL the lease homes) listed in the MLS on one website with no registration required.

Breathtaking views...

This spacious three bedroom, two bath, 9th floor condo offers stunning panoramic views of the Norfolk sky line. The large master bedroom offers walk in closet and a cedar closet with a private master bath. You will find granite tops in both the master and guest bathrooms. A newly updated kitchen boasts all Energy Star stainless steel appliances, cherry cabinets, a decorative tile ceiling and granite tops. The open family room and dining room are simply stunning with gleaming, refinished hardwood floors. Enjoy the breathtaking sunsets with water views from the large tiled balcony. Features include: 24 hour security, guest suites for residents use, library, The Algonquin Room for entertaining, waterfront inground pool, docks/boat slips and ground maintenance. Did we mention “it’s included”, yes the utilties are included!

Sunrise on the Bay

A rainy day on the shore shines a little light on water front homes in the Great Neck and Shore Drive corridor.

Last Saturday, I was out with a lovely couple looking for homes on the water. The property they seemed most interested in was a property I was all to familiar with and had looked at for myself some years back. I asked them if they minded if I pulled other homes in Lynnhaven Colony, Bay Island and the surrounding areas. I then decided that since water front was important I would throw in a few attached (town home style) condos on the Bay front.We saw detached homes  from 2000 SF to 4,000 SF on bulk-headed parcels ranging in the 700′s to 800′s. These homes were all well over a million just 2 years ago. Two of the three detached properties also had in-ground pools, and more than ample space for docking multiple boats, a plus for my client. I think often times some of the bulk-headed properties are great, but offer little privacy and not the kind of expansive views you were looking for.

View from the Lynnhaven Fishing Pier

So we then took off to see homes on the Bay. I thought they could get a feel for what their budget could buy them on the Bay and in terms of views. . Our first stop was Ship’s Watch a gated bay front community off Ocean Shore Avenue just down from Lynnhaven Fish House. This is a lovely town home style condo community offers Two story (not on the Bay) range in the $385,000+ range and three story units with BIG BOLD BAYFRONT views from all three decks. The prices of units on the bay ranged from $624,900-637,900. Some years back I made an offer on a bay front unit listed at $799,000. So to have prices down $175,000 is AMAZING. And if you haven’t seen the bay views from here, you’re missing quite the site.

We then went down to Evangelines Way off Page Avenue. This property had BIG BOLD BAYFRONT views, and all the bells and whistles, from lavish baths, to exquisite kitchen finishes and upgrades to an elevator in every unit. One is listed at $2,250,000 (on the bay). The bay front unit we looked at was being marketed at $1,395,000 but the same unit could be built (with the same amenities) for $759,000 (NOT on the bay with no water views).

So, we then tracked over the Lesner Bridge into Ocean Park and viewed a duplex style condo on Jefferson which was being marketed at $698,000 and was located on the bay. We were disappointed though, as the dune in front of the house was so big that we couldn’t see the smallest glimpse of blue water and this unit consisted of the 1st and 2nd floors. Apparently, the other unit had the 3rd floor, and all the views. The hardwoods were nice, however the kitchen had teal counter tops and dated cabinets. Since views were important we didn’t even stay to look at the first floor.

Lynnhaven Inlet from the Lesner Bridge

We finished our tour in Chicks Beach at a jewel hidden down a narrow lane off Ocean View Ave. This was a pleasant surprise as well. The design of the building optimized the bay views which could be seen from any of the rooms. This unit was listed in the low $700′s.

The tour gave us all a very good idea of value and the price of a view coupled with amenity. If you’re considering a waterfront move in the next year or so, I would consider making the move now. You will not see prices for waterfront properties this low for many years to come.

I live, bike, boat and love it here, and I know you will too. Call me for a tour of the area! We can do it by bike or boat.

Usually when I tell someone this, the response I get is either, “My company gives me a website” or “The real estate program I pay for monthly comes with a website.”  Unfortunately, both of these websites are a waste of time and money for real estate professionals, and here’s why:

• Company provided sites are usually generated within the framework of the company’s web platform.  In essence, they arent giving you your own site, rather, they are giving you a page, or a series of pages within their website for example - www.BIGCOMPANYNAME.com/(your name) - This is great for the overall company because it adds pages and content to their site which basically increases their overall ranking on search engines which in turn drives more leads through page one which they then divide up among agents and maybe you get a lead which you then pay for in some way.  You also get almost no customization, and no search engine optimization capability.
• Software provided sites are often templated with very little customization so often, if you are not tech savvy, you end up with a site that looks just like everyone else’s.  They are often difficult to use and require multiple calls to tech support and they have limited if any optimization features.
• Also, neither of these options does a good job if any of telling you how much traffic you’re getting, and in the world of online marketing, if you can’t track it, you don’t really have a strategy.

Being on page one of Google is the difference between tons of search engine traffic and no search engine traffic.  Have you ever appeared on page one?  When was the last time you did a Google search for “Real Estate Agent Virginia Beach” (or your specific area) ?  In our area, page one of Google is dominated by major real estate companies, however, in the mix of the top 10 organic results we do often find www.agentfaircloth.com.  How did she do that?  Though Chris Faircloth is very successful in Hampton Roads real estate, her page ranking is not a result of her success in real estate, its because of her progressive approach to online marketing specifically in the area of having her own domain name and website and implementing to some degree a purposeful search engine optimization campaign.  Your company or software systems are using your content to bring themselves traffic.

After you get your domain and hosting, create a website with WordPress, (I recommend www.wordpress.org) or have a good local web designer build one.  A good designer will even be able to provide you with hosting and help you in acquiring a domain.  Basic optimization should be included in the building of the site along with Google Analytics which does an awesome job of helping you determine how much traffic you’re getting.

Damien Smith

Social Media Sensei

Guerrilla Social Media

Norfolk, Virginia

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The number of active listings declined 19% when compared to December of 2010. This marked the tenth month with a decrease in active inventory. Great news, a solid increase in settled sales, and a decrease in active listings reduces the supply of inventory to 7.3 months (for Hampton Roads). This is the since REIN began measuring in 2008. Four cities (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Newport News) experienced a reduction in active listings of at least 22% when compared to 2010 figures.

Under contract/pending sales grew by 18% in December 2011 when compared to a year ago. I honestly can’t believe some of these figures: Portsmouth saw 45% increase, Norfolk had a 36% increase and Chesapeake experienced a 34% increase in under contract sales! So, don’t tell me about how bad the market is. Hampton Roads Real Estate market is posting some amazing figures that lead us to believe 2012 will be a great year for housing.

So, now on to the “D” word or “distressed” homes and how they are affecting our area. The percentage of settled distressed sales was 33% for December of 2011 down from 41% a year prior.

The number of active distressed listings went up 1% in December of 2011 from the 25% reported in December of 2010. Thankfully, it was only one percent.

December posted some AMAZING absorption figures. (Note: 6 month supply is considered a stable market)

Virginia Beach – 5.69 month supply of homes

Norfolk – 6.97 month supply of homes

Chesapeake – 6.99 month supply of homes

Portsmouth – 7.81 month supply of homes

Suffolk – 8.71 month supply of homes

To nail down the exact value of your home in today’s market, shoot me an email at: AgentFaircloth@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to give you an accurate assessment of your current market value.

All figures provided herein are a courtesy of REIN (Real Estate Information Network).

Virtual Tour

Shortly after pulling out of the airport I was surprised at all the traffic. In my mind, I had imagined it being far less developed then it was.  San Juan reminded me of Miami with it’s tropical climate and modern high rise hotels. Old San Juan was more like what I expected, aged and quaint with cobblestone streets. Actually the cobblestone streets were blue and made in Spain in the 1800′s. It was beautiful.

We also toured Castillo San Felipe del Morro which was complete in 1589, and has been made a World Heritage site by the United Nations. This fort lies on the northwestern point of the San Juan Inlet allowing them to defend the city from seaborne enemies.

We also visited Castillo de San Cristobal another spanish fort built to protect against land based attacks on the city of San Juan. This fort was the largest fort built by the Spanish in the New World, finished in 1783 and covered 27 aces.

When booking our hotel stay we learned an expensive lesson. Although the distance between San Juan and Rio Grande, traffic is heavy and the cab fair can run between $65-85.00 each way. So be sure to rent a car and keep your money! I will confess, we got directions to the same place from concierge and the car rental place and neither was good about listing the street names, they seemed to use landmarks (even old ones no longer there) in their directions. It was an adventure to say the least.

One of my favorite tours was the kayak tour of Bioluminescent Bay.  Basically it’s a lagoon in Fajardo that has 500,000 to 700,000 microscopic bioluminescent plankton per gallon. So when you wave your hand through the water you trigger a reaction which causes your hand to glows in the water. The same goes with your kayak as it moves through the water, where the water parts, it glows. I was a little anxious about whole idea, but the waters were calm and the entire experience was so serene. Worth the the trip.

We stayed at the Wyndham Rio Mar in Rio Grande. I was excited after seeing the site and knowing the Wyndham brand. The hotel was dated and in need of repair. They were generious to offer a room upgrade after my husband informed them of our anniversary and we were pleased with our upgraded ocean view room.

When booking our stay we were drawn to this hotel because they advertised that they had an on site dive shop, which we found to be convenient as well. Upon a visit to the concierge desk, we were informed the dive shop had closed and that if we weren’t PADI certified, that no dive shop on the island would allow us to dive. We explained we’ve dived all over the world and that no one else has ever had an issue with our SSI certification. Finally, my husband asked for a list of dive operations on the island so we could inquire into booking a few dives. A two tank dive cost $120 and the cab ride to and from the dive shop to catch the boat was another $160. We asked about renting a car, and they were all booked, so we had to be added to a waiting list.  Good news is…. The diving was worth it. Check out this video!

I have to confess, I really didn’t do the research into Puerto Rico I should have before our arrival. I found it to be a pleasant surprised with beautiful beaches, aqua blue waters, more populated than I imagined, amazing historical sites and very pleasant people. Thank you