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Buying or Selling a Home in Today's Hot Market

Two Top Realtors Share Their Advice

Loudoun County’s housing market is SO hot, we thought we should tap two of the area’s top Luxury Home Realtors – Debbie Meighan of Washington Fine Properties and Peter Leonard-Morgan of Hunt Country Southeby’s International Realty –  to find out how long this can last and what, if anything, you should do if you want to sell your home in the next year. For our full, video interview, see https://vimeo.com/leesburglifestyle.

Why is the market so over-heated?

Peter: Folks have been coming out of cities wanting to buy bigger properties with more land, together with low interest rates.

Debbie: I recently saw a chart showing the months of inventory on the market and it is at 3-1/2 months of supply. That is the lowest rate of inventory we've had since they started keeping records.  That's really what's been driving the market: low interest rates, low inventory and high buyer demand.

What impact is this having on home prices?

Peter: Home prices have gone up substantially. I was talking to some clients I bought a property for last January and at the time we thought we got the right price. They’re really jumping for joy because their price would be probably 20% more today.

Debbie: I think most people are probably seeing maybe a 10% increase over their market price, but it's just a classic supply and demand problem. People are willing to pay more to get more. We often seen multiple offers on properties.

What parts of the County are growing the fastest?

Debbie: We're seeing a lot of very strong demand in Middleburg. It has the cachet of having that address and there's nothing for sale in Middleburg right now, so people are starting to look a little bit further out.

Peter: I've seen quite a bit in Fauquier County as well, just over the border from Middleburg, in Marshall/Orlean. People are loving the fact they can buy a bit more acreage there, and [these  areas have] such a good reputation for conservancy and not over developing.

Debbie:  Even into Clarke and Rappahannock –I mean it's really quite astonishing.

So, what are people looking for?

Peter: In a nutshell, acreage. I just recently bought a property for a couple from New York City. They moved to a lovely property in Orlean. They are just so happy to be able to get out and not have to wear a mask and hold hands and walk around in the countryside.

Debbie: We’re also finding that people are looking for pools and multi-generational living because some children have come home and you don't know how long they’ll stay. People are working from home so they want more office space and they want Internet.

If I'm thinking about selling my house, what should I do to make it sell faster?

Debbie: The first thing you should do is call me! Seriously, the first thing you should do is contact your professional Realtor so that they can guide you as to what is the best thing for your particular property. Decluttering is always good.

Peter: Even though we're in a hot market it's still important to make it look great because there's still competition and you still want to try and get the best value for your client. If you need to paint it inside, or to re-do your carpet – a bit of staging can help that deal happen quicker and get closer to your asking price

Reach Debbie at debbie.meighan@wfp.com or on Instagram as DebbieMeighanRealtor and Peter at peterleonard-morgan@hcsir.com  or on Instagram at peterleonardmorgan.realtor.

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