The James River Bridge is NOT flooded.

Well Sandy is going to hit further north and we'll have some rough weather, but it seems we are being spared from the worst of it.  Like everytime we have a major storm, someone's picture of the James River Bridge taken from Windward Towers is making the rounds on Facebook showing that water is crashing over the sides of the JRB.  I have no idea when this picture was taken (not Isabelle or any other recent storm I've seen), but it is not an accurate reflection of todays conditions in regards to Sandy...  at least not as of 2:45 PM 10.29.12 as shown in the photos below taken by yours truly from my balcony.  Now high tide was at 10:24 AM this morning, but conditions have changed only slightly since this morning. 

Shipyard shore.  Notice the waves are not breaking over the rip rap of the shipyard which is dramatically lower than the James River Bridge. 

Notice the cars currently driving over the bridge and the substantial daylight under the bridge.  This is a pretty typical water level. 

 

 

Hope you all are staying safe out there.  I don't recommend travel but at this moment you can still get to Smithfield if you want to cross the JRB without flooding your vehicle.  The JRB does close when wind exceeds 45 mph as detailed here.  

Peninsula Market Update

Peninsula Market Update

October 19th, 2012

 

• Active Listings:      2,132  down 11% from 2011


• Pending Listings:   456  down 7% from 2011


• Sold Listings:         277  up 12% from 2011


• Average Price:      $179,044  up 5% from 2011

Our market continues to show vast signs of improvement from 2011 with steady price gains, a big up tick in number sold and inventory continues to trend down year over year. 

In case you're wondering how much each community factors in, here's a look at the breakdown of active listings on the Peninsula: 

I plan on focusing on numbers in each community in the next 4 weeks in the market update.  We'll focus on Newport News when we look at next weeks numbers. 

If you have questions about our local market or would like to have specific answers to your questions, don't hesitate to contact me...  or leave a comment with future article suggestions. 

 

Dan Peters

Associate Broker / REALTOR

Anchor Realty Group

Newport News, VA

 

 



Election Year Real Estate

Election Year Real Estate

Virginia Peninsula Real Estate:  Are we better off than we were four years ago?

 

Being it’s an election year there have been a lot of “are we better off than we were four years ago” questions and commentary thrown around.  Mark Cuban wrote a blog that I found mirrored my general thoughts on the topic and you can read it here.  My focus isn’t the economy or country in general though…  I’m interested in real estate.  Not just any real estate, our real estate…  here on the Peninsula.  How is our local real estate market doing now compared to just a few months before President Obama took office? 

Before I get to that question always keep in mind that real estate is local.  Market conditions, common practices, laws and nuances vary greatly even within a particular state.  Your best source for information specific to your area is always going to be local REALTORS that are actively engaged in your local market and are paying attention to local trends.  If you live in Newport News, Hampton, York County or Poquoson (my definition of the Peninsula and the cities / counties I’m using in my statistics) this blog is a great place to find information that is specific to you. 

With that in mind how is the Peninsula real estate market doing compared to four years ago?  Summed up…  not good.  We are worse off in nearly every measurable category.  Here are a few examples: 

*Data from REIN MLS with a close date within 30 days from 9/7 in the given year.  Exception being ’11 where 9/9 is used (from my log).

As you can see from the above chart, the number of houses sold, the average sales price and the average price per square foot have all declined dramatically (20%, 20%, 25%) since 2008.  You could not make a logical argument that our housing market is better than it was in 2008 (Ok, you could make an argument that it's better for buyers but that's not an argument for the housing market being better in my mind). 

It’s not all bad news though.  As everyone knows the US economy fell apart in 2008.  The comparison of how the market is now compared to then can be made, however it doesn’t reflect the current trajectory of our housing prices.  It appears we hit bottom in our local housing market in 2010.  Although it will likely be a long time before we see the prices we saw at the peak in 2007, conditions do seem to be improving.  Prices are up and inventory is decreasing as is noted in my most recent Peninsula Market Update. 

As always if you have questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you. 

 

 

Dan Peters

Associate Broker / REALTOR

Anchor Realty Group
Newport News, VA  

 

The Start... Market Snap Shot for October 12th

I'm going to start this real estate blog...  it will be updated a minimum of once a week with a Peninsula Market Update.  This covers Newport News, Hampton, York County (south not by Williamsburg) and Poquoson.  I hope to update at least twice a week with a real estate related article in addition to the Market Update, but let's start our guarantees off small...  it's taken me 2 years to actually commit to doing this blog. 

 

 

Peninsula Market Update

October 12th, 2012

 

We are in the midst of a pretty strong buyer's market.  Seller's are selling their house for 4% less than asking on average and they are typically contributing to a buyer's closing costs.  There are 2,140 active homes on the market for buyers to choose from so selection remains very good.  The market will likely improve for buyer's over the winter.  Typically prices drop and inventory rises to it's highest level during the winter months as there is less buyer activity. 




 

 

As you can see in the chart above inventory is dropping, but not at the rate pending and sold homes are.  Inventory is dropping at about a 4% rate compared to 13% drops for both pending and sold numbers. 

 

It's not all bad news for sellers though.  Houses are still selling at an average price of $185,256 which is $99.52 per square foot across the Peninsula.  As you can see in this chart the YOY inventory is down dramatically and prices and number sold are up significantly. 

 

 

 

 

We seem to be working towards a balanced market as real estate, like all other products, are controlled by supply and demand.  We are coming into the slow season though, so we'll see how it pans out.  The decrease in pendings YOY is the only thing keeping the annual comparison from being all rosy for sellers. 

 

 

Dan Peters

Associate Broker

Anchor Realty Group

Newport News, VA