My Bethesda Real Estate Prediction - Eating My Words

Posted Feb 17, 2008 @ 8:53 pm, Viewed by 503 Visitors, Read 547 Times.

In a post last week, I made a prediction about a home in Bethesda that I had shown…the one where there were seven groups of people in a one hour time span. I went out on a limb and said that, based on the activity that I observed, it would be under contract by the end of the week. I was wrong…it’s still available.

So, what does that say (other than the obvious, which is that I’m not a perfect predictor of market activity)? It looks like what’s happening (at least in the Bethesda area real estate market) is that buyers are out again, but they’re not feeling any sense of urgency. They’re taking their time…and perhaps waiting either for prices to drop or for interest rates to drop. In the case of this particular house, priced at just over $1 million, the issue of jumbo mortgage rates and availability may well have come in to play.  Jumbo rates still currently average about a point higher than conforming loans and, in some cases, are hard to come by.
 
This week has not shown a lot of increased inventory in the Washington DC area real estate market, whereas in years’ past we often see more houses coming on the market by mid-February.   If buyers are waiting for something “better”, they may be disappointed and/or have to wait a fairly long time. Prospective sellers may be sitting on the sidelines, and may only be willing to jump in if they perceive a more active market.
 
I’ll keep my eye on that property and let you know when it sells. My prediction would be that it won’t take much longer….but we know what happened with my earlier prediction!

- Contributing blogger Gretchen Koitz

 Bethesda real estate | Chevy Chase real estate | Washington DC real estate blog                                                                                               

The Gretchen Koitz Group | serving the Washington DC Metropolitan area including Washington DC, Montgomery County Maryland, & Northern Virginia

 

 

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5 Responses to “My Bethesda Real Estate Prediction - Eating My Words”

photo judyo

It's crazy. That has been happening in my area, too. I had buyers hemming and hawing over making an offer on a home they had seen twice. Problem is, by the time they made the offer it had gone into short sale status. We know we're up against at least one other offer and now it's a waiting game. If they had acted faster they probably could have been near closing by now. It doesn't always pay to wait, although I might be eating my words if they get their low offer accepted.

Posted 7 months ago
photo The Koitz Group

It's an interesting time isn't it? The good news is that buyers and sellers really need good representation coming from experience. Hang in there!

Posted 7 months ago
photo Ken Smith

The current jumbo loan market could play a huge factor into this. The terms and the qualifications for jumbo loans aren't exactly the best currently.

Posted 7 months ago
photo The Koitz Group

Hopefully the Economic Stimulus Package will bring some relief....it certainly is a problem in our market area.

Posted 7 months ago
photo Ken Smith

It will help a lot of areas. Anything that makes loans easier to get is welcome in the current market.

Posted 7 months ago
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The Koitz Group

The Koitz Group The Koitz Group at Long and Foster is a multi-generational group of highly experienced agents. Its principal, Gretchen Koitz has over 20 years of full-time residential real estate experience and shares her expertise as director of new agent training at the Bethesda Gateway Office, where for each of the past five years the productive level of the office has exceeded $1 Billion! Read More

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