Back to the Northern Virginia Real Estate Guide

February 27, 2007

I'm back after a 10 day hiatus finishing work on the ACRE™ project! Have I missed much? Maybe. Maybe not. I hope you have missed me. My stats still show big visit and page view numbers even for being gone for 10+ days (and not posting anything new).

The Daily Market Watch was updated this morning. The only news here is that it looks pretty much the same. Fairfax and Loudoun inventories remain level while Prince William continues to rise. Loudoun prices are dipping again now below an average of $460,000. Are we flirting with new lows? Contracting activity has been on the rise for the last 45 to 50 days. At some point, those homes will go to close and the number sold should rise as well.

Assessment notices are out. Got mine a few days ago. Land up 15%, improvements down 27%. Net: a 16% reduction. WOW! I'm not complaining after 25% and 28% increases that last two years. But, I sure would like to see their methodology. Also, interesting to see Zillow "Zest" when they get the records.

Speaking of Zillow: I've had my home on the "Make me an offer" list since they went live with this feature. Had no calls. Maybe I'm unrealistic on price. Nah...just a slow market. It'll pick up in the spring.

And finally, speaking of the ACRE™ project, we built one of the most sophisticated user forums on the planet. I least I think it is. All built on MovableType. Lots of custom PHP, mySQL and complicated COOKIE handling. We don't call it a Blog; we call it an Exchange. It is a learning tool for course graduates to interact with consultant practitioners or coaches. I wish I could show it to you but it is a closed forum for ACRE™ graduates only. By the way, ACRE™ stands for the Accredited Consultant in Real Estate. Our goal is to change the way real estate is practiced and vastly improve the professionalism of the industry. Our biggest challenge is educating the industry and consumers. We think the time is right for change and consumers want the transparency offered with the fee for service approach.

At any rate, good to be back. Until my next web project.

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