Monthly Archives: July 2020

Helpful Tips for Moving with Pets

People move for all sorts of reasons, and while some moves can boast exciting opportunities, even a move under the best circumstances can be unbearably stressful. Transitioning to a new home can be hard on the furry members of your household, as well. Thankfully, there are measures you can put in place to make your next move as smooth as possible for your pets.

Board Your Pet on Moving Day

Ideally, you will not keep your pet around on moving day. The chaos can be stressful for your pet and you likely won’t give your pet the attention it will want or need. Movers can also let out your pet unintentionally. Avoid this by boarding your pet or asking a trusted friend or family member to pet sit.

Keep an Essentials Box

Just as you should keep essentials with you during a move so that you have vital items, if your moving truck is lost or delayed, it can be helpful to create the same essentials box for your pet. Include any prescriptions, favorite toys, familiar items and their bed.

Make it Familiar

You may not be able to explain to Fido why you left your old house, but you can make their new home feel familiar right away. Set up a small area with your pet’s toys, food and bed. Keep daily rituals as similar as possible. Particularly for outdoor cats, allow them to get acclimated to a bedroom or smaller space before letting them rule the roost.

Fill Out the Paperwork

Moving comes with a lot of paperwork, but don’t forget to add your pet’s files to the mix. Update their tags or microchip information to the new address and phone number and request that your previous vet transfer records to a local clinic.

Source: RIS Media

Local Real Estate Update

Historically, the summer time has been a good time to be a home buyer but not such a great time to be a home seller.  We have had many people ask if our opinion has changed in the season of COVID-19 and record low interest rates in place to stimulate the real estate market.  The answer is yes and no.  Like everything else in real estate, it is location dependent.

Today we are taking a look at two of our favorite zip codes:  22314 which covers Old Town Alexandria and 22301 which includes Rosemont, DelRay, and the surrounding area.

In DelRay we are seeing some good news and some not so good news.  The average sales price is up 29% from last year but the average days on market is also up by 120%.

In nearby Old Town we see not only a 54% increase in the average days on the market year over year, but a 14% decrease in the average sales price as well.  It is interesting to note that in 22314 we also saw a 113 increase in new listings compared to June of last year.

Who knows what the future holds but compared to previous years, I would say that at least in Alexandria, when the temperatures go up, the number of home buyers tend to go down.

 

 

Mortgage Market Update, July 2020

This month’s market Primary Mortgage Market Survey® from Freddie Mac showed that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.03 percent, the lowest rate in the survey’s history dating back to 1971.

“The summer is heating up as record low mortgage rates continue to spur homebuyer demand,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist. “However, it remains to be seen whether the demand will continue if COVID cases rise to the point that it hinders economic growth.” In addition:

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.03 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week ending July 9, 2020, down from 3.07 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.75 percent.
  • 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.51 percent with an average 0.8 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.56 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.22 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.02 percent with an average 0.3 point, up slightly from last week when it averaged 3.00 percent. A year ago at this time, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.46 percent.

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