Reasons To Attend Your Own Home Inspection

Jan 28

Reasons To Attend Your Own Home Inspection

January 28, 2013 By Justin Paulhamus Leave a Comment

As a home buyer in DC , you can get a feel for whether a home's systems and appliances are in working order. However, you can't know for certain until after the home's been inspected. This is why real estate agents recommend that buyers hire a licensed home inspectors immediately after going into contract. It's the best way to really know the home which you're buying. By definition, a home inspection is a top-to-bottom check-up of a home's physical condition and systems, including a review … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate in Washington, DC Tagged With: Home Buyer, Home inspection, Inspection, Plumbing, real estate, Real estate broker

Nov 26

Simple, Inexpensive Ways To Prep Your Home For Sale

November 26, 2012 By Claire Welsh Leave a Comment

When DC homeowners get ready to list, advice will often come from all corners of their personal and social network -- what within the home to upgrade; what to repair; what to replace. And, although some advice remains valuable, much of it can be ignored. The costs of an expensive upgrade are rarely recouped at the time of sale and studies show that smaller, simpler actions can yield a bigger return on your investment of time and money. Here are four inexpensive, yet highly effective, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Selling Real Estate in Washington, DC Tagged With: Curb appeal, District of Columbia, Home and Garden, Home Staging, Lighting, Paint, real estate, washington dc, Windows

Nov 12

M Squared Real Estate Introduces New, Responsive Virtual Tours

November 12, 2012 By Dominic Morrocco Leave a Comment

M Squared's New, Flashless, HTML5 Virtual Tours

Leading independent, Washington DC brokerage firm M Squared Real Estate, introduces new Flash-less virtual tours 100% compatible with all browsers, smartphones & tablets. M Squared Real Estate, an official Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS) virtual tour vendor, is pleased to introduce new, “flashless” virtual tours which are produced for all company listings, at no charge to the firm’s agents, and syndicated to over 900 third-party real estate portals and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: M Squared Company News Tagged With: html5, jquery, m squared, marketing, Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, real estate, Virtual tour, washington dc

Nov 09

Questions First-Time Home Buyers Should Ask

November 9, 2012 By Claire Welsh Leave a Comment

Nationwide, mortgage rates are low in District of Columbia and home prices remain relatively low, too. This combination, plus rising rents, is pushing renters in some cities -- including DC -- toward first-time homeownership. Buying your first home can be exciting, but you should also do your research to make sure that you ask the proper questions of the process, and make the best choices for yourself and your household. For example, recommended questions for first-time buyers to ask home … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate in Washington, DC Tagged With: Ask price, Distressed Properties, First-time buyer, First-Time Home Buyer, Home Values, Mortgage loan, Property, real estate, Real estate broker, Real estate pricing, School district

Oct 31

19 of 20 Case-Shiller Index Markets Improve In August

October 31, 2012 By Claire Welsh Leave a Comment

Home value rose to close out the summer, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index, a national home-valuation tracker. Nationwide, values rose 0.9% between July and August 2012 with 19 of 20 tracked markets showing improvement. Only one tracked city -- Seattle, Washington -- showed a decrease, falling just 0.1 percent. On an annual basis, 17 of the 20 Case-Shiller Index markets improved, led by Phoenix. Home values in the Arizona city are up 18.8 percent from August 2011. The next … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate in Washington, DC Tagged With: Case-Shiller Index, Home Values, Phoenix, real estate, Real estate pricing, United States, washington dc

Oct 24

Home Supplies Drop To Multi-Year Low

October 24, 2012 By Joshua Oliver Leave a Comment

As the third quarter closed, home resales showed considerable momentum nationwide. The National Association of REALTORS® reports Existing Home Sales at 4.75 million units in September 2012 on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis, an 11 percent increase from one year ago. An "existing home" is a home that's been previously occupied; a resale. The reading marks the second-highest tally of the year -- second only to August 2012 when 4.83 million homes were sold on a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Selling Real Estate in Washington, DC Tagged With: Existing Home Sales, Existing Home Supply, foreclosure, NAR, National Association of Realtors, real estate, Real estate pricing, Sales, September, U.S. Housing Market, washington dc

Oct 02

M Squared Announces Complete Sell Out of 515 Q Street Condominium

October 2, 2012 By Mark Mlakar Leave a Comment

M Squared Real Estate, a leading real estate marketing and sales firm in the nation’s capital, has today announced the complete sell-out of all units within the 515 Q Street development within just one week. M Squared Real Estate has today announced that the new 515 Q Street property located in Washington, DC, has been completely sold out. Interest in the units was exceptionally high, thanks in large part to the innovative, ultra-modern design and the limited availability of units. All … [Read more...]

Filed Under: M Squared Company News Tagged With: 515 q street, 515 q street condominium, Condominium, devereux ventures, m squared, m squared real estate, New Construction, new development, real estate, shaw, sold out, under contract, washington dc

Sep 25

Existing Home Sales Leap To 2-Year High

September 25, 2012 By Jessica Wilkie 1 Comment

The home resale market put forth another strong data set last week. Home sales prices are higher nationwide and sales volume has moved to a 2-year high. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, 4.82 million "existing homes" sold on a seasonally-adjusted, annualized basis in August, representing a near 8 percent improvement from the month prior and a nine percent jump from August 2011. An existing home is a home which has been previously occupied. Home sales were unevenly … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate in Washington, DC, Selling Real Estate in Washington, DC Tagged With: August, dc, District of Columbia, Existing Home Sales, Existing Housing Supply, First-time buyer, Mortgage loan, NAR, National Association of Realtors, Percentage, real estate, Real estate pricing, Sales, washington dc

Sep 18

Foreclosures Remain Concentrated In Just A Few States

September 18, 2012 By Joshua Oliver Leave a Comment

The national market for foreclosed homes remains strong. According to foreclosure data firm RealtyTrac, foreclosure activity increased 1 percent in August as compared to the month prior, climbing to just above 193,500 units nationwide. 1 in every 681 U.S. households received some form of foreclosure filing last month where a "foreclosure filing" is any one of the following foreclosure-related events : A default notice on a home; a scheduled auction for a home; or, a bank repossession of a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate in Washington, DC Tagged With: Arizona, California, Florida, foreclosure, Foreclosures, Illinois, Michigan, real estate, RealtyTrac, REO

Sep 06

Case-Shiller Index Shows Huge Home Price Gain

September 6, 2012 By Jessica Wilkie Leave a Comment

Home prices continue to rise nationwide. According to the Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Index, home prices rose 6.9% between the first and second quarter of 2012, the largest quarter-to-quarter gain since the home-value tracker's 1987 inception and another signal that the housing market is in recovery. The private-sector metric's results are similar to what the government's Home Price Index showed for June, too -- values rising quickly. In addition, for the second straight month, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Buying Real Estate in Washington, DC Tagged With: Case-Shiller Index, dc, District of Columbia, Home Price Index, Home Values, National Association of Realtors, real estate, Real estate economics, Real estate pricing, Standard & Poor, washington dc