The Silver Spring area includes much of southern and eastern Montgomery County, and is one of the fastest growing commercial centers in the area Silver Spring real estate is high in value because of location, location, location. There are residential properties including Silver Spring homes, condos and town houses Estate type custom homes are to be found in private communities, like the Silver Spring Country Club.
Current population figures show that there are approximately 200,000 residents in Silver Spring. Silver Spring is not an incorporated as a city, but is one of the most important business and residential centers in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area, and is certainly one of the most affluent in the area. The housing prices here vary due to the diversity of housing options, but will range in upper middle to upper end easily, depending on location, size of property, and age.
Downtown Silver Spring is currently experiencing a Renaissance of new development with historic preservation. And is the area’s fastest growing commercial center.The city fathers are very pro business, growth, pro family and environment making this a great place to live. A 22-acre project in the heart of downtown Silver Spring has opened its newest section, and more shops and restaurants will open soon. The project includes community and regionally oriented shopping, the AFI Silver Theatre and a 5,000 seat film complex, new restaurants, office, hotel and parking facilities. in phase IIIthe project will also include a new downtown civic building and Veteran’s Plaza park for outdoor activities and events.
Another major draw is the award winning schools with their low student/teacher ratios, their modern and spacious school rooms, up to date computer technologies and sports recreational programs.
There are also parks and citywide recreational facilities, theaters, museums, excellent libraries and everything that anyone would want in city amenities.
Have you ever considered what it really is that can explain the changes in property prices? In this article, I will go throught the main causes for the property prices´ shifts. I am writing from many years of experience as a Toronto realtor.
How the next price move can be predicted? How does one know it is the right time to invest? What almost all buyers do is they simply watch for the previous direction of prices. One may say that the expectations of buyers, in fact, get mostly influenced by previous movements. Should prices go up, they will expect such growth to go on, and visa versa. Eventhough such a strategy does not consider the real factors that have an impact on the price, it is applied. Relying on this method alone can produce very painful experiences, just as we saw not too long ago.
What economic factors have the most significant effect on how prices are formed? – Economic growth – Nominal interest rates (before inflation) and structure of mortgage products – Inflation Let’s look at these factors in more detail.
The stronger the state of economics, the better it is for business including real estate. One of the reasons is that when economics is stronger it raises property prices because the buyer gets reassured that there will be a rise in the demand for housing, and a rise in the value of his property which will enable him to sell it again for a profit. When considering the BIS Quartely Review, it shows that a 1% rise of GNP is linked with 1% to 4% rise of property price after 3 years.
For the property prices to grow you firstly need plenty of eager buyers. As a result of the fact that many people can not buy a property without some sort of house lone, almost all buyers are eager to instead buy houses when there are attractive mortgage products with low nominal interest rates. According to the same source, only 1% decrease in nominal interest rate are connected with 1/2% to 1% of property prices growth after 1 year. Similarly, buyers get easily influenced by the smallest rise in the nominal interest rate which in reaction causes a settling of property prices. Watch out – no rule works strictly. For example – credit crunch is a situation, when official interest rates become less important and the loan market is driven by different factors. Likewise is the real estate market.
Property prices are strongly impacted by the rate of interest while changes in interest rates are influced by inflation. High inflation has a different impact in different countries. Some countries see investing into property as balancing inflation in which case higher inflation will result in an increase of property prices (for instance Germany). A typical characteristic of these type of countries is the fixed interest rate loans without any equity withdrawal. Some countries see the negative impact of high inflation on property prices such as in UK where the interest rates float and in the USA that has interest rates with equity withdrawal.
Every rule has an exception and numbers and values mentioned don’t have to suit your neighborhood. It’s realtor’s job to know the exceptions and differences. But you should understand, there is a general system how the real estate prices are created on the market. Do not be trapped by shallow attitude. Think about each aspect of the market.
There are many people who need to sell their homes nowadays. Some of the homes are grand and beautiful whereas some of the others are less attractive and are in dire need of some repairs. Depending on the state of your home and how much you are wanting to sell your home for, you may need different levels of renovation to get your home ready to be put on the market. Beautiful homes often sell for more money but only if they are in good shape. Homes that need major repairs upfront will be sold as fixer uppers and their prices will be lower when compared to homes that are move-in ready.
When to Renovate
There are three levels of renovation which you can do to your home before you put it on the market. You can do a complete renovation which will cost you much more money than other options but you can usually sell it for even more than what you put in. To spend less, you can choose to do a cosmetic repair which which is to repair as little as possible so that it will be move in ready. On the other hand, you could just stage your home. Home staging is becoming more and more popular because homeowners often find that staged homes sell faster. If there is absolutely nothing wrong with your home, then a home staging is a good option. But, if something needs to be repaired, it might be a more befitting idea to do some minor repairs first.
Good Pictures Go a Long Way
When you have renovated or staged your home and it is ready to be put on the market, it is time to decide if you want to find a realtor or sell your home yourself. Lots of people decide to sell by themselves and they then take beautiful home pictures to print out and show interested buyers. Homeowners can also upload their pictures of beautiful homes onto websites such as For Sale By Owner or FSBO so that any interested buyers can read about their homes and can contact them through these sites.
