This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

13,780 Homes Sold Yesterday!!

Yes, 13,780 homes sold yesterday and they will sell tomorrow. Let's look at why we need to look at the facts.

Steve Harney, one of my all-time favorite real estate advisors has a message worth repeating...  

One of the things I often hear from people I meet is that real estate and mortgage professionals should have seen the current housing crisis coming and done something to prevent it. We should have realized that easing lending practices would lead to millions of families buying a home they could never afford. We should have warned our neighbors not to use their homes as ATMs. We should have realized that the economy could never withstand such growth and was about to crash.

Maybe these people are correct. Looking back, perhaps we could have been better stewards of the home buying process. We are committed to not making that same mistake again. Keep in mind, Real Estate is a great investment, it was never meant to be short term.

Find out what's happening in Leesburgwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

13,780 Homes Sold Yesterday
To all those who have declared the real estate market dead, we want you to know that over 13,780 houses sold yesterday, 13,780 will sell today and 13,780 will sell tomorrow.

That is the average number of homes that sell each and every day in this country according to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) latest Existing Home Sales Report. NAR reported that sales had increased 7.7% over the month before and 18.6% over the year before. According to the report, annualized sales now stand at 5.03 million. Divide that number by 365 (days in a year) and we can see that, on average, well over 13,000 homes sell every day.

Find out what's happening in Leesburgwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We realize that these numbers are below the record for homes sold in 2006. We also know that we may never see those numbers again (and that is probably a good thing). But to say that the current real estate market is dead or that houses are not selling is totally inaccurate. We have over 13,000 pieces of evidence to prove that.

I’d like to share a few visuals to help you with understanding where we are today. Please take a look at my blog for slides which show what current market data reveals.

Let’s look at the return on an investment in real estate verses other investments, none of which you can enjoy and use unless it is a home! 

Also, keep in mind interests rates are around 4 percent. What happens if they go up ( and we know they will, it is just a matter of time.) Today, the prices homes have fallen nationally to a level of 2003 home prices. Here in Northern Virginia, home prices have stabilized and have even gone up in most areas. 

Rents have gone up, too and will continue to do so!

Do you agree with the majority of folks who still think home ownership is a great investment?

For more information about our local real estate market or homes sales in your neighborhood, please don't hesitate to ask me.  You can keep tabs on information by watching  a YouTube Video from our MRIS or go to our Leesburg Long & Foster Leesburg Market Minute Report.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?