Real Estate and Reston, VA: January 2007

I probably spend more time answering the question, "what is going on with the Real Estate market?" than any other question.  I own a small brokerage, so I am constantly looking for my own sources so that I am prepared each time this question is asked.  If you haven't checked out the George Mason Center for Regional Analysis website, I would highly recommend it.  The put together periodic Housing Reports, geared toward the Northern Virginia area.  The website is http://www.cra-gmu.org/.  They recently posted the 2007 Housing Market Forecast. It is worth taking a look.

Personally, based on the recent pace of phone calls and inquiries, I would say the market is starting to pick up.  My listing calls still slightly outpace my buying calls, but in the fall there were no buying calls!

 I would be interested to see what the rest of you are seeing...

It is pretty funny how quickly you can become addicted to something like this.  The whole concept of points and our natural competitive instincts feed off of each other and before I know it, I have been playing around on ActiveRain for an hour!  We will see how this goes over time...

I confess; I grew up in Reston and I still live here!!!! Okay, now that I have made my confession, I have to admit that I think living in Reston is fantastic.

I moved here as a kid and participated in all that Reston had to offer at the time: camps, swim team, soccer, softball, etc.

 As an adult, I could not wait to get away and find my own place.  When it came time to buy a house, however, my husband and I ended up buying it in Reston.  20 years later I am sure we made the right decision.

Reston has a great sense of community.  I know that my neighbors are friends and that my friends are my neighbors.  We now have our 'urban' hub--which true city folks laugh at, but works for us. Most of my neighbors have steadily moved up the housing chain before ending up in a house where they plan to stay and raise their families.  When we are all done, we can sell these houses and move in to a fabulous condominium in the Reston Towncenter area.

It really is a great place to live...