The Best Neighborhoods in Virginia Beach BlogRecently posted or modified blog postshttps://www.williamlayton.com/blog/Copyright WilliamLayton.com2020-12-11T07:44:57-07:00tag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:6640Neighborhoods Close to the BeachThere are beach towns and there are towns with great neighborhoods. Virginia Beach is both! Check out this video to learn all about our beach neighborhoods and to find out which one is the best fit for you.
2020-12-11T07:37:00-07:002020-12-11T07:44:57-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5640North Virginia Beach NeighborhoodsDo you want to know where the locals want to live in Virginia Beach. Watch this video to find out!
2020-09-08T18:35:00-07:002020-09-25T04:44:57-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5282Check out these neighborhoods first!Are you looking for the best neighborhoods with the highest ranking schools? Or maybe you want a safe neighborhood where your family can walk to the beach? Or how about a neighborhood where everyone is out walking and exercising with smiles on their faces. Watch this video to learn about the best neighborhoods in Virginia Beach.
2020-06-23T02:45:00-07:002020-09-15T10:24:54-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5654Choosing a neighborhood in north vs. south Virginia BeachChoosing a Neighborhood in North vs. South Virginia Beach
<img style="float: right; margin: 15px;" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/2280/image/Chicks_Beach_2005.jpg" alt="Chick's Beach, circa 2005" width="450" height="300" />“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Do you know who said this? One of the smartest people I never met, Albert Einstein. So let’s start out by making this simple. North Virginia Beach is more expensive because it is closer to everything that makes Virginia Beach a desirable place to live. South Virginia Beach is more affordable and the place to go if you want a newer home. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
So, which is better for you? For the vast majority of us, there is no right or wrong answer. The answer becomes clear to me after identifying your wants and needs, but two couples with the same budget are equally likely to choose either the north or the south. Most buyers with budgets over $800,000 are going to choose the north because they will be able to afford the house they want. And most buyers with budgets under about $300,000 will choose the south because they won’t be able to find the house they want in the north. For everyone in between, which is many of you reading this right now, it becomes a big confusing mess. At some point everyone says, “If I only I could have this house in that neighborhood.” I completely understand how you feel! The good news is you can have the exact house you want in any neighborhood you want. The bad news is that it is going to cost more.
North Virginia Beach provides easy access to I-264, the Chesapeake Bay, and the oceanfront. If you go boating, this is where you will start. Want to go out to a nice restaurant? You will find the best ones here. Driving over the Lesner Bridge in Chick’s Beach or through the North End is unique. There is no question that you are the beach. Nowhere else in Virginia Beach will you be able to find a $500,000 brick ranch built in the 1960’s. The price doesn’t come from the house, it comes from being close to awesomeness! Need a better house? Look to the south.
<img style="float: left; margin: 15px;" src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/2280/image/Heritage_Park_Virginia_Beach_neighborhoods_45.jpg" alt="Heritage Park, Virginia Beach neighborhoods" width="450" height="309" />South Virginia Beach is where the newer homes are found. There is also a new sportsplex, several new shopping centers, new roads, and new developments. Do you have the need for the excitement of a Buffalo Wild Wings? You will find it here. Many of the neighborhoods are more established, but the newest developments, like Ashville Park and Heritage Park, can be characterized by strikingly beautiful homes with brand new trees staked in the front yard. Your $500,000 is going to buy you an amazing house in suburbia. Need to live closer to the awesomeness? Look to the north.
Back in my Navy days, I was sitting around the ready room with six of my buddies discussing the “goods and others” of living in the north vs. the south. Three lived in the north and three lived in the south. They segregated themselves in this way and began battling it out. The spirited discussion ended with the three in the north convinced they had made the right choice and the three in the south convinced they had made the right choice as well. Let this be a lesson to all of us. Six guys with the same education, uniform, haircut, cultural views, and incomes made different decisions on where to live. The decision is unique to each of us. No one can tell you where to live. But you have come to the right place to learn about the neighborhoods so that you can figure it out on your own (with my help, of course).
Questions, comments, and smart remarks are encouraged.
2019-09-11T07:33:00-07:002020-09-11T07:39:35-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5284Does a swimming pool add value?Does having a swimming pool increase the market value of your home?
The answer is “most of the time.”
If you create a beautiful oasis in your backyard, including a swimming pool, your home will be more appealing to more people. You will have increased the market value of your home.
On the flip side, if your pool is old and in disrepair, it is more of a liability than an asset. You will have decreased the market value of your home.
A pool is not an investment in the purest sense of the word. You don’t see investors make money by putting in a new pool along with the granite countertops in the kitchen. A pool costs more dollars today than the increase you will see in market value.
However, there are different ways to measure the quality of an investment. If you spend $30,000 on a new pool and it increases the market value of your home $15,000, you haven’t wasted $30,000. You essentially put half of that money in your savings account (you now have more equity in your home if you decide to sell). The other half is an investment in your wellbeing and offsets the costs of joining the neighborhood pool or the Busch Gardens memberships for the family. If you live in the house for a long time, say 30 years, it is only costing you $500 per year. Combine the increase in equity and the savings from other memberships and your pool cost you nothing!
Except maintenance…
There’s always the maintenance. So at the end of the day, the pool will cost you more money than the gain in market value. But if you plan to live in your house a long time, it could be a very good investment.
If you are in the market for a new home and absolutely positively must have a pool, it will generally be more economical for you to buy a house that already has one. Aside from the fact that the value of a pool drops as soon as the backhoe leaves the yard, you are financing it with tax deductible interest. This makes it far more affordable than if you were to put one in after your home purchase.2019-04-06T02:18:00-07:002020-09-11T07:40:15-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5509Virginia Beach Real Estate Market Update, March 2019How's the local Virginia Beach Real Estate Market? Here's the answer!
Video transcript...
Hi everybody, I'm Will Layton with Layton<br />Realty Group in Virginia Beach and today <br />we're gonna talk about the March 2019<br />real estate market update. I'm going to give<br />you a quick summary, I promise it'll be<br />very quick followed by some stats and<br />then a real-life I was there on the<br />ground story to kind of to make it real<br />for you. So for starters, the summary, the<br />markets doing great we'll go through<br />some charts to kind of show you why.
Homes For Sale in Virginia Beach
What we're looking at here is a chart of the<br />homes for sale in Virginia Beach going<br />back five years so here we are in<br />February 2019 the bottom right and the<br />bottom left we're looking at January of<br />2014 so you can see it's cyclical every<br />year it tops out during the summer and<br />bottoms out during the the winter but<br />here we are at the lowest level we've<br />been in the last five years at 1858<br />homes on the market in February 2019<br />which is lower than last year in 2018<br />and lower latinum year before that so<br />each year we've been seeing less<br />listings and less listings or less homes<br />on the market at each time of year so<br />that's a good sign of a healthy market<br />for Virginia Beach so if you're living<br />here that's that's all good.
Pending Home Sales in Virginia Beach
Let's look at pending sales. this is another good<br />good chart here we are on the far right<br />again looking back five years this is<br />homes that are under contract and right<br />now in February 2019<br />the latest data we have just 615 but<br />we've got the highest number in February<br />that we've had for the last several<br />years and this is always one of my<br />favorite charts days in the market you<br />can see looking back five years homes<br />are gradually dropping again it's<br />cyclical with it peaking during the<br />winter and dropping off during this<br />summer so here we are last summer with<br />the lowest days in the market of 24 days<br />peaking up here in January but you can<br />see even now it's only 40 days on the<br />market as of February which is lower<br />than it was last year in February and<br />the year before and the year before that<br />so with this trend we can expect the<br />market this spring in summer to to<br />remain pretty hot so that's a good thing<br />so based on this charts you can see why<br />I'm optimistic they're looking pretty<br />good but what about the real world how<br />about a I was there story for you so<br />there I was showing houses this past<br />weekend and looked for a client at about<br />30 so that's a lot of houses it's two<br />full days or coming from out of town<br />and I'd like to do that because it gives<br />him a good idea of what's on the market<br />so at the end of that they were pretty<br />familiar with what was available and<br />they ranked them and lo and behold two<br />of them went right to the top of the<br />list and so we decided to put an offer<br />on the first one and it had been on the<br />market for almost four months so you<br />figure that's a long time and a lot<br />longer than the you know forty days we<br />just talked about but we find out that<br />that morning somebody put in an offer<br />and they had verbally countered and it's<br />been accepted so that was a little bit<br />of a heartbreaker because you never want<br />that to happen so we went to their<br />number two and guess what that had been<br />on the market for about ten days and<br />that was under contract too so that's<br />just bad timing it's not like this one<br />story you shows the market is getting<br />you know completely heated up and it's<br />going out of control so one man on one<br />day but it does show that you know the<br />market is is moving for sure and then<br />another story I've got a listing where<br />we finally dropped the price this past<br />weekend it had been on the market for<br />several months lots and lots of showings<br />which is always good but no offers and<br />we drop the price fifteen thousand<br />dollars and lo and behold the next day<br />we get an offer and the day after that<br />we get another offer so again from the<br />listing side and the sales side the<br />markets moving there's people out there<br />buying it's just a matter of having the<br />price right and the house present well<br />so we're expecting a lot more of that<br />this spring we're looking forward to it<br />so hope to talk to you soon if you have<br />any questions about the market and your<br />neighborhood specifically in your house<br />pricing it right really does matter and<br />having in the right condition really<br />does matter for those buyers so any<br />questions please give me a call there's<br />lots of other videos for you to watch<br />here you can visit leighton realty group<br />which might already be on right now on<br />youtube and look at some of the other<br />videos that we have out there to help<br />help you learn more about the market and<br />make the right choices thanks for<br />watching2019-03-21T04:31:00-07:002020-09-02T15:07:25-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5611Virginia Beach Real Estate Market Update, February 2019How's the local Virginia Beach real estate market? Watch this short video for a quick update. Everyone who owns a house or is looking to buy the house should have some knowledge of the local Virginia Beach real estate market. But most of the news out there revolves around the national real estate market. The problem is that the real estate markets are local, sometimes all the way down to the neighborhood level. So, each month I talk about trends in the market that matter the most to those who live, work, and play in Virginia Beach.
And the video transcription...
Hi I'm Will Layton with Layton Realty Group. Today we're going to talk about the real estate market in Virginia Beach for February 2019. This will help you get an idea of what the market might be like if you're putting your home on the market in the spring or even if you're looking to buy a house, you know where it is going, what can we expect. So, cutting straight to the chase. The market's doing great. it's very stable. it's not a buyers market or a seller's market. homes are moving and I've got some quick data to show you that will help you understand that so this is especially useful if you're putting your house on the market because you might want to know how long does it take for a home to sell and if you're a buyer you're thinking to yourself, hey what kind of deal can I get on a house. we're also going to look at the percentage of list price that homes are selling for so you know I'm selling for $10,000 below the asking price or $20,000 or $30,000. what can you expect? let's go over to the charts. here's a chart of Virginia Beach and the number of pending sales but basically we've got this upward slope where my cursor is meaning that for the last five years, January's have been increasing along with every other spot so the market is gradually increasing it's a very healthy market that's what we want to see next we look at new listings new listings January 2019 877 and again you can see this goes all the way back to 2014 here what my cursor is in the bottom left and you can see it's cyclical just like the pending sales where it Peaks in the summer and drops off in December of each year lowest number of listings obviously in December of each year so the market has been steady as far as the number of new listings go no surprise there I always like this chart because for the last five years the days in the market has been dropping so again this is monthly for the last five years so every year the days in the market drops down at the lowest point in the summer and the highest point about now and it's only 44 days in the market for the highest point in the year so we can expect you know follow-on months for the number two drop a little bit so again the sign of a healthy market this is the chart of closed sales over the last five years and again it's cyclical here we are in January so every year in the winter the number of closed sales drops so again sign of a healthy market so this charts a little bit higher harder to read but what it is it shows the percentage of list price homes were selling for about on average a hundred percent of their asking price in July and what that means if a house was listed for five hundred on average he was selling for five hundred so that drops it's a little bit cyclical because it gets busier in the spring but here we are down at almost 99 percent of the asking price which is pretty similar that we've had year over year over year so that means basically means for a five hundred thousand dollar house on average homes are selling for five thousand dollars less than that so that's good news for for sellers to understand that you know you don't want to over price your house too much because then it won't sell but buyers also know yeah you know probably not gonna be able to get five hundred thousand dollar list price for four out of thousand you kind of got to be realistic about that because that's what the sellers that are expecting so again this is a sign of a very healthy market well so there you have it charts are looking pretty good the maps are looking pretty good plenty of homes coming on the market plenty homes being sold if you're in the market or if you're looking to sell there's nothing there's no alarm bells going off everything's looking pretty normal. that said the overall market may be different from the market in your neighborhood you never quite know until you start you know burrowing down into the data taking a look at what's on the market and what's not but sometimes certain neighborhoods get hot sometimes there's few listings and there are people that are looking for them so if a house comes on the market there they're ready to jump on it so if you're curious as to whether that's going to happen to you and your house just give me a call I can look through all that so seriously it's really easy for me to do I enjoy doing it and I do feel like it's a really good service for you so it's a much better option than just trying to get a feel from hey I saw a house down the street sold for this price my house must be worth that it doesn't really work that way but I'm happy to go through the process with you and take a look at it and give you really really close look at where your house might sell in today's market so give me a call or email I look forward to hear from you see ya
2019-02-20T18:59:00-07:002020-09-02T18:12:21-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5612Virginia Beach Real Estate Market Update, January 2019Check out this video for a quick Virginia Beach real estate market update.
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// ]]>2019-01-28T03:55:00-07:002020-09-03T02:57:20-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5472Heron Ridge Charity Golf TournamanentVirginia Beach Veterans Give Back is an organization dedicated to our local communities. On Friday, May 3rd they have organized a charity golf tournament at Heron Ridge to help support The Samaritan House and We Are VB. The Layton Realty Group will be giving away a...
full service listing package for 50% off and giving the remaining 50% to VB Vets Give Back.
This video is for the golfers and explains how the drawing will work and the details of the give away.
2018-05-02T10:32:00-07:002020-08-13T14:07:25-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5283Virginia Beach Middle School Questions and AnswersCame across this thread on Nextdoor and thought others might appreciate the wisdom. I removed the names to protect the innocent!
Middle School Advice?
Hi, I'm fairly new to the area and my 5th grader (rising 6th grader for next school year) has been accepted at both Plaza Middle School and Old Donation/Brickell Academy. We have attended some open houses and I've heard pros and cons about both, and I just wanted to ask for any advice/suggestions/cautions when it comes to making this decision. I'm most interested in hearing from folks who have children currently attending either school, or who have very recently attended (last 2-3 years). My son is very organized/responsible and driven, very bright, but a bit hard on himself. I think he needs a challenging but not cutthroat environment, if that makes sense. My biggest questions are, in no particular order: <br />1) What kind of workload should we expect? <br />2) What is the culture/peer environment like? <br />3) How responsive and professional are the teachers and staff? <br />4) Is the program genuinely diverse? <br />5) How did your child adjust to the longer school day + bus ride that's involved for many kids? <br />6) Were you and your child happy with your choice? <br />7) My child is not an athlete (tennis, but not school-sponsored sports). Will he fit in even so? <br />8) What else should I know?
My stepdaughter currently attends ODS as a seventh grader and also attended for 6th grade. Naturally there is a HUGE adjustment process from elementary to middle school...our biggest adjustment for her was the realization that she actually had to study and work for her grades instead of breezing through without looking in elementary(she's not happy about this part, but everything else she enjoys). The workload is much more than standard 6th grade, they are teaching at an 8th grade level so it is necessary for them,to grasp some concepts. The teachers have been phenomenal in responsiveness and engaging and understanding the parents that are more "helicopter" and want to be super involved with grades and activities but also letting parents who stand back and let their child be responsible for their actions. Based on what your child is interested in, they offer various arts and tech classes and clubs and activities so even if you're child likes something "weird" I guarantee someone else in that school likes it too. As far as bus service it's not so bad to ODS since our area is the last stop before they head to school in the mornings. The long days only get dicey when other extracurricular outside of school get scheduled close to bus drop off so we have snacks and gear ready. Message me privately if you have more questions.
I’d be happy to meet with you upon return from Spring Break. I have two 6th graders at ODS now. They both attended John B Dey 1st-5th. I work at Great Neck Middle, so have a good understanding of differences/similarities between those two, although I have no personal experience with Plaza MYP (mine was also accepted at both, but chose ODS).
Our daughter is at Plaza in 7th grade. She missed her friends the first year but LOVES this year!!! The best advice I would have with that is sit with people you don’t know the first two weeks to make friends. She has not had a lot of homework. Her bus ride is not long. We’ve been happy with teachers. They have a lot of clubs if you aren’t into sports. It’s a great well rounded middle school experience. I would totally recommend it!!!
My daughter was also accepted to both and we sat down and weighed pros and cons and I let her choose. I told her that we could always make a change down the road if necessary, although I understand for many it would be tough. She chose Plaza because she wanted to be involved in sports, ODS kids are bussed to their zone school for sports, and the day is longer at ODS. I think either would have been a good choice, but I think Plaza was a perfect fit for her. She sounds like your son, hard on herself but needs and enjoys the challenge. The workload is heavier than I expected but she is also a kid who goes above and beyond for every assignment. She swims 4 days a week so the workload may also feel heavy because she has a more limited time frame to work. She loves the work, her peers are just like her in that they enjoy social activities, sports, and academics. She has decided to attend the academy at her home school next year for high school instead of PA IB, and again I let her make the choice. It's great to have some wonderful choices!
I have two daughters at ODS. Both started in elementary, our oldest is now in middle. 1. For middle school the workload is not too bad. There is definitely homework, but it is manageable. My daughter dances 8.5 hours per week and has been able to keep up. I think the two schools (ODS and Plaza) are pretty comparable when it comes to homework. 2. Kids at ODS are VERY welcoming and there are all types of kids. Because of all the quirky personalities, kids are a bit more accepting of those that are "different". 4. I think ODS is very diverse, but I would suspect it would be the same at Plaza. Since kids are pulled from all over VB, there are many races and economic backgrounds. 5. The day is long, but my girls have been doing it for years. I think any kid who likes what he/she is doing in school will be happy to pay that price. 6. Both of my girls LOVE their school. There has never been an inkling of thinking it was the wrong choice. My daughter even said that she can not imagine ever going back to a mainstream classroom and the way they learn. 7. There are both athletes and non-athletes. There are many kids that play sports at their neighborhood middle schools. If your child is interested in chorus, orchestra or theater, all the programs at ODS are top notch! 8. You can not make a wrong decision choosing either school. I think the kids at ODS do have to be very self motivated and willing to work independently. The staff there requires that the kids take the initiative and responsibility for their learning. They want parents to be hands-off and for the kids to take the reigns. I would never call the environment at ODS cut-throat. Kids there are not too concerned with how the other kids are doing. In other words, I do not get the sense that it is overly competitive. Good luck with your decision. It really comes down to what type of kid your son is. I would lean towards the school where he felt most comfortable.
Love this thread - GNMS and Cox are great schools. Really won't make a difference - it is WHAT EACH STUDENT MAKES OF IT!! Many who go to ODS don't go to PA - they go to Ocean Lakes for Math and Science or back to their home school. Doing away with class ranks because of all the Academy Programs that hurt regular students so it really doesn't matter. Plaza is just a prep for IB at PA. IB programs are okay, but many colleges really don't look at that info unless it is international. Oh, btw - when our kids were at GNMS - their test scores were above every school except ODS. You all need to look at the big picture. Very aware that I will get a lot of comments - just don't care.2018-03-30T01:50:00-07:002020-08-07T10:30:24-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5473Bay Colony, Virginia Beach
This is a quick video about Bay Colony. The transcript is below...
Hi, I'm Will Layton, Realtor, in Virginia Beach. <a href="https://www.williamlayton.com/bay-colony-virginia-beach-neighborhoods.php">Bay Colony</a> is one of my favorite neighborhoods. Every city in America has an exclusive neighborhood with beautiful homes, large lots, and quiet winding streets. But there aren’t many where you can also bike to the beach! That is what makes Bay Colony unique not just in Virginia Beach, but unique all over country!
To learn more or browse homes in <a href="https://www.williamlayton.com/bay-colony-virginia-beach-neighborhoods.php">Bay Colony</a>, visit my website at williamlayton.com or call me. We can talk about whether Bay Colony fits your budget, lifestyle, or even your commute.
I took the pictures in the slideshow behind me just to give you an idea of what the neighborhood looks like. You can also see this slideshow and many others online. But what you can’t see is the beach. But it’s there. Just across Pacific Ave as well the boardwalk and easy access to the interstate. If you’re thinking, I wouldn’t want to live that close to the beach traffic, think again. There’s a quiet back entrance that helps you avoid the tourists, but still enjoy the surf, sand, and festivals that bring people here from all over the country.
<a href="https://www.williamlayton.com/bay-colony-virginia-beach-neighborhoods.php">To see the newest</a> listings and learn about the best neighborhoods in Virginia Beach, visit my website at WilliamLayton.com or visit us on Facebook, @LaytonRealtyGroup. Maybe you have questions regarding homes, neighborhoods, remodeling vs selling, staging… Call or email now. I’m happy and eager to help.2018-03-08T12:18:00-07:002020-09-02T14:53:44-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5474The Virginia Beach Real Estate MarketHow's the Virginia Beach Real Estate Market?
This is the transcript of the video...
When is the best time of year to go house hunting?<br /> How long will it take for my home to sell? <br /> What’s the best time of year to put my house on the market? <br /> When buying a house, when is the best time to get a good deal?<br /> Are sales prices higher in the spring?
Hi, I’m Will Layton, Realtor in Virginia Beach, and today I’m going to answer these questions.
How’s the real estate market? This is the most common question that I get, but it means different things depending on whether you are selling your house or looking to buy one. To answer, these questions, we have to look at some of the sales data.
Here’s a chart showing the number of new listings in Virginia Beach by month over the course of the last five years. It’s obvious that the trend is cyclical. The most new listings come on the market in March through May and fall off November through January.
It’s not surprising that the number of homes on the market peak in April through September and fall in November through January. So if you’re a buyer, you are going to get the best selection of homes during the spring and summer.
The most homes go under contract in May and June. This is when there is going to be the most competition. The spring is the busiest time of year. The charts make this very clear. Why do you think this is? The flowers come out. The groundhog pokes his head out of his hole and starts driving around. Families are finishing up the school year and want to get settled in during the summer vacation. Your guess is as good as mine. But the charts are very clear. The real estate market is much busier in the spring than in the fall in Virginia Beach.
How long does it take a home to sell? The quickest sales are in March through August. It takes almost twice as long for a home to sell in November through February! There are less homes on the market, but there is also less competition.
And that brings us to the sales price. When is the best time of year to get a great deal if you are a buyer? This is the one chart that doesn’t rise and fall with the seasons. It goes up and down from month to month with no clear trend. It’s noise. My theory is that many of the houses that are overpriced and don’t sell during the summer, stay on the market through the fall. The sellers may drop their price, but it is being dropped from overvalued to fairly valued. This gives the perception that you can get a good deal in the fall, but the sales price chart doesn’t back this up.
So, how’s the market? If you thinking about selling your house, I encourage you to do it in the spring if your schedule permits. Your yard is going to look better, more people are going to be house hunting, and it will take less time for your house to sell. Overall, your selling experience will be more pleasant!
If you’re a buyer? You will find the best selection during the spring and summer, but you are unlikely to be able to beat a seller down on price. Can you get a better deal in the fall? Maybe. But it’s more like shopping the end of season sale. You may get a great deal, but it may not fit quite right. Regardless, there are still plenty of great homes on the market all year round.
So I’ll ask it again. “How’s the market.” The market is great! It’s stable year over year. Virginia Beach has the beach and they aren’t making any more of it. And there’s no time like the present. Visit my website WilliamLayton.com to see all of the newest listings, visit us on Facebook @LaytonRealtyGroup to see what’s going on in the market, or contact me directly with questions regarding selling your home or how to find the best neighborhood in Virginia Beach for your family.
2018-02-16T12:19:00-07:002020-08-13T14:10:26-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5475The $50,000 Rule, Part II
Hi, I’m Will Layton, Realtor, in Virginia Beach. This is part 2 of the $50,000 Rule. Watch <a href="https://www.williamlayton.com/blog/the-50000-rule.html">The $50,000 Rule Part I</a> if you haven’t seen it already because there was a quiz at the end of it, and I’m about to give you the answers.
Okay, here’s the situation, let’s say you’ve set your budget at $500,000 but the house you really want in Virginia Beach can only be had for $550,000. This is the $50,000 Rule in action. What do you do? And let’s keep it simple, we’re not talking about negotiating the price down to 500, let’s say that $550,000 is as low as the seller is willing to go. You have a choice to make; stick to your budget and buy a different house, or change your budget and buy the house you want. I’ve been in this situation a hundred times. About half of you will stick to your budget and buy a less expensive house and half will raise their budget to get into the <a href="https://www.williamlayton.com/best-neighborhoods-in-virginia-beach.php">best neighborhood</a>.
There are too many variables to figure out what you will do until you are in this situation. If you tend to stick to a tight budget, I know what you’re thinking. There’s no way I’d go $50,000 over budget!” Well, if it only cost you $119 per month you might. And that’s the answer to the quiz from last week.
Here’s the math.
The monthly payment is $242 per month on a $50,000 loan at 4.124. $71 of that is principle. You are paying it, but you’re paying yourself. So it doesn’t cost you anything. That leaves the interest, $171, but it’s tax deductible, (if you itemize when you file your taxes), so Uncle Sam gives you about $52 back.
And that leaves… $119!
So what will your decision be? Experience has shown me that you won’t know until you are standing in the house you want to buy. To see the newest listings and learn about the best neighborhoods in Virginia Beach, visit my website at WilliamLayton.com or visit us on Facebook, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LaytonRealtyGroup/" target="_blank">@LaytonRealtyGroup</a>. Please call or email with any and all questions regarding homes, neighborhoods, remodeling vs selling, staging, all things real estate. I’m happy and eager to help.2018-02-09T12:23:00-07:002020-08-13T14:12:48-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5476The $50,000 Rule
The $50,000 Rule video transcript
Hi, I’m Will Layton, Realtor in Virginia Beach. Today I’m going to teach you about the $50,000 Rule.
For over 10 years I have helped hundreds and hundreds of people learn about the neighborhoods and find the perfect house. While every family wants something different, certain patterns start to develop and one of those patterns is the $50,000 rule. Word to the wise, It’s far better if you learn this rule before you start house hunting.
So, $50,000! That buys a lot of beer.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t buy you quite as much house, but $50,000 is often the difference between the house you think you can afford and the house you really want. Today, we are going to learn how to bridge that gap using the… $50,000 rule (in a normal voice, then repeat using reverb and making it dramatic.) The $50,000 Rule.
So here’s how it usually goes down. After looking at 8 or 10 houses you say, “I wish I could have the kitchen from house number 5 with the layout of house number 1 in the neighborhood of house number 6.” <br />And the answer is, of course, you can! It just costs you $50,000 more than you are comfortable spending. That’s why I call it the $50,000 rule. It’s a rule. Everybody does it. It doesn’t matter whether your budget is $300,000 or $800,000. The $50,000 rule applies.
The problem is that you have set your budget ahead of time. Almost all of my clients are preapproved for a mortgage for more than they are comfortable spending. Good on you, people! We will discuss the mindset behind home pricing in a different video.
But there’s good news, that $50,000 doesn’t actually cost you $50,000, as in a suitcase full of 50,000 one dollar bills, or 5 million pennies . Because of the beauty of low cost home mortgages and the ability to deduct the interest from your taxable income, that $50,000 only costs you, wait for it…
A. $119<br />B. $248<br />C. $485<br />D. $792
Per month. For the answer, you’ll have to wait until next week. Sorry about that. Can’t give away all the test questions on the first day of class. Or you can go to WilliamLayton.com and learn about the best neighborhoods in Virginia Beach and check out all the newest listings. See you next week. Subscribe, Like, or sign up for my newsletter and you will always be the first to know.
<a href="https://www.williamlayton.com/blog/the-50000-rule-part-ii/">See the answer at The $50,000 Rule, Part II</a>
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2018-01-31T12:24:00-07:002020-08-13T14:13:06-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5477Selling A Home with Too Many PicturesBy: Will Layton
<img src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/2280/image/too_many_pictures.jpg" width="450" height="299" margin="15" alt="Too Many Pictures" title="Too Many Pictures" style="float: right;" />
How a home makes you feel is probably the single most important variable when it comes to making a home purchase decision. So how does a home's decor come into play? Let's start by looking at the pictures on the wall.
“You have a beautiful home, but you might want to take down the family pictures. You don’t want the buyer to be distracted.” I said this to a client recently while taking pictures for a listing. The home was immaculate. The furnishings beautiful. The only thing I noticed that would be an easy change was to take down the family pictures. There weren’t a lot of them, but more than usual. I couldn’t help but look because I was curious. Like many of us, I am a people person.
Both the husband and wife looked at me without saying anything for a moment longer than I would have expected. “I haven’t seen any empirical evidence to show that it matters one way or another,” he said. Having read many articles stating that it does matter, I was intrigued. Has there ever been a study using the scientific method to determine how people feel about family pictures in a home they might buy? I doubt it. But if there was, this is how it might look.
Take two nearly identical homes, put family pictures up in one and not in the other. Then have a group of potential buyers look through both homes and ask them to pick which one they would buy right now if they had to choose between just those two homes. Keep score, of course, then switch the pictures and repeat with a different group.
Conventional wisdom dictates that most would choose the home without the pictures. The buyers would most easily be able to see themselves living in the depersonalized home because they would not be distracted by the current residents.
But what if the buyers like the current residents? What if the current residents are attractive, happy, and have great taste? Who doesn’t want to be attractive, happy, and have great taste? Perhaps I can be all these things if I live here, the buyers might think (subconsciously, of course).
If only it were that easy…
Here’s the problem. Buyers rarely go to look at just one or two homes. I once showed a couple 30 homes in two days. That’s too many in a short period of time, by the way, but they threw out the 15 from the first day and bumped up the price range. Still, they were choosing between 15 homes.
At the end of the day, buyers aren’t choosing the home with the best family pictures. If they are distracted by the pictures, and everyone is distracted, then they might not spend as much time imagining themselves living in that particular house. Home buying is more of an emotional decision than a rational one. How a home makes you feel is probably the single most important variable when it comes to making a home purchase decision. If the buyers spend all their time looking at the seller’s personal stuff, there is not any time left over to allow them to feel good about the home. After looking at 30 homes, all they can remember from home #18 was the family pictures.
Here’s proof, though not scientific…
I was showing houses to a couple in Norfolk. The buyer was a Navy helicopter pilot. The seller was a Navy helicopter pilot. There were Navy pictures everywhere. There were pictures with him and the president next to Marine One. There were pictures of him as the XO of a Navy ship. The wife finally said “Stop looking at the pictures, we are here to look at the house!” I was glad she wasn’t talking to me because I was more interested in the pictures than the house. So was her husband.
How do you think the husband felt about the house? Did he give himself the opportunity to imagine himself living there? At the end of the day did he remember house #5 as the home with the great kitchen or the home with the Navy helicopter pilot? We looked a lot of homes. I don’t know how the buyers felt about house #5 because they bought something else. I remember house #5 as the one where the seller had a distinguished Navy career. But I can barely remember the home.2014-12-05T12:33:00-07:002020-08-12T07:00:09-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5478Why you should buy new construction in Virginia Beach (and why you shouldn't)<img src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/2280/image/Ashville_Park_the_best_neighborhoods_in_Virginia_Beach_33.jpg" width="450" height="300" alt="Ashville Park The best neighborhoods in Virginia Beach" title="Ashville Park The best neighborhoods in Virginia Beach" style="margin: 20px; float: right;" />The smell of a new home rivals that of a new car. It’s the smell of the carpet and paint, mostly, but it’s also the lack of smells common to older houses that help you paint a mental picture of fresh and clean. Everyone likes this. Even people who like old houses. Given the opportunity, few people would pass up a new house in the right neighborhood for the right price. Buying new gives you two things; choices and peace of mind (we will get to why you shouldn’t buy new later).
Everybody likes choices and with new construction you get plenty. You can choose your lot, the floor plan, the colors, the carpet, the wood, the tile, the granite, and the appliances. You can even chose your toilet, if you want to go there. The idea of being able to create the personality of your home from scratch can be incredibly seducing. Do you feel like having a particular type of open floor plan is a must for you? A new house might be the way to go.
Homes age, things break, and they need to be repaired. The great thing about a new home is that everything in the house is at the very beginning of its life cycle. The roof is going to last 20-30 years. The air conditioner has 12-15 years of life in it. All of the appliances are under warranty. The entire house has been freshly painted and there is not a scratch anywhere. You don’t have to worry about things breaking right away because the builder is going to give you a one year warranty and 10 year structural warranty. Do you just want to live your life and not worry about your house breaking? A new house might be the way to go.
On the flip side, there are two major drawbacks to buying a new house. First, your <a href="https://www.williamlayton.com/best-neighborhoods-in-virginia-beach.php">choices of neighborhoods</a> are limited. Out of hundreds of neighborhoods in Virginia Beach, there may be only be a handful that are new or newer. Most of these neighborhoods are on the edge of the city. If you decide to drive south instead of north, you are in the boonies. If that’s what you want, great! But for many it is a sacrifice. You are choosing new over location.
The second drawback is resale. New construction demands a premium price because buyers love it. Part of that premium is the excitement that comes with buying a new house in a new neighborhood. In ten years, that excitement is no longer there. It has moved down the road to the future new neighborhoods. If your neighborhood has a great location and has aged well, you will probably do just fine. If not, future buyers might steer clear. There will always be a group of buyers who will only buy new homes. These buyers will not be interested in your house in ten years. When buying a new house, make sure you can identify the things about the house and neighborhood that will appeal to a buyer other than just being new.
Making the right decision has everything to do with your education and choices. If you are only looking at new construction, you may be missing out on something you might like better. You might even be missing out on a new neighborhood you don’t know about. Keep in mind that the Realtor at the model home works for the builder and doesn’t care which house you buy, as long as it’s in that neighborhood. Ignorance is bliss. Bliss is great until you learn about a different neighborhood and realize you made a mistake. Find a knowledgeable Realtor who can help you with your choices. You will be able to enjoy the process and rest easy knowing that you chose the right house in the right neighborhood.
In case you are wondering who <a href="https://www.williamlayton.com/will-layton.php">the best Realtor</a> is to help you with your choices, that’s me! There isn’t enough time for me to write down everything I know about Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and Norfolk. Most of it is in my head and only comes out when my clients need it. Call or email right now!2014-11-02T12:39:00-07:002020-08-13T14:13:57-07:00Will Laytontag:williamlayton.com,2012-09-20:5497Your home is worth more than your neighbor’s because you love it more!<img src="https://assets.site-static.com/userfiles/2280/image/best_neighborhoods_in_Virginia_Beach_546.jpg" width="450" height="301" alt="Best Neighborhoods in Virginia Beach" title="Best Neighborhoods in Virginia Beach" style="float: right;" />Think about how much time and effort you have put into making your home a comfortable place to live. This must be worth something, right? You have spent countless hours painting (not to mention picking out paint colors), rearranging furniture, and cleaning. And that is only on the inside! How many hours have you logged beautifying the outside of your home?
Now you are thinking about how much your home is worth because your neighbor just listed her house, or you want to refinance, or you plan to move! Let’s make sure that everyone sees the value you have added to it! Here is a quick summary of how home values are determined in Virginia Beach.
There is a catch 22 when it comes to calculating the market value of your home. You need the market value to price it right before you sell it, but you can't find the true market value until it sells. At the end of the day, you peer into your crystal ball in an attempt to see what the future buyer actually paid. The following discusses the pros and cons of the different crystal balls.
Appraisals
Appraisals are most common when getting a loan to buy a home. It is the way the lender determines a buyer is not overpaying for the house. But appraisals are like black magic. You can make them work for you in good ways and bad ways. We all want an appraisal to be an exact science. After all, the appraiser issues a very official looking report complete with a spreadsheet full of very precise numbers. Clearly these numbers are the result of accurate measuring, right? Sometimes, I suppose. But sometimes I look at an appraisal and wonder if the appraiser is brand new and this was his first job in Virginia Beach. Most of the time they carry a lot of weight because they look official and are almost always unbiased.
Getting an appraisal for a refinance is another beast entirely. In today's market they come in too high. Don't confuse your refinance appraisal with market value because it is not.
City Assessments
The city assessment is not an appraisal. It is not indicative of the market value of your home. The city simply assigns a value to your home for the purposes of taxing it. In theory it should be the exact market value of your home. But it is not.
A few years back I refinanced my home and the appraisal was $100,000 above the assessment. We kept it as a rental and moved into a new home that appraised $100,000 below the city assessment. That's one man on one day who saw the city assessment swing wildly in both directions from the appraisal. It is not uncommon for the assessment to be off by 20-30% in either direction.
Zestimates
If you don't have the Zillow app for your phone, get it. It's great fun and it is an easy way to find out the asking price of the home you just drove by. The "zestimate" is Zillow’s best guess at the market value of every home. It is based on some proprietary algorithm that takes into account city assessment, structure, lot size, and nearby recently sold homes.
The zestimate is an entertainment tool and notoriously inaccurate. You can set it up to email you the monthly change in the "value" of your home. Some months I find my home worth $30,000 more than the previous month and I cheer and celebrate with my friends at the neighborhood pool. Other months I find myself $30,000 on the unlucky side and look for ways to increase my zestimate, like building a deck.
Have fun with the zestimate, but don't take the number to the bank.
Comparable Market Analysis - CMA
The CMA is probably the most accurate estimate available for the market value of your home. But like an appraisal, it is only as good as the agent doing the analysis. Experience has a lot to do with accuracy. A combination of research, computer savvy, market knowledge, and good old fashioned common sense paves the way to a surprisingly accurate best guess at a home's sale price. When I do a CMA, it does not always marry up with the assessments and the zestimates, but it is almost always right.
The CMA is the best way to ensure you price your home correctly when listing it. It is also the best way to ensure you do not overpay for a home when house hunting. Best of all, it is free!
For the CMA, appraisal, and city assessment, you will get widely different values based on the capacity and wisdom of the person doing the calculations. It’s not rocket science, but you should receive an explanation of how your home’s value was determined. It’s up to you to decide whether or not the appraiser or the Realtor doing the CMA has what it takes to measure your most treasured asset.
When you are ready to maximize the market value of your home in Virginia Beach, just call or email. The process is quick and easy. I look forward to meeting with you. 2014-09-16T07:20:00-07:002020-08-12T07:29:46-07:00Will Layton