A few years ago new homes in Northern Virginia flew off the market.  Buyer's camped out so that they could grab a great lot or a lottery number for a future section.  Builders were in control and buyers happily paid what they asked.  Then the market changed and builders were hit hard.  Some local builder's lost properties to foreclosure and others just left projects half completed.

Today in our area new construction projects are moving again and developments are seeing a resurgence of buyers.  New incentives, pricing and amenities are bring buyers back again.  In Lorton (VA) the delayed Gunston Cove developments are now selling.  Gunston Cove is within walking distance of the Lorton Market Street Square, minutes to Lorton Station Town Center, the VRE, Fort Belvoir and provide easy access to I-95 for commuting into DC.

Both developments featured detached homes but offer very different home styles.  The first development by Integrity Homes has 44 home sites, featuring three floorplans ranging from 2900 SF to 3600 SF.   The model names Key West and Boca Raton might conjure up Florida instead of Northern Virginia but the floorplans off great versatility for a busy family.  Brick fronts are standard on the Integrity Homes in Gunston Cove and all of the floorplans offer 4 BR's and 2.5 to 3.5 Baths depending on your selection of a finished basement.  Currently 15 of the 44 lots are under contract and the builder only has 2 sites left for delivery this year.  Both lots are for Key West II models and are priced at $540,000.  Incentives and options vary and may change.

Just a block away on the other side of Gunston Cove Road is the second development.  This one is by Christopher Company and features two floorplans, Red Oak and Willow Oak and you can add an entry porch to give your home either a Queen Anne or Craftsman style look.  The Integrity development offers 35 new home sites and will offer a tot lot and open space in the middle of the development.   Homes range in size starting at 2400 square feet and offer an optional finished basement.

Currently there is only one spec home, a Red Oak with a Craftsman front available for September delivery.  The home is based priced at $452,000 with $39,384 in options for a total sale price of $491,884.  The builder is currently offering to pay 1% of the purchasers first trust towards closing costs IF you use one of the builders designated lenders and settlement company.  They are also offering an additional $6000 towards upgrades or closing costs at the buyer's discretion.  Both developments are approved for VA, FHA and Conventional Financing.

Both developments are well underway and sales seem to be going strong.  If you are considering new construction in Northern Virginia for an upcoming home purchase, call the Cindy Jones team at 703-346-2213.  Let us show you how our experience working with builders and developers can help you navigate the new construction buying process.  

Over the past few days I've been on the house hunt with a great young couple relocating to Fort Belvoir this summer.  Based on their price range we have been concentrating on properties in the Woodbridge area of Prince William County.  The more listings we pulled, the more "flips" we found and a tour of ten of those over two days found some surprising differences.

Obviously the goal of a flip is to get a home ready, on the market and sold as quickly as possible.   A few of the properties we toured are owned by the same investment group and you could instantly tell their style.  The same paint color, the same appliances, the same carpet, I think you get the picture.   We called them the Stepford Houses after the movie Stepford Wives.  They looked good but when you started examining the details you found a number of flaws.

Some of them were little details.  Missing molding around the engineered flooring, cheap fixtures and bad caulking in the bathrooms start to become more noticeable as you tour more homes.  Very few of the properties had spent time on the outside of the property.   Overgrown bushes, messy yards, dirty decks and leaning fences were common.

Then there were the homes that tried to WOW you with a kitchen that is straight out of HGTV (okay the Ikea showroom).  Except as you look around the house you find they left the 1980's wooden stair railings, the 1990's wall mirrors in the hallways and ceiling fans that are covered with at least 5 years of dust.   Painting seems to be the biggest issue that flippers seem to have.  Certainly it is cheaper and easier to get out the spray gun and go to town.  But painting over every electric outlet and light switch, is just sloppy work and devalues anything else you might have done.

The house we found and have a ratified contract on wasn't the fanciest of the bunch but the contractor had done a reasonable job on the both the inside and the outside of the home.  It doesn't have granite and stainless steel appliances but it does have a power washed deck and a new fence!  It does have new light fixtures that match and the paint job wasn't slapped on with the cheapest paint they could find.  Will we find a few issues during the home inspection?  I can see tell that they forget the GFCI switches in the kitchen and bathrooms during the remodel but overall this flipper spent money wisely.  They didn't try to WOW you with a kitchen that doesn't fit with the style of the home or take the cheap way out with a spray gun. They took care of both the inside and the outside of the home and made it fit with the rest of the neighborhood.

So house flippers step back and take a look at your properties before you put them on the market.  Just like every seller you need to take a look at your investment through a buyer's eye.  The details matter and can be more important than the WOW factor when it comes to getting your home sold.