A sure sign of spring in Northern Virginia is the steady stream of PCS orders military families are receiving to head to their new duty station.

This year’s PCS orders bring a different level of stress than in former times.  Families who purchased a home when they arrived 4 or 5 years ago now are faced with a home that has lost value.  Deciding whether to sell or rent their home becomes a difficult decision.

For military families who purchased (or contracted to buy) their home prior to July 1, 2006 the Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP) is one solution that can help.  Designed to help offset the costs and loss associated with selling your Northern Virginia home in a down market the program is working well to help ease the pain of selling.

The program does have requirements and guidelines to follow including filling out the application available on the USACE website, a ratified contract and a loss of value of at least 10%.  In our area there has been no problem in meeting the loss in value criteria.  Homes MUST be sold for fair market value, no accepting low ball offers and due to a limitation of funding the deadline for PCS orders is now September 2010.

The best news would be if Congress authorized additional funding to change the dates associated with the HAP program.  However in the meantime any military member with PCS orders leaving the Northern Virginia area and selling their home needs to start the process.  With the huge influx of applications the real estate specialists in Savannah (supporting the Northern Virginia Region) are slammed with files.

If you are considering selling your home and using the DoD HAP program give me a call at 703-346-2213 to set up a time to talk through your situation.   I’ve successfully helped settled seven transactions in 2010 and have more in process.  I understand the processing guidelines and have the latest updates from the Savannah office.    Let’s see if the HAP program can help you sell your Northern Virginia home.