Blog Post: Holiday Home Security, Online and Off

The Holiday Season is a wonderful time of year. It can be a great time to buy or sell a home. It’s definitely a great time for for gratitude, reflection and celebration. And often times it’s a great time to travel.

As we enter the Holiday Season, we’d like to remind you to keep your home safe while you are away- especially in light of all the “new” ways we are in communication with one another.

Here are some tips:

(1) Be careful with your status updates on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Don’t be too specific. For example: “Can’t wait to see Grandma and Grandpa” might be better than “Leaving for Ohio in two hours. Back on Sunday.”

(2) If you still have a newspaper delivered instead of reading online, make sure you suspend delivery.

(3) Take advantage of the “nosy neighbors” you have (assuming you trust them!) Ask him or her to keep an eye out while you are away. Make sure they know how to reach you in case of an emergency.

(4) Think twice about setting up an auto-responder or voice mail message that says you are out of town - expecially if you work from a home office. A better idea might be to just say you are not checking messages until a certain date (as if you’re taking a “Stay-Cation”).

(5) Set up timers on certain lights in your house. Install motion detector lights outdoors.

(6) Don’t forget to lock the interior garage door. Exterior doors are relatively easy to compromise.

(7) Stop your mail. Or have a neighbor collect it daily.

(8) Don’t publish your physical address or personal information on your social media profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. It’s amazing how many people advertise their birthdate, home address and more - just because the site asked you to fill it in when you set up your account. It’s not just children who do this, but many adults who are new to the world of social media are guilty of this as well. Even if your site is “friend-protected”, you’d be surprised at what web-savvy folks can find out. Be discreet!

(9) You can always employ the tactics of Kevin McAllister in “Home Alone”!

Now - for our local readers (or those who want to move here!) - what has happened in the real estate market over the last week in Vienna and Oakton?

• Inventory in Vienna & Oakton dropped for the seventh straight week in a row. Vienna now has less than 200 homes on the market for the first time since early April. Oakton’s inventory has dropped to 65 homes, the lowest since early March.

• The past week included the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and while this did not stop people from buying homes, it did slow them down a bit. Vienna had eight homes go under contract and Oakton had two homes go under contract.

• No homes this past week sold in less than two weeks. And only 20 percent of those that sold went in under 30 days.

• Despite the continued decrease in inventory, it looks like the slight slowdown in contracts has moved Vienna & Oakton from the precipice of a ”Seller’s Market” firmly into a “Balanced Market”. Vienna has a 3.8 month supply of homes and Oakton’s supply is at 4.6 months.

SELLERS: Make sure you read our recent blog post about whether or not it’s a good idea to sell during the holidays. In general, low inventory & low housing supply mean good things for you. But there are lots of things to consider. (We can also provide you with a list of 40 questions you should ask your realtor when you’re thinking of selling your home.)

BUYERS: We have been publishing statistics for Vienna and Oakton on a weekly basis for over two years now. In all of that time, Vienna has NEVER been in a Buyer’s Market and Oakton has only trended that way for 3 weeks in 2010. This is just another reason why you need to make sure you are working with a Realtor as your advocate. And not just any realtor, but a realtor whose skill set benefits YOU. 

For our detail-oriented readers, here are last week’s stats:

Last week in Vienna Real Estate (22180,22181, 22182):

• Number of Contracts: 814
• Average Days on Market for Active Listings: 123 days
• Average Days on Market for Listings That Went Under Contract: 145 days
• Inventory: 196 homes on the market
• Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 90 day contract rate): 4.0 months
• Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 30 day contract rate): 3.8 months

Here are last week’s stats for Oakton Real Estate (22124):

• Number of Contracts: 2
• Average Days on Market for Active Listings: 107 days
• Average Days on Market for Listings That Went Under Contract: 50
• Inventory: 65 homes on the market
• Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 90 day contract rate): 3.7 months
• Number of Months Supply of Homes (Based on past 30 day contract rate): 4.6 months

For more, read The Belt Team Blog.