Asifa Zia -The Realtor YOU want

                                The residential housing market has been hot. Home sales have bounced back solidly and are now at their  fourth highest pace  over the past year. Demand has remained strong ­throughout spring as many real estate professionals are reporting bidding wars with many homes selling above listing price. What about your house? If your house hasn’t sold, it could be the price. If your home is on the market and you are not receiving any offers, look at your price. Pricing your home just 10% above market value dramatically cuts the number of prosp­­ective buyers that will even see your house.  See chart below.                  Bottom Line The housing market is hot. If you are not seeing the results you want, sit down with your agent and revisit the pricing conversation. Find out what you home is worth in today's market   Click here Contact me to help you sell in least amount of time and net you the amount you want Asifa Zia licens

   5 Reasons You Should Sell This Summer Here are five reasons listing your home for sale this summer makes sense. 1. Demand Is Strong The latest  Buyer Traffic Report  from the  National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that buyer demand remains very strong throughout the vast majority of the country. These buyers are ready, willing and able to purchase… and are in the market right now! More often than not, multiple buyers are competing with each other to buy a home. Take advantage of the buyer activity currently in the market. 2. There Is Less Competition Now Housing  inventory  is currently at a  4.2-month supply , well under the 6-months needed for a normal housing market. This means, in the majority of the country, there are not enough homes for sale to satisfy the number of buyers in that market. This is good news for home prices. However, additional inventory could be coming to the market soon. There is a pent-up desire for many homeowners to move, as

                      Those dear men and women that choose to serve the USA through military service, our country owes a great bit of gratitude. One of the ways we show that gratitude is through the VA loan. Since 1944, qualifying veterans have used the benefit offered through the federal government to purchase a home and carve out their little spot in the world. The following information is intended as a guide to help you understand who is eligible for the  VA loan  and how it works. Many people ask what is a VA Mortgage? Another common question is how does a VA loan work? Our guide should give you a great understanding of the VA mortgage. Basics of the VA Mortgage There are several types of loans available for most homeowners. However, the VA loan is unique in the fact that only qualifying veterans can apply for the mortgage. These following  VA mortgage facts  offer a few distinct advantages over other loans. Down Payment is not required  – The most talked about aspect

               Popcorn Ceiling Removal Tips One of the more popular home renovation searches is  how to remove a popcorn ceiling . With good reason as popcorn ceilings are no longer an appealing feature in today’s homes. Popcorn ceilings were all the rage in the 1960s and for many years after – partly because people liked them, and partly because they made building homes that much easier. As a builder, you didn’t have to create a perfect ceiling with all its tough angles and lines. You could just popcorn the ceiling instead, which covered up any imperfections. Today, few buyers are interested in retaining the popcorn material on their ceilings. The material and texture is unattractive, tends to hold on to dust and makes a space seem smaller and less appealing. So how hard is it to get rid of the popcorn ceiling? Fortunately, there are several ways to take back your ceiling, one of which is sure to fit your needs and your goals for your home. If you are going to be selling yo

                             Mortgage interest rates, as reported by  Freddie Mac , have increased over the  last several weeks .  Freddie Mac , along with  Fannie Mae , the  Mortgage Bankers Association  and the  National Association of Realtors,  is calling for mortgage rates to continue to rise over the next four quarters. This has caused some purchasers to lament the fact they may no longer be able to get a rate below 4%. However, we must realize that current rates are still at historic lows. Here is a chart showing the average mortgage interest rate over the last several decades.                               Bottom Line Though you may have missed getting the lowest mortgage rate ever offered, you can still get a better interest rate than your older brother or sister did ten years ago, a lower rate than your parents did twenty years ago, and a better rate than your grandparents did forty years ago. KCM Blog Contact me to buy or sell or invest in North VA A

You must have heard the agents ads which say "I guarantee to sell your house or I will buy it".  There is some truth in this statement, but the problem is in fineprint, or the full explanation of what the real estate agent will pay for your home. It is true that they will buy your home, IF you are willing to sell it at their asking price.        Let me explain a little bit more about this gimmick, that the agents are using to trick the sellers, and get into their homes, and get the listings agreements signed.  There are variations of this sales tactic.  Some real estate agent will guarantee to sell it, or buy your home if it doesn't sell in a specified time period, or knock money off if they don’t sell it in a certain period.  Let me tell you the truth,   IT IS A SALES GIMMICK , and it  comes with a catch .  As they say if it seems to be to good to be true, it probably is. Let’s think about this advertising phrase.  Why would a good Real Estate Agent buy a home,

You understand the benefit of car insurance and homeowners insurance, but chances are you’ve never thought about  title insurance  until you started the process of buying a house. What is title insurance? It’s a policy that insures that you won’t have any unknown claims made to the ownership of your home. What could go wrong? A clean or clear title is important because the title is what gives you ownership of a property. Imagine buying your dream home, closing the deal and then realizing the previous owner hadn’t paid property taxes for several years. Those taxes remain charged against the property and as the new owner, you are responsible. The taxing entity could even take your home. Or perhaps two sales ago someone sold the home without getting the signature of an estranged husband who now wants to stake his claim. Perhaps the previous owner didn’t pay a contractor for some work on the home and the company put a lien against the house. Or the power company shows up with a

                              Americans expect home prices to rise, according to Fannie Mae's recently released Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) - but that expectation is likely muddled by the charged election atmosphere, which has resulted in opposing attitudes toward housing. The amount of Americans who said home prices will rise increased four points to 35 percent in November - a reversal of trend. The HPSI overall decreased 0.5 points to 81.2 percent last month, a half-point higher than its reading the same time last year. "The November Home Purchase Sentiment Index outcome is difficult to interpret, as the data collection period occurred across the Presidential election timeline," says Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae. "The results are fairly evenly split between responses collected before and after the election, and there is evidence of an increase in consumer optimism in the immediate aftermath of the election. Howeve