News About Bristow Real Estate

DC METRO REAL ESTATE

Serving the Real Estate needs of the communities of Manassas, Bristow, Haymarket, Warrenton, Gainesville and Culpeper  in Northern Virginia


Dave Scardina  
Broker / Owner

703-829-SOLD

866-909-0900

News About Bristow Real Estate

Guidelines for Buying Bristow


Let’s say everything is a GO! You have found the perfect Bristow home. You know you can afford it and it is actually priced below what you expected to pay. What a bargain! Yes there are bargains to be found in Bristow. At this point it is fine to put in an offer on the property but only with a well-planned contingency. Of course, it the home is going to be financed, the lender will want a Home Inspection before agreeing to lend money on the property. However, you need to protect yourself by making an offer SUBJECT TO a clean bill of health from the Home Inspector of your choice. This kind of a contingency gives you an out if the inspector finds a problem with the roof, or foundation or other structural problem that was not apparent to the seller or to your agent. This does not mean you will not buy the house but you will have a good reason to renegotiate the price with the seller.


Buying Bristow Real Estate...Will it Pay?


A frequent question from prospective homebuyers relates to building home equity. Bristow buyers like to estimate how much a home may increase in value based upon past appreciation. One of the many advantages of home ownership is that appreciation is based on the home’s market value rather than on the actual dollar amount invested or the down payment so that a $100,000.00 home that appreciates 5% is now worth $105,000.00. This is one way of building your Bristow home equity but there is more you can do.


Taking Title to Your Bristow


Each owner has a separate title to an undivided interest in the entire property. Each owner is allowed to sell, mortgage or give away his/her interest. Any number of people can take Tenancy in Common ownership of Bristowand husband and wife may choose this option as well. When an owner dies, his/her interest passes by will to his/her heirs. In other words, there is no survivorship right.

Each owner has an equal interest in the Bristow. If one owner dies, that person’s share of the property passes automatically to the other without going through probate. Any number of people can take ownership under Joint Tenancy and husband and wife may choose this option as well.

Community Property. Only husband and wife can take title to Bristow in this way. Title is in the community


The Benefits of Selling Bristow


If your Bristow holdings consist of both a personal residence and a rental, you can sell your personal residence and exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) on the gain. Then you move into your rental, live in it as your personal residence for two years and then sell it, again benefiting from the $250,000 or $500,000 exclusion. This is true even though most or all of the increase in value occurred before you converted the property to your personal residence.

What Makes Bristow Sell?


If your only reason for selling your Bristow is for the purpose of taking your profits there are a couple ways to approach this. Assuming you have lived in the Bristow for two years so you can avoid federal tax consequences, if you sell when prices are high and rent until prices come down before buying a replacement home, you will have maximized your profit. Remember, if you sell when prices are low, you will still make a profit and be able to buy a replacement home while prices are still low.

Bristow BENEFITS


A benefit is an advantage or something that promotes or enhances well-being. A Bristow benefit might be its location, its home styles, its diversity and/or its proximity to major highways, employment, education and shopping. Whether or not any of these factors are or are not a benefit depends entirely on the point of view of the potential buyer. For example, being close to a major airport might be important for someone who flies a lot and an annoyance to someone who never flies and dislikes the noise of airplanes flying overhead.