Topic - Metropolitan Regional Information Systems

• Cover story: Financing for condos, co-ops different

  When Heidi Krieger, who recently purchased a one-bedroom co-op in Cleveland Park, first started looking at co-ops and condos, her first concern was to find a home she loved. Her second priority was to make sure the monthly fees were affordable.

• Charting the market: Many ways of assessing sales activity

  Early each year, the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems releases data covering the entire previous year. The people there are the folks who manage the real estate database for our region's Realtors, and they track all kinds of interesting things. I thought I'd share a variety of statistics with you for 10 Washington-area jurisdictions.

• Charting the market: Reporting deals that fall apart

  Did you know there are two ways of counting home sales? You can count how many contracts were ratified in a given month, and that will tell you how active the market was during that month. Or you can count settlements.

• Cover story: Failed contracts distort statistics on home sales

  Home sales in the Washington metro area were up 14 percent in 2011. They were also down by 8 percent.

• Charting the market: Rent, sale listings drop helps sellers

  If you are trying to sell a home, you already may have noticed you are not alone. A lot of other folks in your ZIP code are selling, too. They are your competition for potential buyers - the reason you need to make your property look good and price it right.

• Cover story: Ringing out the year on a positive note

  Somewhat surprisingly, 2011 turned out to be a good year for the Washington-area real estate market. Buyers were more active than they have been in five years, and the backlog of unsold homes fell to its lowest point in seven years.

• Charting the market: Who has the edge? It depends

  Sellers in September found that fall is not the best time to sell a home. It wasn't terrible, and it was the most active September since 2005, but it was quite different from the busy spring market.

• Cover story: Low appraisal blocks loan; what to do?

  When Leslie Hutchison, a Realtor with Fall Properties in Falls Church, listed a single-family home in Falls Church that included a parklike lot on a cul-de-sac, the land assessment was $80,000 higher than for three comparable homes because of the property's oversized lot.

• Charting the market: Enviable sales rates in Arlington

  Are you thinking of selling a home right now? Is it an "average" home, or something more special? A town home in Arlington, perhaps?

• Charting the Market: Sellers gain edge in half of area

  May was a good month to be selling a home in the Washington area. Not quite as good as March, but a good month nonetheless.

• Cover story: What's available for $350,000?

  The District and its nearby suburbs are well-known for having survived the recent housing meltdown with more stability than other parts of the country. At the same time, homes in this region are among the most expensive in the nation.

• Cover story: Market 'balanced' after tax-credit end

  The federal homebuyer tax credit that expired on April 30 seemingly had its intended effect, creating a spike in pending sales contracts in the Washington area.

• Slow sales drive price, inventory

  June marked not only the midpoint of the year, but a high point for area real estate. If you are trying to sell your home, please don't take "high point" to mean good news. It's not.

• Slow sales drive price, inventory

  June marked not only the midpoint of the year, but a high point for area real estate. If you are trying to sell your home, please don't take "high point" to mean good news. It's not.

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