Local Area Index (Edit under Manage Snippets)

Contact the JustNewListings.com Team for Northern Virginia/Washington DC real estate

If you have any questions or need more detailed information, please feel free to contact us at 785-294-6873 (785-BY-HOUSE) or fill out the form to let us know how we can help with your real estate needs. Being a very busy person---I must tell you email is best so I don't miss the message can paste it on my calendar.

Office Location 1100 N Glebe Rd #1010,
Arlington, VA 22201
Phone: 785-BY-HOUSE
Fax: (703) 224-8121

Stafford County Neighborhoods and Real Estate Market Data: Park Ridge vs Stafford Lakes Homes

Posted by on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 6:50pm.

Stafford County Real Estate Market:  Park Ridge vs Stafford Lakes Neighborhood Homes for Sale MLS

Are some neighborhoods faring better than others in Stafford County?

August 2008
Everyone is aware that the real estate market in Stafford, Virginia has tanked much as it has in most areas of Northern Virginia and the country. But are all things equal? Have some neighborhoods in the Stafford County real estate and homes for sale fared better than others in terms of the numbers of homes sold, median prices on homes that have sold, and the average number of days it takes to sell? The answer to that question is yes and here’s some data to prove it.
First, let’s look at the number of homes sold in Stafford county MLS in Virginia. For the purposes of this study, the data retrieved[1] is limited to single-family homes. Overall county data is provided as a baseline for comparative purposes and some of the largest subdivisions have been chosen to provide that comparison.


Park Ridge in Stafford County VA vs Stafford Lakes MLS Neighborhoods

As you can see from the chart, some subdivisions are faring much better than the county as a whole, most notably Park Ridge, while other subdivisions are faring significantly worse (Stafford Lakes).   Of course, this is just one measure of strength/weakness in assessing the state of a local market so I’ve looked at a couple of others as well.

Homes sold in Stafford county Stafford lakes vs Park Ridge

Park Ridge neighborhood in stafford county
Prices are certainly an important consideration and we can do the same type of comparison especially comparing the Park Ridge vs Stafford Lakes homes for sale.
stafford county real estate prices
Prices don’t show as great a deviation from the Stafford county baseline but there’s still a significant enough deviation in some of the subdivisions to cause concern. Likewise, we can also look at the average number of days on the market it takes from the time a home is initially listed until it’s sold.
Here we see somewhat conflicting data in that Stafford Lakes MLS has the shortest turnaround time of any of other the subdivisions and significantly below the baseline. That can be explained when you consider that only a small number of homes have been sold and the median price has dropped more than the average meaning that the few homes that sold did so relatively quickly because they were aggressively priced.
Days on Market Stafford county neighborhoods

Advice for Buying a Park Ridge or Stafford Lakes homes for sale


So what does all this mean? The most important thing to consider as a buyer in this market is where to find the best value to insure that your investment is on solid ground. Make sure your agent can assess market conditions using neighborhood-specific data to compare to the baseline for the market area. As a seller, make sure your agent can help you understand the dynamics of the local market so you can be sure that you’re pricing your home correctly based on current market conditions. If you resist facing the reality of your local market you risk being one of the many unsold homes used for these statistics.

AUTHOR--JOHN ALFASI RE/MAX Allegiance in Fredericksburg, VA

[1] All data drawn from MRIS (Metropolitan Regional Information System)

Blog Tags

Be the first to comment on this blog entry!


Leave a Comment

My Account

Log in, to view your saved searches and add to your favorite listings.

Sign Up Here For Your FREE Account

... So You Can:

  • View detailed property information
  • Print detailed property flyers
  • Save your searches & favorite homes
  • Inquire about a private showing
  • Map individual property locations
  • Share your favorite homes with friends