Click here to download Market Update charts for September 2014. As Summer winds down and we head towards Fall, we expect a seasonal slowing down in residential real estate sales. In September, however, Harrisonburg and Rockingham County recorded 106 residential sales (as reported by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service) – an increase over Augusts’ 101 sales! Now, this doesn’t mean the top has blown off the local real estate market, but it is encouraging to see steady activity continue through September. Here are a few other highlights: Regular readers of this report know total sales Year-to-Date have lagged behind 2013 all year, but that the gap has narrowed every month since April. That trend continued in September, with the gap narrowing to less... 10/08/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for July 2014. Wow, July was an amazing month for the local real estate market! Here are a few highlights: There were 120 residential sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County in the month of July, the highest monthly total since August of 2007.July’s sales continued a recent trend of very high activity after a much slower than normal first quarter. After being over 20% behind last year’s sales at the end of March, the year-over-year deficit has been reduced to 3.9%. Buyers and Sellers ratified new contracts on 112 properties in July. While not as strong as the past couple of months, this still represents very good buyer activity in our market. Pricing remained fairly flat, with the 12-month average sales price rising slightly to $199,160, a... 08/11/2014

On August 6th, Kline May Realty passed $100 Million in sales volume for 2014 as measured by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors (HRAR). Kline May Realty has reached this milestone only one day behind 2013’s sales volume pace, which is a positive sign that the local real estate market is catching up from the slow start to the year. Karl Waizecker, broker of Kline May Realty, commented “We have over 50 agents and staff who are committed to helping our residential clients by providing the best service possible. We focus on each client, and at the end of the transaction we allow every customer to evaluate us. Based on these evaluations, we have over a 99.0% client satisfaction rate for both buyers and sellers. Our success has been based upon the focus our agents give every s... 08/06/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for June 2014. I think it would be fair to say the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County real estate market has really hit its stride for 2014, with great activity from prospective homebuyers in June. Those buyers found sufficient inventory to place contracts on 145 homes, the highest monthly total in several years! In addition to the new contracts, residential sales in June totaled 108, the highest monthly total so far this year. Despite the very strong month, however, sales in our local market for the year (443) are 6.9% fewer than sales through the first six months of 2013 as we continue to catch up from the unusually slow start to the year. The sales deficiency when compared to last year has shrunk in each of the last three months, and we exp... 07/08/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for May 2014. Well, it seems our local real estate market has finally shaken off the effects of the winter of 2013 – 14. While we cannot say for certain that the winter weather was the cause for our surprisingly slow start to the year, if we take a look at the Residential Sales per Month chart we can see a dramatic difference in sales as soon as the warmer weather appeared. The residential sales total of 99 units in May, in fact, surpassed last May’s total of 96 and is the highest number for the month of May since 2007. While individual monthly totals do not show us any kind of trend, this type of recovery is encouraging nonetheless. In terms of year-to-date sales, this year’s total through the end of May, 332, is 12.86% fewer than last year’s... 06/09/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for April 2014. Well, here we are four months into a year that we thought would see a continued strengthening of the local real estate market and we find sales are not only down compared to last year, they are down significantly. Year to date at the end of April, 233 residential properties had sold in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County - 51 fewer than last year’s total of 284. Residential sales in the month of April totaled 75, also far below the 103 sales we saw last April. So what’s going on? Have our hopes for a strengthening market been dashed? I don’t think so. Despite the slow start, I believe we will see a strengthening market throughout the year. April’s total of 107 properties going under contract is an encouraging number, and during ... 05/12/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for March 2014. As we wrap up the first quarter of 2014, we find ourselves facing a residential real estate market somewhat lagging when compared to last year’s numbers. Through the first three months of this year, 157 residential properties have sold in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, as reported by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. These 157 sales are 13.3% fewer than last year’s first quarter sales of 181 properties. So what’s going on? What happened to that recovery? Fear not, I believe the recovery is real…it has just been temporarily delayed by a harsh (for our area) winter, and a shortage of saleable inventory. Contracts placed on homes for sale totaled 91 in March – a 38% increase from th... 04/08/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for February 2014. Last month I began this report by saying it appeared the harsh winter had not dampened the local real estate market…it appears another month of harsh weather has made a liar out of me! February was another fairly slow month with 51 residential closings, and sales for the first two months of this year are running slightly behind last year (103 vs. 114). Interestingly, Buyer “activity” (phone calls, showing appointments, web traffic) has been strong throughout the past couple of months, particularly on the internet. Our company website, www.KlineMay.com has seen traffic in the past several weeks that equals or exceeds the traffic we saw during the busiest weeks of 2013. Positive news we can see in February’s numbers includes t... 03/13/2014

Hello all, Aimee here blogging on behalf of Kline May Realty and our family of agents. The weekend is over, and it's back to the daily grind. However, we live in a great city with lots of fun things to do throughout the week.  On Mondays, we will now feature an "around town" topic, where I post about a Valley Happening going on this week. This week the topic is The Taste of Downtown Event in Harrisonburg. Click here to see the original blog post on KlineMay.com.  The Taste of Downtown bi-annual food event is this week (March 10-16) in Harrisonburg, VA. Over 25 of our local restaurants are featuring specials in honor of Taste of Downtown, which is sponsored by the Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance and several area businesses. There are five categories for specials--sweets, breakfast, lun... 03/10/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for January 2014. Our relatively harsh winter has not dampened the real estate market in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. In January 51 homes were sold, the best monthly total for January since 2008. Buyers entered into contracts on 68 residential properties in January, a fairly strong number for the winter months. In addition, leading indicators like phone calls to our office, showing appointments and web traffic on www.KlineMay.com all show a tremendous amount of Buyer activity and lead us to believe we are going to have a very busy Spring with a large number of buyers competing for relatively few homes. Prices remained steady in January, with the 12 month average sales price dropping slightly to $198,585 while the median sales price rose... 02/14/2014

Every year buyers and sellers hear that March and April are the months to list or buy your next home.  Needless to say we are getting closer to that time frame.  Over the past year as well as the last several months the market has been more active than in the past.  Yes we are in a snow storm currently but it is also a great time to look around your home while snowed in to see what you think may need to be done over the next month in preparing your home to sell.  Or if you are looking to buy take time to cruise the computer to see what homes currently available.  We will see more homes coming on the market over the next few weeks and months.  Be prepared to know what you are looking for in your next home and what your home purchasing budget will possibly buy.  There is no better time to... 02/13/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for December 2013. 2013 was a very good year for the Harrisonburg area real estate market in many respects. There were 1013 residential sales for the year in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, as reported by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. The year’s total sales represent a 17% increase over 2012, the best annual total since 2007, and the third consecutive year of increased sales. The month of December was also strong, with 87 sales, recovering from November’s low numbers (possibly driven by the effect of the federal government shutdown in October). New contracts, on the other hand, fell in December as is typical during the holiday season. Also typical, therefore, are slow sales in January of each... 01/10/2014

Click here to download Market Update charts for November 2013. Our Market Report this month shows some interesting numbers and an apparent surge in pricing, but these numbers are best understood after a brief review of an unusual grouping of sales that occurred last November. In November 2012, twenty-two condominiums in the same community sold for $33,000 each, and were recorded in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service as 22 separate sales. Obviously, the effect of 22 residential sales at such a low price has had an impact on the average price figures we have been reporting for the past year. At last, this month, when we look at the average and median prices of homes sold in the past 12 months those 22 condominiums are not included in the figures. ... 12/09/2013

Click here to download Market Update charts for October 2013. Residential real estate sales in October, 2013 maintained this year’s trend of each month surpassing the sales total from that month in 2012, with 86 residential sales in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, as reported by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. October’s sales brought the year-to-date total to 864 homes, representing a 21% increase in sales over last year - and coincidentally is the exact number of homes sold in all of 2012! However, the number of buyers placing contracts on homes for sale in October dropped for the fourth consecutive month to 70 homes, reflecting a seasonal slowdown and pointing toward lower sales numbers through the balance of the year. The market upswi... 11/08/2013

Click here to see original post on KlineMay.com. Hello all, Aimee here blogging on behalf of Kline May Realty and our family of agents. Today our topic is food! If you're hungry, you may want to wait to read this post until after lunch.image courtesy of Macado's website As if we didn't have enough options to choose from already, Harrisonburg welcomes three new restaurants to our area this fall: Macado's, The Downtown, and Bella Luna. Both Macado's and The Downtown are currently open, but a November opening (Yes! That's this month!) is projected for Bella Luna. Macado's: "Macado's has been serving extraordinary overstuffed sandwiches for over 30 years. Each of our locations is uniquely decorated with pop culture memorabilia and local artifacts covering the walls. You just have to be ther... 11/07/2013

Ever been in one of those thermostat control debates, where disagreement exists within a household about whether it would be a good idea to scale back the AC when you leave for a bit? Where Person A makes the logical-sounding argument that by turning up the thermostat to a warmer temperature, you’ll be saving money and energy by not cooling the house as much? And where Person B counters with an equally logical-sounding argument that maybe all that work the AC unit will have to do to re-cool the house will actually end up costing more money and energy, as opposed to just maintaining throughout the day? If so, good news in the form of a definitive answer from Jay Monger, manager of the heating and cooling division for Harrisonburg’s Excel Heating & Cooling: Person A is right. In addition ... 11/04/2013

While there are many reasons in this world for stress and consternation, there’s plenty of small stuff not worth sweating. Benjamin Meredith, owner of the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County home inspection business Building Knowledge, talks with LiveHB about three common concern-causing things in a home that needn’t be cause for panic and don’t need to derail a home purchase. Small interior cracksBecause cracks suggest weakness and deterioration, it’s understandable that people often interpret them as indication of serious structural problems in a house, Meredith says. The good news, when it comes to small (we’re talking 1/16th of an inch or less, which still can appear plenty big) cracks on interior walls and ceilings, is that that interpretation is generally wrong.“All houses move,” s... 11/04/2013

With all the rain we’ve been having lately here in the Shenandoah Valley, many people are having troubles with water:  flooded basements, standing water on their property, retaining walls giving way, cracked walkways, and other problems. Eugene Friesen of Design Concrete Builders in Harrisonburg says, “I think I’ve gotten pretty good at listening to what people would like and explaining to them what their problems are, in regards to why has this failed and why it has not.  Most of the time it has to do with water issues.” Friesen described one example of how he addressed water issues with a client.  “Last year we fixed a person’s house and we did some other work for them."  He asked the client, “Do you ever get water in your basement?” The client responded, “Why would you ask that?” “Be... 11/04/2013

Everyone loves home efficiency, and there’s no shortage of ways out there you could spend money trying to improve on this – from expensive to cheap and glamorous to boring and everywhere in between. Assuming you live in a fairly standard American home (i.e. not one that was recently built with efficiency as a major priority), you should have plenty of low-hanging efficiency fruit to pick. The following is a list of five high-value ways to improve your home’s efficiency, as suggested by Benjamin Meredith, owner of the Harrisonburg/Rockingham County home inspection and energy auditing company, Building Knowledge. Because every house is a little different, these are in no particular order. Regardless, all of these, Meredith says, are ways to realize significant energy savings at a relative... 10/23/2013

Probably one of the only justifiable strikes against Harrisonburg’s natural setting in the lovely Shenandoah Valley is the degree to which the underlying bedrock spews out radon, a radioactive gas that the EPA identifies as the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. Harrisonburg and Rockingham County both lie within the EPA’s Radon Zone 1 – areas of highest potential for unsafe radon concentrations in homes. An odorless gas responsible for an EPA-estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year, radon isn’t something you want to have around in your house in unsafe levels. Accordingly, when you buy a home in Virginia, purchasers have the option to add a radon test contingency to their purchase contract. Benjamin Meredith, owner of the Rockingham County and Harrisonburg home inspecti... 10/23/2013