Ira Hersh, Author at The Hersh Group

The spring market is here (It’s different, but it’s here!)

by Ira Hersh· April 16, 2020· in Uncategorized· 0 comments tags: COVID-19, DMV Real Estate, DMV Realtors, Make Your Move, Selling the DMV, Spring Market, The Hersh Group

The beginning of April is typically real estate’s busy season, the height of the spring market, with sellers hosting open houses and buyers out touring properties. This year has been very different, as the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted stay-at-home orders across our area, and companies nationwide, including Long & Foster, have taken to conducting business virtually. The way we’re serving clients is definitely different, but what isn’t is our commitment to your safety and satisfaction. Many consumers have hit the pause button, taking this time instead to focus on their families, but demand has not fundamentally shifted. Likewise, some people still need to make a move and are leveraging low interest rates to do so. As of April 9, the 30-year fixed rate was an attractive 3.33%, according to Freddie Mac, prompting refinances for current owners and increasing buying power for shoppers. For those consumers who are currently buying or selling, our team still here for you! We’re leveraging technology to support you while following CDC and local guidelines for social distancing. From virtual tours to online closings, we’re helping consumers find their way home, from home. This past week alone, Long & Foster added over 650 new listings with […]
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Coping during COVID-19 (We’re here for you!)

by Ira Hersh· March 27, 2020· in Uncategorized· 0 comments tags: COVID-19, DMV Real Estate, Selling the DMV, The Hersh Group

To our Clients and Friends, We here at the Hersh Group always strive to make your real estate experience as smooth and stress-free as possible. These are new and challenging times, and our goal is to maintain the highest standards for our clients while keeping as cautious and safe as possible. Nothing matters more to us than the health and well-being of our clients, friends, and family, and we’re taking additional precautions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 while still working hard for our buyers and sellers. THE HERSH GROUP IS HERE FOR YOU We’re still in business, and our team is still working diligently around the clock for our clients. By utilizing Long & Foster’s tools and our own internal systems, we’re very well-equipped to work remotely as a team with our clients, settlement agents, lenders, and other agents in our industry. Our team is proud to work with Long & Foster Real Estate, a broker that provides the tools we need to allow us to work remotely and also has the leadership and collaborative spirit to keep us moving forward. We have daily virtual meetings with our manager and colleagues, as well as a daily online briefing […]
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Happy New Year! The start of the year is always an exciting time for us at The Hersh Group. It’s a chance to plan for the future and review as we look back on the past year. It’s also when we hear from many clients who want to know how the past year in real estate ended, and where the next is headed. Getting perspective on the past year’s trends helps us see how the future will unfold. Here are a few of the key developments the real estate market experienced in 2019. Interest rates were low, so money was cheap. While experts predicted a rise in interest rates last year, we saw drops below 4%. These low rates are expected to continue in the year ahead unless something changes bringing calm to the world economy. Demand for housing was ample, although supply was limited. It remained a sellers’ market in 2019 across most areas at the low to mid-level price points, with a continued lack of inventory for sale. Homeownership rates rose, thanks to low mortgage rates. Buying continued to be more economical than renting as rates dropped, and that brought a jump in homeownership rates, according to Census Bureau […]
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The Thanksgiving Pie Sale is Back!

by Ira Hersh· October 29, 2019· in Food & Friends· 0 comments tags: Food & Friends, Food and Friends, Giving Back, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Pie Sale, The Hersh Group

Support Slice of Life with a Thanksgiving Pie this November The Hersh Group is proud to be participating again this year as a pie seller for the Food & Friends 13th Annual Slice of Life Thanksgiving pie sale. Buy a pie now, pick it up on Tuesday, November 26th, and celebrate the holiday while supporting this worthy cause! This Thanksgiving, serve a holiday pie that will warm your heart and help your neighbors. Each pie you purchase provides breakfast, lunch and dinner for a child or adult battling HIV/AIDS, cancer or another critical illness. Six days a week, Food & Friends provides nutritious meals to thousands of individuals in our community but they can’t do it without our support. Your contribution will make a direct impact in the lives of their clients, many of whom have nowhere else to turn. You can make their lives better by not only providing vital nutrition but hope and comfort in their time of need. Please visit our page to make a donation and purchase a pie for your holiday table and know that you’ll be bringing food to another family’s. Pie Flavors This year, thanks again to local pie baker Baguette Republic, these are the incredible pies on […]
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Do low inventory woes mean big wins for sellers?

by Ira Hersh· September 12, 2019· in Real Estate Predictions, Real Estate Report, Selling· 0 comments tags: DC Real Estate, DC To The Sea, Delaware beach real estate, DMV, DMV Real Estate, Market update, Maryland, Seller's market, Selling strategies, Selling the DMV, The Hersh Group, VA real estate, Washington DC Real Estate

No matter where you look across the DMV, inventory shortages are driving the real estate market. With fewer properties for sale, home prices have grown higher while sales periods have tightened. These conditions present tremendous opportunities for sellers, with escalated prices, short settlement periods, and far fewer contract contingencies. It can also be worrying, however, for those sellers who also need to buy a new property after selling. Thankfully, those worries can be overcome through preparation, planning, and working with professionals like us! Here are just a few ways that home sellers can become successful buyers, too. Begin your new home search before listing your current house. With homes in the DMV selling quickly—sometimes in less than a week, depending on your neighborhood—you’ll want to make sure you have a head-start on your next home search before yours goes up for sale. Take advantage of declining mortgage rates. Rates were expected to rise above 5% this year, but we’ve seen the opposite occur, with mortgage rates hitting their lowest point since November 2016. Talk to your mortgage consultant now to lock in the best rates. We’re happy to refer you to our team at Prosperity Home Mortgage, LLC, for assistance, […]
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It’s National Homeownership Month!

by Ira Hersh· June 04, 2019· in Market Trends, Real Estate Report· 0 comments tags: Bethesda real estate, DC Real Estate, DC To The Sea, Delaware beach real estate, Investing, Investors, Market update, MD real estate, Selling the DMV, The Hersh Group, VA real estate, Washington DC Real Estate

In celebration of National Homeownership Month, recognized by the National Association of Realtors each June, we thought we’d share with you a few facts about owning a home in America today and the current real estate market conditions. Homeownership rates are holding steady. In the first quarter of 2019, the homeownership rate leveled off at 64.2 percent, down slightly from the quarter prior. While rates have been rising since late 2015, they’ve hovered around the 64 percent range for the past year. Today’s homeownership rate represents a healthy market. News outlets often talk of the peak rate, which hit almost 70 percent in 2004. However, that high preceded (and frankly contributed to) the market downturn in that a large number of home buyers were getting loans they didn’t have the ability to pay back. That led to affordability challenges and increasing numbers of loan defaults. Today’s rates are closer to the averages in the 1990s, when we had a more stable and positive housing market. More and more millennials are buying homes. The much talked-about generation has been steadily moving from renting to homeownership, as they get married and start families. Mortgage rates have also remained at historic lows, driving […]
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Selling in a Seller’s Market

by Ira Hersh· May 20, 2019· in Selling· 0 comments tags: DC Real Estate, DC To The Sea, Delaware beach real estate, MD real estate, Real estate, Seller's market, Selling strategies, Selling the DMV, Staging, The Hersh Group, VA real estate, Washington DC Real Estate

You’ve probably seen the headlines that there’s still a shortage of homes for sale in our area, and we’re heading deeper into a seller’s market. However, just because home sellers are favored when there’s low inventory, that doesn’t mean every property will sell for top dollar immediately just by picking a price and going on the market. Buyers in our market are extremely savvy and very selective, and if you’re getting ready to sell, you should take that into account when preparing and pricing your home for sale. So what can you do to help attract the most interest and get top dollar for your home in the shortest amount of time? Make your home move-in ready. Call it the HGTV effect, but more and more buyers come to the market with high expectations and desires for a move-in ready home with the latest updates and designs. Stage your home for success. Staging is critical these days, and a huge value-add for your sale. Many buyers have trouble imagining themselves living in a home, or hoe their belongings will fit into each space. Staging allows a buyer to mentally move into the home and shows how each room “lives” and […]
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Save the Date! 5th Annual Dog Adoption Event on May 18th

by Ira Hersh· April 11, 2019· in Giving Back, Local Events, Things To Do· 0 comments tags: Bethesda, Bethesda real estate, dog adoption, Giving Back, Local Events, Maryland, MD real estate, PetConnect Rescue, Puppy Love, The Hersh Group, Westwood Pet Center

“Happiness is a warm puppy.” —Charles M. Schulz (cartoonist, Peanuts) Spring is truly here, and it’s the perfect time to welcome a new furry family member into your heart and your home! Please join Lisa Levine and The Hersh Group, your Bethesda neighborhood experts, at our fifth annual adoption event in Bethesda with PetConnect Rescue. We’re thrilled to be sponsoring this event again and helping to provide these wonderful dogs with a new family and loving home. As one of Long & Foster’s top teams in the DC Metro area, our goal is to help people find the right house for their needs. What better way to complete a home than adopt a pet? We are pleased to partner again with PetConnect Rescue and the Westwood Pet Center to host this dog adoption event so that more of our neighbors can find the newest additions to their families and give these pets the loving homes they deserve. Please join us: Saturday, May 18th, 2019 11am – 1pm Westwood Pet Center 5428 Westbard Ave Bethesda, MD For more information, call Lisa at (301) 332-5721 or email us at thehershgroupllc@gmail.com. Check back here or ‘like’ our Facebook event to receive updates, and […]
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It’s Tax Time! (And there are important changes you should know about…)

by Ira Hersh· March 05, 2019· in Taxes· 0 comments tags: DC Real Estate, Delaware beach real estate, DMV, Maryland, Tax Tips, The Hersh Group, VA real estate, Washington DC Real Estate

It’s tax time again, with the day filing deadline just over a month away, and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is now in effect, which means there are new requirements for homeowners. The media covered the changes in much detail in early 2018, and we wanted to share a few housing-related highlights with you as you get ready to file your 2018 tax returns. As you may know, the number of income tax brackets remains the same, but they include lower tax rates. Several itemized deductions, including moving expenses except with military households, interest on home equity loans unless used for home improvements, and more, have also been reduced or eliminated. Here are a few other important changes to keep in mind: Mortgage interest deductions are limited to a combined $750,000 of debt for both primary residences and second homes for any loans taken out after December 14, 2017. Current homeowners with loans made before that date are grandfathered into the previous deduction, allowing a combined debt limit up to $1 million. State and local tax deductions are capped at a combined $10,000 – this includes state and local property, income and sales taxes. Previously, these were fully tax […]
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Inventory Boom or Bust? What 2019 could bring for the local real estate market

by Ira Hersh· January 01, 2019· in Buying, Market, Market Trends, Real Estate Predictions, Selling· 0 comments tags: DC Real Estate, DC To The Sea, Delaware beach real estate, DMV, Market update, MD real estate, Selling the DMV, The Hersh Group, VA real estate, Washington DC Real Estate

Happy New Year! As we kick off 2019, we thought it was a great time to reflect a bit on the 2018 real estate market and look forward at 2019 predictions. The market in 2018 was consistently defined by lack of inventory across the country, and particularly here in the DMV. Will that low inventory trend continue into 2019? Experts are saying yes, but that the trend won’t be quite so severe. Here are a few more of the real estate trends that our team at Long & Foster expects to occur in 2019: Inventory will increase a little, but still not enough to meet demand. Inventory will expand this year, but primarily in luxury housing. While demand is strong for entry-level homes, there won’t be much more housing available in that segment. Mortgage rates are likely to rise. The Mortgage Bankers Association predicts that mortgage rates will reach 5.1% by the end of 2019. While that’s higher than the rock-bottom rates of the past few years, keep it in perspective – rates are still historically low. Home values will rise, but at a slower pace. The National Association of Realtors predicts that prices will rise about 3% in 2019 over […]
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