AOC does not love Amazon, but I do.

"Real estate firm Redfin named Arlington County and Alexandria in Virginia as America’s two most competitive markets for potential home buyers.

Redfin looked at markets across the country to determine the highest number of competing offers and waived contingencies, how quickly homes are going under contract and for how much above list price.

Arlington County and Alexandria scored 96 out of 100, meaning both are where potential buyers are facing the most intense competition anywhere in the country.

Redfin points at Amazon’s HQ2 as one factor boosting the two markets, which are closest to the tech giant’s future site at Crystal City.

“The Amazon HQ2 effect has become a permanent factor in the Arlington and Alexandria housing markets,” said local Redfin agent Marcia Burgos-Stone.

“Some sellers are still opting to hold on to their homes and wait until it becomes a more concrete reality in the hopes that they will get more money. This has led to a shortage of homes for sale.”

The number of active listings in both Arlington and Alexandria is currently about half what it was a year ago." 

wtop

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Oh yes!  AOC jawboned Amazon out of establishing part of a second headquarters in her congressional district and thereby screwed her constituents out of a lot of money in pay and appreciated real estate prices.

Well pilgrims (and people in Europe) the fair city of Alexandria, Virginia was not so silly as to do that in spite of rule by Yellow Dog Democrats, Yankee immigrants, minorities and a few Blue Dog Democrats.  Rather than do that the city and the commonwealth rolled out the red carpet in the forms of tax breaks, help with re-settlement of employees, etc.

As a result, a house one block from mine sold last week for seven figures after having been on the market for five days.  In that time there had been five bona fide offers above the asking price.  It was a good house but not a great house.,

I am not planning to sell this lovely old 1913 bitch (no mortgage) but I must say I can forgive Bezos for a lot of the crap in the Washington Post in return for this.  You should see my outdoor kitchen.  pl

https://wtop.com/business-finance/2019/08/arlington-alexandria-most-competitive-housing-markets-in-the-country/

Comments

[Lars]

You may want to wait a little to assess the Amazon deal. Similar efforts have not worked out as sold to the community by the businesses and politicians. Also, remember that Amazon has an underpaid employee problem.

https://newrepublic.com/article/151133/enduring-scam-corporate-tax-breaks

Besides, is this not a prime example of socialism, as most Americans define it?

[Linda]

I just think about the fact that coming to Washington as a federal employee even in the middle of my career I would never have been able to buy a house. And those prices extend far out of town. I did benefit from the “housing bubble “ when I was there but had gotten into the market much earlier.

[turcopolier]

lars

Underpaid employees will not be buying my house

[Lars]

I am sure they are not. Most of them will live far away, but increase traffic in the area. My point is that this may not work out as well as it is sold to the people in town. I know a little about the area in NYC where Amazon wanted to move to and it would have created a giant "cluster f**k" in an area that would not need it.

[Bill H]

Again, I wish we had a "like" button.

[turcopolier]

lars

Have you ever been to Alexandria? None of that applies here. The underpaid employees will live in DC or Maryland.

[jdledell]

AOC was just following the lead of her constiuents. Much of the housing market in her district is rental properties. The fear of the people living in her district was yes the housing market would boom with Amazon but so would rents both for housing and small businesses. It was reasonable that many in her district would be forced to move because of skyrocketing rents. I live in a NYC suburb where many commute to the city (the train station is 3 blocks from my house for a 45 minute trip into downtown NYC) and was hopeful that the Amazon headquarters would have a positive inmpact on my house price. However, I do understand the fear of AOC's contituents.

[turcopolier]

jdledell

The Amazonians will be welcome here.

[fritzenfreiberlin]

Yes, best to keep the deplorables far away from the Beltway's castle gates.

[turcopolier]

fritsenkraut

Asshole. I am one of the deplorables. If you knew anything about the US you would be dangerous. A Swede! ok, I will try to explain this to you. The Deplorable categorization by the marxist left and coastals is about culture not economic class.

[The Twisted Genius]

The Crystal City area became a ghost town once the Pentagon moved all their offices out to the MarkCenter complex fro security reasons. Amazon will make good use of that existing commercial real estate as well as the undeveloped former rail yards to the south. If, as you said, a lot of the workers come from DC and close in Maryland, it will be good for DC and have little effect on existing commuting patterns. It will run largely counter to the existing travel patterns and make max use of existing mass transit. I think it was a brilliant move all around. My oldest son will probably do quite well whenever he decides to sell his condo out by the old Landover Mall.

[Artemesia]

How many new Amazon employees will be able to buy a house in lovely Alexandria for 7 figures? (And what impact will it have on Bethesda / Potomac's excess of such manses that languish on the market?)

PS would love to see photos of you outdoor kitchen.

PS2 Redfin is not completely trustworthy: their algorithms do not take account of mini-neighborhoods that have significantly different types of housing. In Montgomery County -- where the "poor" Amazon employees will live, the neighborhood that is protesting widening of I270 has seen a decrease in home values due to the prospective increase in commuter traffic.

[turcopolier]

Yawn.

[Fred]

Owners selling to people that want to pay high prices for them? That's exactly how my French ancestors bought that property outside New Amsterdam. I don't think that's socialism.

[Fred]

jdledell,

That didn't help incresae wages for people living in her district. Maybe her constituents should move to a place with a better standard of living.

[Fred]

Artemesia,

Amazon HQ employees are going to be making a lot more than $15/hour.

[eakens]

30 year interest rates are almost 3%, that means a 500K loan only costs about $2100 a month, and a $1M loan is only about $4200. 2 earner households will drive the price of all single family homes to about $1-1.5M pretty quickly just like they have in Seattle, the Bay Area, homes around Playa Vista in LA, Denver, etc.

Beyond $1.5-2.0M, then it starts getting pretty difficult to justify a house since it becomes cheaper to rent. In a lot of places, rather than buy a $4M house, it's cheaper to buy a $2-2.5M income property, and use the income to pay the rent on a $3-4M house, plus all of the interest, and property taxes are deductible, circumventing the SALT deduction and mortgage interest deduction limits. You get a nicer house for less, plus have an income producing property which will appreciate, plus somebody else gets the pleasure of paying to maintain the house, pay the taxes, insurance, etc.

[akaPatience]

Amazon developed a huge fulfillment center nearby which helped save our [once-struggling] airport environs while spurring even more economic development. Mr. Bezos was here for the grand opening and while I can't stand the guy's political POV, I have to give credit where it's due -- he's built a helluva company.

I'm so glad your property value is rising Col. Lang. Mine is too, but it's as a result of Baby Boomers and Millennials moving to the inner city. Actually, the wealthier Boomers are driving up rents and condo prices beyond the reach of some of the younger people and driving them out. I just remarked to my husband yesterday that I see so many old folks walking around our neighborhood anymore. I like it.

On the other hand, our property taxes have doubled in just the last few years. So be careful what you wish for.

[walrus]

Yes Col. Lang, but how are you going to survive the invasion of all those sandal wearing, Green loving left wing bearded hipsters? They will drown you in Soy milk lattes and choke you with smashed Avocado.

[johnf]

This thread is, entirely unintentionally I am sure, just slightly provocative.

The most interesting headline in today's UK press is in the "Financial Times":

"US Companies ditch investor-first creed that has driven capitalism since the 1970's"

Unfortunately I can't afford to buy my way behind its paywall. All these invisible walls everywhere!

[Seamus Padraig]

You can have them. I loathe Bezos, so I avoid Amazon now.

[jd hawkins]

"PS would love to see photos of you outdoor kitchen."

I'll second that!

[turcopolier]

All

My outdoor kitchen is built of field stone buttered in at the back of the pieces so that it looks dry stacked. the tops are grey slate. there is a refrigerator, wet bar sink, gas side burner, hooded gas grill by "Lynx" with rotisserie (best part of whole thing. It is mess right now with my working cook's tools all over it but will post some when I clean it up. We built this set up one section at a time over ten years.

[turcopolier]

johnf

It was quite intentionally provocative.

[johnf]

Irony never works on the internet.