The market is "interesting" this week

This week's market update:

• Interesting scenario no. 1: A condo on Adams Mill Road in Mount Pleasant had been on the market for two months. An interested purchaser submitted a strong offer through a buyer agent in my office. The buyer had extremely good financial qualifications, and the offer was $1,000 OVER the asking price). The seller REJECTED the offer without making a counteroffer, and has subsequently removed the property from the market. Help me understand.
• Interesting scenario no. 2: A listing agent in my office had a brand-new listing in NW DC on a nice street, priced a hair over $1M. The listing agent and the seller had scheduled an open house for this past Sunday. An interested purchaser made a strong offer (several percentage points above the asking price) PRIOR to the open house. The offer was to expire BEFORE the open house on Sunday. After a careful review of the offer, the seller accepted it and cancelled the open house.
• Savvy sellers are seriously considering offers that come in before open houses. They're looking at the "bird in the hand" rather than waiting for the "two in the bush" to appear later. This is good news for serious buyers. Advice: buyers who are seriously interested in new listings on the market should consider making a "pre-emptive" offer --- before the Sunday open house. It's a strategy that's working ... at least for this week.
• It appears that, as elsewhere, inventory (especially condo inventory) in Northern Virginia is sitting longer and longer unsold. In fact, many condo units currently on the market are priced BELOW recent sales in the same buildings. It appears that buyers are shopping for value ... and they're looking for LOTS AND LOTS of value. Otherwise, buyers are passing over listings that they feel don't deliver. Absorption rates in Northern Virginia (the percentage of listings that go under contract in any one-month period) is at a long-time low, dancing in the 15% to 20% range. That means that only 20% of available listings go under contract in any given month --- leaving an additional four-month supply on the market (not counting the new listings the come on the market each month). This is a statistically significant change from a time when we had merely a few days' or weeks' worth of inventory on the market.
• I had heard this week that the DC $5000 Tax Credit for first-time homebuyers had been reauthorized through 2006 by Congressional vote. A call to Eleanor Holmes Norton's office has confirmed that the bill to reauthorize the tax credit will be voted on next week. So, it's not a done deal yet. The tax credit --- which expired at the end of 2005 --- if it's passed, would likely be made retroactive to January 1, 2006. Stay tuned for more information.