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The available houses in Winchester, VA in April 2012 has risen to 582.  That's a 7% increase in inventory over March listings.  In contrast, the number of REOs and short sales have declined slightly.

Winchester City holds 112 of the available listings, down three from March.  The number of REOs in April stand at 4 and short sales at 11.  The March numbers are basically unchanged.  March had 115 listings with 4 REOs and 11short sales.  Winchester has seen less movement than Frederick County.

Frederick County, VA has 470 active listings.  Of that number, 33 are REOs and 43 are short sales.  The March listings were 448 with 36 REOsand 45 short sales.  Both REOs and short sales are down in the county.  The overall number of listings has increased by 22, but the distressed properties are dropping.

The drop in distressed properties in the Winchester / Frederick County, VA area is a good sign that the local real estate recession may have turned the corner.  The overall market is up, but distressed properties are down 5%.  For homeowners who have been waiting on the sidelines to sell, this is good news.

For home-buyers who have been waiting for the market to hit bottom, this may be it.  If you're thinking about buying a distressed property, now is the time. The inventory is starting to shift toward fair market listings, and when that happens, highly discounted properties will slowly disappear.  

Available Houses in Winchester, VA - April 2012

All Listings in Winchester, VA - April 2012

REOs in Winchester, VA - April 2012

Short Sales in Winchester, VA - April 2012

This post might step on some toes but it is not meant to. Most REALTORS are on tight budgets now and need candid answers to questions about short
sales, short sale classes and which class or course is better.

I am not professing to be an expert on which class or course of
instruction is better but I will give my unbiased opinion as to which
is better in my opinion.

I currently hold the CDPE designation, I have completed the Short Sale Superstar Course and I recently finished the NAR Designation SFR course.

The CDPE and SFR course are very similar in structure as they teach the
history of lending and selling that put us into the situation we are
in. Both courses spend considerable time talking about aspects that
have nothing to do with actually performing short sales. Both courses
leave out key elements that you as a Real Estate Professional had
better know before you advise a client on a short sale. (especially
when it comes to tax consequences of selling short and Canceled
Debts).

The SFR course dedicates only about 2-2.5 hours on actually doing short sales. Part of the SFR course is doing 3, one hour webinars (you pick from a
list) that is strictly on the honor system.

The SFR course Itook pretty much had a "no question" policy. I feel this was because
of time constraints but I don't think it is reasonable or responsible
on the part of NAR to take such an important topic and condense it to
7.5-8 hours and then not allow a significant question and answer
period. This class should be a two day class at the minimum. That
being said, every class has a couple of village idiots that need to be
kicked out and I don't know how to handle them.

The Short SaleSuperstars course is definitely the least formal of the courses but I
feel it offers the most education by far. This class is taught over
the web through webinars created by Wendy Rulnick and Bryant Tutas.
Wendy and Bryant are ACTIVE REAL ESTATE AGENTS in what many consider
the epicenter of short sales and foreclosures, Florida. When you take
the Short Sale Superstar course you are learning from two agents who
ACTUALLY sell short sales. I think this is a key difference between
the courses, these guys sell short sales and don't just teach. I have
talked to Bryant several times on the phone when I had an issue and he
and Wendy are always quick to email a response to a question, something
that does not happen with the other two programs. The Short Sale
Superstar program is the only program that went over how to do a FHA
short sale.

None of the programs went over any type ofmarketing plan to get the phone ringing for short sales so the jury is
still out on that. Word of mouth, AR blogging and ads seem to be the
best way. My leads have come from my AR blog which I now have a 2nd AR
blog dedicated to Short Sales and Foreclosures.

Mysuggestion? Short Sale Superstars hands down. If you want a
designation get the SFR, it is the cheapest to get and some of the
information is really useful.....that being said, you had best do the
Short Sale Superstars IN ADDITION to CDPE or SFR.

My only suggestion to Short Sale Superstars? Create some type of designation for those that want one. CDPE did it so it should not be too hard.
CDPE is not recognized by NAR and quite frankly the CDPE is a step
above SFR yet much more expensive than either Short Sale Superstars or
SFR.