There’s always some churn in residential real estate following a presidential election, as a new administration arrives and the old one flees town, but this year the transition has been especially bumpy. First came DOGE and its cuts to the federal workforce, then the deployment of the National Guard to DC, and now the government shutdown.

All have served to muddy the local real-­estate picture. Buyers have grown more deliberative, with properties in the region sitting on the market a median of 21 days in September, an increase of ten days compared with last year. Even as the market has softened, the median sales price has been rising—$629,660 this year, an increase of almost $20,000 versus last year—in part because more single-family houses and townhouses are selling than condos, and also because luxury buyers have been especially active.

Inventory has continued to increase—up 39 percent in September compared with last year. But some federal workers and other locals, even if they’ve lost their jobs or taken buyouts, have been reluctant to sell their properties: They’re sitting on 3-percent-or-better interest rates, and renting or buying a comparable property will be more expensive. “I’ve probably got 20 clients who have been in that position, and not one of them has sold yet,” says Lisa DuBois, an agent with RE/MAX Distinctive. “The low interest rates continue to keep people in their houses.”

If the government shutdown continues, it threatens to weaken the market even more, according  to the multiple-listing service Bright MLS. Bright has described the current landscape as a “tale of three markets”: DC (where the condo market has been especially weak) and the Maryland suburbs both cooling, with the close-in Virginia suburbs—Alexandria, Arlington—demonstrating greater resilience. But the agents interviewed for this story described an even more fragmented market, one that has been swayed by the rapid-fire news cycle and that has left even seasoned agents befuddled by its unpredictability.

“We’ll bring one property [to market] and get two offers on the second day that escalate above list price,” says Joel Nelson of Keller Williams Capital Properties. “And then we’ll bring another property and we’ll expect it to go faster, and 20 days later we’re still on the market.”

To make sense of these conditions, we compiled a list of the top neighborhoods this year, spotlighting where listings are moving fastest and where the greatest number are going for above asking. We also asked agents for tips to help both buyers and sellers navigate the changing circumstances.

 

If You’re Selling

Make Sure You’re Priced Right

The pandemic years produced some eye-popping housing prices, but the market has shifted and sellers should realize they may no longer set a sales record on their block. “I would call it a realignment of expectations,” says Kimberly Cestari, an agent with Long & Foster. “You need to be priced right out of the gate,” she says, or risk having your listing languish.

In the past, agents might base pricing on the previous three to six months of comps, or comparables—properties with a similar profile that sold. But with the pace of news this year, agents are relying less on historical data and more on recent activity. “I’m looking at the last 60 to 90 days,” says D’Ann Melnick of eXp Realty. “And then I’m also looking at current actives and pending [sales].”

Add to that a vibe check based on current events. Kat Massetti, an agent with Serhant, is setting her pricing in part on “what we think the buyer’s going to pay today, because the market is changing all the time based on the news”—maybe talk of rate cuts, or more federal layoffs. Sellers, in other words, need to factor in hyper-local fluctuations or risk overshooting the market.

 

Stage Your Listing

Staging has always been an indispensable tool when selling a property, but especially now. “This year has been wild,” reports Cristina Perkins of CC Staging & Design in DC. Most of the larger companies she knows have been “jam-packed with stagings since February.” And it’s not just properties in desperate need of a facelift. “Even the homes in amazing locations are getting staged,” Perkins says.

The practice has become essential in part because many of her recent listings have been vacant, says Melnick—a sign of how some families have decided to leave the area. “I’ve always recommended staging for vacant homes because I think they show better and it gives people a better idea of how they can live there,” she says.

At a minimum, Perkins suggests sellers “de-clutter, de-personalize, clean, paint, and fix things that are broken.” They should also “beautify the landscape—trim bushes, pull weeds, add some colorful flowers.” If you’re a pet owner, deodorizing is a must.

Sometimes it makes sense to tackle larger projects—for instance, renovating an out-of-style bathroom that doesn’t feels in harmony with the rest of the home. The trick is knowing when not to invest $10,000 in a bathroom refresh that, Nelson says, “might break through a ceiling we’re not going to achieve because the location [of your home] is somewhere buyers are going to be cautious.”

If a seller has a 1980s bathroom, painting the dated oak cabinets might be enough, says RE/MAX agent Lisa DuBois: “I call it a lipstick renovation.”

 

Employ Top-Notch Marketing

Professional photos, videos, virtual tours, floor plans. A good online presentation can help sell a home, but its importance skyrocketed during the pandemic. “Covid really changed things,” says DuBois. “People [now] devour what’s online” before they ever visit an open house.

Apart from a stellar web presence, Melnick has relied on what she calls “reverse prospecting.” If a buyer likes a property she’s listed in the MLS, she contacts the buyer’s agent and shares any relevant details, such as upcoming open houses. “I’ve had two deals in the last few months that have gone under contract because of that,” she says.

Massetti had a less traditional idea for how to keep buyers interested in a listing for a five-bedroom, $1.49 million house in Fairfax that was sitting earlier this year: She organized a petting zoo with two alpacas, a goat, and an albino snake during the open house. The property was a good fit for a family with kids, and she figured the spectacle would attract the neighbors, who might reach out to their friends who were in the market for a new house. Massetti scored some local press and earned a couple nicknames—“Alpaca Queen” and “Llama Mama.” And her efforts paid off: Footage of the neighbor-friendly scene helped sway some buyers to make an offer, she says. The house was under contract at press time.

 

If You’re Buying

Make Use of Contingencies

If you purchased a home during the pandemic, or in prior boom markets, you’ll probably recall that including any kind of contingency in the offer—inspection, financing, appraisal—all but ended your chances. You might have booked an inspection before bidding on a house, for your own peace of mind, but the odds were slim that a seller would make repairs or give you a credit. But no longer. “I’m definitely seeing my buyers get more contingencies accepted,” says Melnick. “Most of my buyers are buying with an inspection contingency, with a right to void and a right to negotiate repairs.”

Which means these days agents are having to haggle over leaky roofs or failing HVAC systems. In the case of repairs, when sellers are reluctant to budge, buyers are walking away, says Melnick. “They’re saying, ‘You know what? There are, like, five other houses out there, and I’ll try again somewhere else.’ ”

 

But Don’t Expect to Lowball

Buyers have more leverage now than during the pandemic, but depending on the listing, the competition may still be significant. “I have clients who lost out on a six-person multiple-offer situation on the first house they wrote on just because they didn’t believe the market was still competitive,” says Melnick.

If you’re bidding on a property in a desirable location that’s priced well, don’t be surprised to see other offers. Nelson says buyers are prioritizing properties that are move-in ready, have good outdoor space, are in established neighborhoods, and are walkable—anything within eight blocks of a Metro stop, transit center, or popular shopping hub, he says. Adds DuBois: “Detached homes in sought-after neighborhoods will continue to receive a lot of attention—perhaps multiple offers.”

 

Factor in School Redistricting

Montgomery County Public Schools is in the midst of a boundary study as it prepares to open a new high school, Crown, in Gaithersburg, and reopen Woodward High School in Rockville. The boundaries of other county schools, and which middle schools feed into those high schools, will potentially also be affected as MCPS attempts to relieve overcrowding.

The study has given some potential Montgomery County buyers pause. “There’s been a major slowdown,” says Ellie Hitt of RE/MAX Realty Centre, among families with school-age kids who are looking to buy. They’re waiting on the final boundaries, although it’s still unclear when those will be announced. Crown and Woodward are scheduled to open in 2027.

 

Consider FHA

Federal Housing Administration loans, insured by the agency, are often used by first-time buyers who might not have a standard 20-­percent down payment. Buyers can bring as little as 3.5 percent to the table if they have a high-enough credit score. The only catch is that they must pay mortgage insurance on their loan, which can be eliminated in some cases after 11 years or by building enough equity and refinancing into a conventional loan. “FHA is really hard to get through when the market is super-competitive,” says DuBois, in part because of the loan’s more exacting appraisal requirements. But “you can get FHA buyers in homes now,” she adds, given the cooling market conditions.

First-time buyers may also want to consider a condo. As of August, condominiums in the District spent a median of 82 days on market. Higher interest rates, coupled with monthly condo fees, have helped cool demand. But if a buyer can manage the payments, and feel bullish about their long-term prospects in the city, they might be able to find a deal.

 

The Hottest Neighborhoods in the DC Area

Where are properties moving fastest? Bright MLS crunched the data for this year as of September 16, highlighting neighborhoods with at least 20 transactions. We then generated a list of those places in Virginia, Maryland, and DC where homes spent the fewest median days on market. Virginia led with the most neighborhoods logging under a week.

 

Virginia

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Maryland

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DC

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This article appears in the November 2025 issue of Washingtonian.