Real estate round-up: September 21

Check in every business day for the latest edition of Real Estate Round-up, where we post a list of our favorite real estate news stories from DC and beyond.

Headlines from the DC Metro Area: Time to refinance ... again? Washington Post For starters, figure out what your monthly payment would be at the new rate. Compare it with what you're paying now and decide whether the savings � if any � will offset the cost of refinancing the loan. Points and low interest rates: A primer DC Urban Turf Conventional wisdom is that it takes somewhere in the 5 to 7 year range to recoup the point that you would pay upfront on a loan, which is good for buyers to keep in mind when they are envisioning how long they will live in the property they are purchasing. Charting the market: Prices lift in Northern Virginia Washington Times Median sales prices in Alexandria, Arlington and the District are back up to where they were in 2005 - the year sales started to decline.

National real estate news stories: The Academy Award for best real estate video goes to... Inman News A real estate agent in Los Angeles produced a "movie short" about a Hollywood Hills listing, marketing it as a sizzling Hollywood Hills bachelor's home and reeled in (pardon the pun) a buyer in less than 30 days.� Is it possible to build a house for $1,000? Wall Street Journal The prototype house boasts a modular layout with hollow brick walls with steel bars for reinforcement and wooden box beams. It is designed to withstand a magnitude 8.0 earthquake. The buddy system, or the buyer's broker The New York Times So why should a buyer bother using an agent? In a nutshell: to protect his or her interests in an expensive, often complex purchase.

http://twlv.net/fQiYbv