Happy New Year! Like most of you, I recently sat down to review the last year and look ahead to 2010. And like any business person, I took a long hard look at my real estate business, the Northern Virginia real estate market as a whole, my relationships with clients, and where I saw the business in the new year. One of my primary thoughts was Continue Reading
A Collection of Buyer Tips
Take a few minutes and scroll through this collection of tips for home buyers. Just so you know, I like to write about experiences that clients have because you may be dealing with a similar issue and it might shed a little helpful insight.
The REALTOR’s role as a Buyer’s Agent
The role of a REALTOR changes depending on who the client is, buyer or seller. This list points out some of the typical jobs your buyers agent will perform during the process of buying a home. A typical real estate transaction will involve about twenty people, and a key role of the agent will be to help manage that process. The Buyers Agent Continue Reading
McLean, VA | My Buyer Agent Snapshot of Mortgage Rates
As 2009 draws to a close, I have seen mortgage rates stay historically low and some McLean mortgage insiders forecast that they will stay low for the near term. The terrible economy has a lot to do with it... job insecurity, weak demand, and an unwillingness to enter into a 30 year relationship when rumors are easy to believe. The truth is that Continue Reading
Does Your Real Estate Offer have a Deadline?
If you are submitting a written real estate offer to buy a home then you want the sellers to respond in a reasonable time-frame, right? So, is there a set deadline for them to respond to your offer? Well here is the truth: Unless you put in a deadline in your offer, then your offer is out there until it is accepted, countered or withdrawn by Continue Reading
Vienna, VA | My Buyer Agent tip of the week… compare
Last Sunday I popped into an Open House in Vienna, VA to take a quick look at a home for sale. Yes, I can get in anytime with my SentriCard but, in this case, I was on my way home from showing a listing and it wasn’t out of my way. Market research and /or market knowledge is something my clients like to hear me discuss, so, I try and walk through Continue Reading
Oakton, VA | My Buyer Agent tip of the week… oil tanks
Image by Here in Van Nuys via Flickr I was showing some homes today in Oakton, Virginia that were built in the mid 1970’s and commented to my client, as I always do, that a home had been converted to natural gas heat. In the 1970’s there was a moratorium regarding laying new natural gas pipelines in Fairfax County, VA and I always share that Continue Reading
McLean, VA | My Buyer Agent pick of the week… get advice!
As I was doing research today previewing some homes for a McLean, Virginia pick of the week, I looked at a remodeled home that reminded of my house in Vienna. I pulled up in front a home on Panarama Court to “preview” the home listed by Paton Real Estate, and noticed a SUV idling in front. It is a vacant home so I locked the door behind me as I Continue Reading
A driving lesson for Northern Virginia home buyers
Image by Jef Nickerson via Flickr An essential part of your housing search in Northern Virginia is a clear strategy for dealing with the traffic that you will encounter on a daily basis. I have to confess; I hear many things from clients but virtually everyone who visits here comments about the volume of cars they see on the roads all day Continue Reading