"This isn’t the right time to buy his and her BMW’s." My Northern Virginia real estate clients have heard me deliver that line for almost two decades when we discuss putting together an offer to buy a home. It's meant to be funny, but also a very serious warning. Real estate sales contracts will outline the type of mortgage financing that the Continue Reading
Home Inspection Reports Really Matter
Having a home inspection contingency is essential when you are buying a home. But in Northern Virginia, I have seen a wide gap in the quality of the written inspection reports that home buyers are given by their inspectors. Specifically, it is the detailed description of the inspector’s concerns that he may have discovered and reported per the Continue Reading
Home Buyer Agents Get it Done!
Real estate buyers have the option of having an agent work with them during the home buying experience. A "Buyer's Agent" has an obligation to pursue the interests of the buyer finding suitable homes that fit their financial capability (budget), find homes with a good location, keep information confidential, and most importantly present any written Continue Reading
Vienna, VA Home Sales Stats | Hyper Local March 2010
Image by lukiffer via Flickr March came roaring in like a lion in the real estate market as buyers literally surged in once the snow melted and the sun started to shine making our world green again, so next month's numbers will be impressive. The driving part of the surge was buyers at the lower end buying homes that allowed people to move up Continue Reading
Vienna home is a deal close to the W&OD Bike Trail!
(Post from 2010) Sounds like good stuff but... Like my friend Heather out in Loudoun County VA, I see plenty of homes in my day-in, day-out job as a real estate agent. But, when the property is listed by another firm then I am not allowed to advertise it because it isn’t my listing. The amazing thing about this year (2010) has been the Continue Reading
The real estate market catches a hint of Spring 2010
We had a bright and sunny weekend here in Northern Virginia (2010), and a surge of home buyers were out looking at the homes for sale that had popped up late Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. A little marketing tip is to put a home into the MLS database Thursday to feed all the IDX sites out there that send e-mails to registered home buyers. Continue Reading
Vienna, Virginia | My Buyer’s Agent Advice of the Week
I had a home buyer Tweet me and ask if I had any words of wisdom to pass along. The funny thing is that I love giving advice, but 140 characters weren’t going to cut it because what I do really can’t be distilled down to a sound bite. It also raised an issue that many socialists folks have written dissertations on… the desire for a silver bullet or Continue Reading
Stillfield Place in Centreville, Virginia | just bought!
This fantastic four bedroom colonial in the Virginia Run community in Centreville, VA that backs to true parkland, has an oversize screened-in porch and was a really good house to buy for my buyer clients. Turn key and not a short-sale. Doug was the "buyer's agent" in this transaction. The home was built in 1993 and featured the expanded floor Continue Reading