Image by richardmasoner via Flickr To post on Craigslist or not to post on Craigslist is a tough question? Before you get all up in arms over my hesitation, know that I just posted a rental listing there because I know that Northern Virginia renters use Craigslist to find apartments all the time… and they love the freedom of it. In the Continue Reading
Is the economy really feeble?
I was in Ashburn Village over the weekend showing some homes when my clients asked what a home would have sold for just a couple of years ago? In my opinion it would have been close to $775,000 two or three years ago, but the home sellers were asking $575,000 on that cold Sunday in October. Now that's huge. But it is an honest result of a feeble Continue Reading
Your Maryland lockbox doesn’t work in Virginia
In the past two weeks, I have shown up at two vacant homes in Fairfax, Virginia with clients wanting to take a look-see, only to find that the SentriLock lock-boxes did not work. You know, SentriLock's are the little blue boxes on the front door handles of homes for sale. In the Washington D.C. metro area, we have Realtor Associations in Continue Reading
Vienna Home Sales Stats | Hyper-Local Sept. 2009
I know that most of you are bombarded with September real estate sales data (it's in every free paper at my house), but I always like to keep the info simple and "hyper-local", and the Vienna home market is sloshing along trying to maintain a level of normalcy. If you are a seller with a home priced over $800,000 then you will be excited to Continue Reading
It’s Fire Prevention Week, Virginia!
It was a cold, late fall morning as I read the Washington Post about ten years ago. The Metro Section had an article about a couple escaping a burning home on Dominion Way in Falls Church... I took a sip of coffee. "Dominion Way, don't I have clients on that street?", I thought. "Right, I should call Scott and Jeannie to see if they saw Continue Reading
HvCc appraisal flu hits Northern Virginia…
Home sellers and buyers in Northern Virginia have felt the pain of the HVCC, the Home Valuation Code of Conduct. These new guidelines (May, 2009) dictate how real estate appraisals are conducted for all mortgage loans that will be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Government insured loans such as FHA or Veterans Administration (VA) have not Continue Reading
Refinancing a Virginia home has a special tax exemption…
Last week I attended a conference at George Mason University where a number of economists discussed many real estate related topics. One panelist, Dr. Frank Nothaft who is the Chief Economist of Freddie Mac, commented how mortgage rates are at almost 50 year lows and are probably going to remain low for the next 6-12 months. So if that Continue Reading
Keeping Vienna’s Northside Park free of invasive plants.
The Town of Vienna Parks and Recreation Department is seeking volunteers on Saturday, September 26th to help identify and remove invasive plants in Northside Park. As in most suburban areas across the country, non-native plants are growing out of control and impacting the natural environment for native plant species. The Northside Park Invasive Continue Reading
