Archive for May, 2008
Happy Memorial Day
May 26th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
As we wind down Memorial Day 2008 I hope we’ve all taken a moment, whether silent or otherwise, to thank and appreciate the servicemen and women who protect our freedom; and to remember those who have given their lives for our country.
Arlington National Cemetery is a beautiful place I encourage everyone to visit at least once in their lifetime!
Jennifer
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The Dating Game… Finding, Meeting and Getting to know your REALTOR
May 22nd, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
Finding and working with a REALTOR is often a lot like dating! “HUH?” you say? Well, think about the ways that we meet…
Internet Dating
Many times, I will receive an email from a blog reader or someone who has found me on my static web page. They like what they see and send me an email. Sometimes they live in far away places, like Rome or Seattle or even Leesburg (that’s a joke for you Loudoun County readers! 
) We might correspond for months via email before we actually meet. By the time we meet, we know a lot about each other, due to our long “courting” period. It’s an excellent way to get to know someone - their response times, their knowledge and even their sense of humor!
The Blind Date
I recently received a referral from a Keller Williams agent in southern Virginia – he was trying to help his daughter find an agent to work with here in the Arlington area. So she initiated contact via email. (so really, it’s like Internet Dating, too!) We set a time to meet and described ourselves to each other so we’d recognize each other in the wild! She exclaimed that it was a lot like a blind date, which in fact it was, but as I pointed out, a lot less scary! By the way, we had a great time getting to know each other at Starbucks last night!
The Set-Up
Many times a past client will call me to set an appointment for me to meet with one of their friends. Sometimes we all meet together, but more often, as referenced above, we end up describing ourselves to each other to meet on our own.
![The_Dating_Game[1]](http://www.thearlingtondirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/the-dating-game1-small.jpg)
I’ve never actually participated in a setup like “The Dating Game” where 3 REALTORs are lined up and asked the same questions… “If you were a fruit, which fruit would you be and why?” I’m not sure how that might go over, but it’s an interesting thought!
I welcome all of your calls and questions any time! Things are great – it’s a nice balanced real estate market right now and I would be delighted to discuss it with you at your convenience!
Happy Thursday!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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Preparedness Tax Holiday THIS WEEKEND May 25-31
May 21st, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, Local News, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
Just wanted to get this community reminder out – this weekend begins the first ever tax holiday for certain emergency supplies and equipment to help all of us to be better prepared for weather emergencies. This year a “well above average” cyclone season is projected for the Atlantic Basin and to help us all be better prepared, we are being given a tax holiday from May 25–31 for the purchase of the following supplies:
batteries
flashlights
water storage containers
radios (weather radios, 2–way radios, etc…)
first aid kits
duct tape
bottled water
certain generators and power inverters under $1,000
For a complete list of the tax exempt items, click here. You will find that many useful items are included in the tax holiday and it’s a nice reminder that if you find yourself without power, you will be grateful to have an emergency kit all put together thanks to the reminder you got from your friendly, neighborhood realtor! (That would be me!)
Happy Wednesday
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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Is it Time to Buy? How ’bout NOW? Is NOW Finally Here?
May 16th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Home Buying, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Finance, Reston Dirt
For the past few years, this has probably been the most asked question of 
every real estate professional across the US. With the media leading the charge, the news has been all gloom and doom with a few regional exceptions and, just like a run on the bank in days gone by, the public has largely bought into the concept that the sky is falling in.
Well, we’re still standing. Yes, we have a credit crisis of enormous proportion that will likely take years to recover from. But guess what… houses are selling! Prices are somewhat steady! There are plenty of happy buyers and sellers at least here in our region, that are actually experiencing pleasant transactions!
But here’s the greatest news of all. Finally, we’re getting some great reports from national media sources that perhaps the crisis is over! Yes, you heard me correctly, the headline of an article in The Wall Street Journal on May 6, 2008 reads, “The Housing Crisis Is Over.”
The article begins by reminding us that we’ve been on a downward trend for 3 years already – hard to believe, but I guess it was 2005 when we started to see buyers push back from rapidly rising prices. It goes on to look at certain economic indicators that have been present in past housing corrections and comparing that with our current outlook.
Bottom line is that perhaps the worst is behind us. Here in the Northern Virginia area we have been seeing more activity, relatively stable prices and buyers finally coming around to believing that they can now make a good investment. However, like everything, it’s a giant pendulum. Perhaps now is an EXCELLENT time to be either a buyer or seller while that pendulum is essentially hanging in an almost weightless state before swinging the other direction. Remember the days of multiple contract? Waiving home inspection? Waiving appraisal? Let’s do some business!
Happy Friday!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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5 Important Characteristics of a Great Home Seller
May 10th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
Yep, that’s what I said, characteristics of a seller. There is definitely more to being a seller than someone who thinks they want to sell their home. There are characteristics that as an agent, I look for on any listing appointment – and if I sense that one or more of these characteristics are missing, I have to seriously evaluate MY ability to have a successful outcome.
A seller must be REALISTIC
Some say this is the agent’s job - and to some extent it is. But c’mon, nobody’s under a rock, at least I don’t think they are. The news media has gone crazy over diminishing values, foreclosures, etc… for a seller to actually think they can price their home 10% over the last sale is completely unrealistic. Yes, it is most definitely our job as agents to provide as much information on recent sales, length of time on the market, structure of deals (e.g., are there subsidies in that neighborhood? or do most of the buyers have money for closing costs?), etc… but the seller must be realistic about their expectations!
A seller must be OPEN MINDED
What does that mean exactly? Hard to define, but when we put a home on the market we can look in excruciating detail at other sales, comps, patterns, our marketing, etc… but until an offer comes in, you just never know what to expect. So I look for sellers who are open minded – sellers who understand that the market is what the market is - there’s nothing we can do to change it and that there may be benefits to taking a slightly lower offer, such as a quick settlement or fewer contingencies that can help a seller feel more confident about that sale actually happening.
A seller must be FLEXIBLE
Someone might put forth an offer or a tradeoff that hadn’t even crossed our minds before. We might sit on the market for weeks and weeks, at which point we begin looking at options – price drop vs. other alterations that may have been suggested by feedback. The market is often a moving target, and if the seller is flexible enough to react to new information, there is a better chance of a positive outcome.
A seller must be PREPARED
Prepared to accept a lower offer; prepared to take a lower net; prepared to make repairs; prepared to make other concessions (convey that chandelier or butcher block or front porch furniture) in order to make the transaction happen. Sometimes it’s just a matter of knowing how much something might cost. If you are trying to sell your home and you have a cobalt blue dining room, it might behoove you to get a quote from a painter to re-paint that room. This way, you, the seller, are prepared and armed with the knowledge of how much that exposure really is and is in a better position to make an informed decision.
A seller must be AVAILABLE
Yep, available. Imagine being a buyer and asking a few questions… as the listing agent, I am encouraged that someone is taking the time to ask and alas, I cannot find my seller. They won’t return calls, emails or texts… what gives? We could easily lose that interested buyer because they are now making assumptions on how the entire transaction experience might be. When there are plenty of other properties to buy, it is imperative that sellers are available to answer questions, respond to offers, etc…
Now, having said all of this, please understand that I’m in no way suggesting that sellers need be raked over the coals. It may be a market that favors the buyer, but it’s in no way a solid buyer’s market, at least inside the beltway and in other close in locations. However, it is important to each side conduct itself with the seriousness and dedication that this process deserves.
I’d be delighted to talk with you about the sale of your property – or if you’re thinking of buying, we can handle that, too!
Happy Saturday and be thankful for this oh so brief reprieve from the rain!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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April 2008 Sales Figures are in for Arlington Virginia
May 8th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
The time is flying by – the trees are a remarkable shade of deep green; the days of glorious flowering trees have passed; the weather is feeling warmer, the sun a little higher and brighter and I can feel summer ahead! This is usually our busiest time of the year in real estate – although unlike some markets around the country who are VERY cyclical, we are such a transient area here that while not without dips and peaks, we tend to be a little steadier than some.
April numbers look pretty good – and pretty consistent with March with very few swings. Here’s the chart for the month:
Just a note, these are now NET Average Selling prices I’m reporting on… so if there are any seller subsidies, or contributions towards closing, they will be reflected in these prices. I would say all in all, no big surprises. Here are the current absorption rates:
Again, fairly consistent, given that these statistics can swing wildly because they are dependent on the sales for the prior month. I did pull some additional information which I thought was very interesting. On average, condos are selling for 94.6% of original list price – again, a NET number – I prepare ALL of my sellers that they may be asked to contribute closing costs – this is an automatic 2–3% reduction, bringing it down to a 97–98% expectation IF list price is right on.
As I looked at the sale of single family homes throughout Arlington, I found that they are selling for an average of 91% of list - however, there was 1 sale of a VERY high end property that swung the average unfairly, so taking that out, I found almost the same statistics for condos at around 94%. Interestingly enough, I can pull statistics based on either original list price OR the last listed price, meaning after any/all price reductions. What I found was pretty interesting. Across all property types, after a price drop we were still looking at an average of 96–97% of list price - again, considering paying any closing costs, it gets pretty close to asking price as an average.
As for asking prices, of the 77 single family homes that sold in Arlington in April of 2008, 16 of them sold AT OR OVER 100% of list price. TEN of these being over 100% the highest being 116% of list price.
Very interesting statistics… I believe pointing to the fact that we’re in a healthy marketplace for both buyers and sellers… Pricing is key!
To discuss further, I’m always available! Give me a jingle any time!
Happy Thursday!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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Condo Focus: Residences at Station Square in Clarendon Virginia
May 4th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Condos, Arlington Dirt, Neighborhoods, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
I haven’t done a condo focus in a while, but I was showing a few units in Station Square yesterday and it’s such a great property in such a HOT area, that I thought I’d share.
The complex is made up of 3 buildings that take up the 2 blocks between Garfield and Fillmore Streets and bordered by Clarendon Blvd to the north. They were built in 2006/2007 and range in size from 500 square foot studios to monstrous 1760 square foot units with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a den. The complex shares a pool, fitness center, party room (s) — they receive discounted membership to the Gold’s Gym in the building.
This area is the hub of urban chic in the Arlington area – the neighborhood grew up around the Clarendon metro stop and now stretches west almost all the way to the Virginia Square area and east almost all the way into the Courthouse area. There are shops (Apple Store, Container Store, Crate & Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Barnes & Noble, Ethan Allen etc…), restaurants (Cheesecake Factory, Harry’s Tap Room, Restaurant 3, Mexicali Blues, Baja Fresh, and so many more that I can’t begin to list), condos, apartments, Whole Foods… you get the idea.
Here are some streetscape photos I took yesterday:
Currently on the market for sale in Station Square:
1 studio – $339K
1 1 bedroom/den – $525K (this is a fabulous unit looking over all the hustle/bustle of Clarendon!)
2 other 1 bedroom units in the high $300’s
3 2bedroom/2bath units that range from $555K – $585K
THAT’S IT! Not much to choose from… but if you’re interested in seeing more about what Station Square has to offer - give me a call. I’d be happy to show you around this fun area!
Happy Sunday – enjoy the absolutely beautiful weather we’re having here today!
Jennifer
Serving all of your real estate needs in Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia Region!
Contact me today for a free home valuation or buyer counseling session! Spring is HERE!
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