Local News
April 1 brings new recycling to Arlington Virginia!
April 1st, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Local News
FINALLY - what we’ve been waiting for - expanded recycling options. For many of my long time readers, you’ll remember a post I wrote almost exactly 1 year ago on recycling. It really focused on how limited our recycling options were and what could and couldn’t be recycled.
Our county has listened and as of today, our recycling options have widened tremendously. Soon they will deliver to all single family homes a new wheeled 65–gallon cart and to townhomes, a 35–gallon cart specifically to be used for recycling materials.
You can now recycle aluminum foil & trays, milk and juice cartons, plastic bags, aerosol cans, rigid plastics, books and any plastic #1–7. No sorting is necessary - just toss it all in. Additionally, cardboard boxes no longer have a size restriction and they don’t even need to be broken down any longer. Just place them in or near the cart and voila! You can also ask for a special pickup for electronic items.
This is just one more thing that makes Arlington County Virginia a great place to live! Call me to find out about great Arlington neighborhoods that you could call “home.”
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! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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Great Open House Feb 15th at 133 N Highland Street, Arlington VA 22201 - come on by
February 15th, 2009 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Local News
I’ll be at this great Lyon Park colonial today meeting and greeting and showing off this great home priced at $735,000.
![GetMedia[2]](http://www.thearlingtondirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/getmedia2-small.jpg)
The owner of this home is the original owner and it features 3 bedrooms and 1 full bath on a 5,000 sq ft lot just blocks to the Clarendon metro. Come on by today from 1–4 to take a look.
Happy Sunday!
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! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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Northern Virginia Welcomes SentriLock Lockboxes - why is this good?
January 9th, 2009 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, Local News, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
Hello all!!
During the month of January, Northern Virginia real estate agents will be trading in ALL of our old lockboxes and upgrading to the NEW, FANTASTIC, AMAZING SentriLock system. These are super cool, easy to use new boxes that have great benefits to us and sellers. As for buyers, they don’t really care what kind of box you have just as long as you can get them into the house! LOL
These boxes are HUGE – but they have all sorts of great features that our old boxes didn’t have. To highlight a few:
1) Owners have a “Do Not Disturb” code – as a seller, have you ever worried when you step into the shower that you might find buyers in your bedroom when you step out? Well, never to worry again - you have a code that you can enter right into the lockbox that will allow you complete privacy whenever you need it.
2) Much better tracking to allow us to know who’s been inside your home
3) If you’re a condo owner, you should know the key compartment is SO large that no longer will prospective buyers’ agents have to deal with jammed boxes – there’s plenty of room for keys, fobs, card keys, etc…
4) We will be able to issue one day codes for contractors or appraisers to access the home.
5) Smart Card access - this is really just a better system for us as agents – easier to update, no battery life issues, etc… It’s a much more sophisticated system and that translates to better features all around.
So, look for these new lockboxes and think of them as a sign of the future.
Happy Friday - hope you had a great and productive week!
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! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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The Top 10 Reasons Northern Virginia is the BEST place on EARTH!
October 28th, 2008 Categories: Area Attractions, Local News, Northern Virginia Home Buying, Northern Virginia News, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
I have had this post rolling around my head for weeks - trying to figure out the best way to put it out there… there’s so much depth behind EACH area that I think I need to publish them one at a time. I wanted to create my own list of why this area is so great for those of you who might be considering moving to the area whether it be a job, a new administration or whatever it is that might bring you here. So pull up a chair and sit for a while!
First some background… Other than the first 10 weeks of my life, which by the way, I have very little recollection of, I grew up here in Northern Virginia. Spent the first 5 years in Falls Church, then we moved to Reston. We lived there from 1st grade through 5th. Then we moved to McLean where we lived for the end of elementary school, all of middle and high school. My parents stayed in the area and I went off to Fredericksburg to the University of Mary Washington - not too far away! I then returned as a young adult, got my first place on my own, entered the job market and had a lot of fun living close to the city - oh, and did I mention having lots of fun?
After a few years, I left the area (followed a man, wouldn’t ya know) and moved to the San Francisco Bay area where we lived for 6 years, followed by a detour through the Atlanta area for 5 years and then, returned here to Northern Virginia because I believe it’s the BEST place on EARTH… So you see, I am actually highly qualified to write this post about our great community!
So now, without further ado, I offer you ONE of my TEN reasons why Northern Virginia is awesome!
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Northern Virginia is home to some of the BEST, Top Tier public schools in the entire country. There are many places to go for quantitative information on Virginia Schools. The Virginia Department of Education website has a wealth of information on schools across the entire state. But one of my favorite sites is www.GreatSchools.net. It is the ONLY website I have ever run across that actually allows you to compare schools by test scores and also see other relevant information about the school.
According to Newsweek Magazine’s List of the Top 1,300 High Schools for 2008 article, the Northern Virginia region was home to 8 of the top 100 public high schools in the country!
There are many other reasons to love this area – so stay tuned as I bring them to you daily over the next 10 days!
Happy Tuesday!
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! Fall is here!
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Storm Recovery procedures - Arlington Virginia
June 5th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Local News
Yesterday we had horrible storms blow through here. I was sitting in a 
training session at my McLean Virginia office when we lost power. Fortunately, we were a big group of realtors who are glued to their cell phones, so we used our cell phone light to find our way out of the darkness – it was a memorable session in many ways!
I had to take 3 detours on the way home due to trees and power lines down – roads were closed in many locations. I heard horror stories about trees impaling cars as they were driving along, and other such horrific tales.
I received this email just a moment ago and felt it would be good to share with my Arlington readers:
Downed Power Lines:
After a storm look for any downed power lines before cutting up any debris. To report downed power lines, contact Virginia Power at 1-888-667-3000.
Safety Message:
When traffic lights are not working at intersections, treat them as a 4-way stop.
Debris Removal:
To have debris collected from your property, please follow normal brush collection procedures. Go to www.arlingtonva.us/DES or call 703-228-6570 and select Option 2 to request a brush collection. Debris is collected on your regular trash collection day by request only. For more information, visit www.arlingtonva.us/des
I hope everyone has a great day now that the sun is out – be careful out there and ESPECIALLY through those intersections - remember guys 4 WAY STOP. I actually found some of the lights I normally sit through every evening everything went MORE quickly than usual taking the 4–way stop approach.
Happy Thursday – Market stats coming either later today or tomorrow – so stay tuned!
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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ABCs of Recycling in Arlington County
April 5th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Local News
Have you ever been confused about what you CAN and CANNOT recycle here in Arlington County? My husband has been asking me to write about 
this for months so HE can learn what he can and cannot recycle. I keep telling him that the County has an awesome website with some wonderful information on it - they even have a special section devoted to Environmental Services called Trash & Recycling! So, this post is dedicated to him!… read on…
I’m mainly focusing on plastics for the purpose of this article, because I think most people (including my husband) find plastics the MOST confusing part of recycling. You know those numbers on the bottoms of containers? Well, we have been lead to believe that those numbers are what dictate whether or not that item can be recycled – we’ve been duped! Turns out those numbers have to do with the melting point of that particular plastic and other materials that might be included in that blended plastic. So - here’s the rule - if it’s a clear OR colored bottle and has a neck smaller than the base - it’s probably recyclable. Simple as that – so if you’ve been putting yogurt containers, the plastic clamshells that berries come in or other such seemingly recyclable plastic into your recycling, SHAME ON YOU! But seriously, as they say in Arlington, “no neck - no recycle”
Hope this helps – now my husband doesn’t have to research this himself and all of my readers get to benefit from my work!
Happy Saturday (almost Sunday now!)
Jennifer
PS I hope you’re out there looking at homes - there are a lot of great places to choose from and I’d be delighted to show you around!
“Jennifer Klaussen - your real estate specialist for Arlington, McLean and the entire Northern Virginia region!”
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A HUGE Win for Virginia Sellers
March 4th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, Local News, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
As many of you know, whether you’re a seller or just “in the know” last year the Authority was granted to the Virginia Transportation Authority to impose an additional $4/$1000 to the Virginia Grantor’s Tax. This was a 400% increase over our previous tax of $1/$1000 bringing the new total tax to $5/$1000… HUGE difference to a seller!
Well, as we suspected (and as I’ve previously written about), it was ruled by the Virginia Supreme Court to be unconstitutional to enable a non-elected body to impose taxes. What does this mean? It’s unclear. One thing that IS clear is that they will have to come up with another way to pay for the road improvements here in Northern Virginia as well as in the Hampton Roads area, which is the other locality affected by this tax. The second thing that’s crystal clear is that they will have to figure out some way to refund those who have already paid this tax since January 1, 2008.
Meanwhile, I suspect they’ll go back to the drawing board - whether it means gas taxes, increased local taxes, bond money, etc… we need the money from somewhere to relieve congestion – I’m glad this time it won’t be paid for by those selling their homes!
If you have any questions about this, and/or if you were a seller who paid these higher taxes from January 1, 2008 through the present, please contact your settlement agent about what the refund process might look like, how long it might take, etc… then, REJOICE!
Happy Tuesday!
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! The Time is NOW!
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Gourmet Burgers in McLean! A New Hot Spot!
January 17th, 2008 Categories: Local News, McLean Dirt
Welcome Joe’s Burgers!
McLean has long needed a great burger joint – and here it is. For a month or so people have been telling me of this great new place in McLean for lunch called Joe’s Burgers – knowing, of course, that burgers and fries are 2 of my staple food groups! So yesterday I finally had the opportunity to go and see for myself.
The inside is quite small - but accommodated the diners quite nicely. There were 5 tables for 2 and 2 tables for 4 and a bar that seats 3. That’s it – nice ambiance!
The menu is simple – burgers, Kobe beef burgers, ostrich burgers, and a few chicken sandwiches - and everything comes with fries. Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and Iced Tea (and of course, beer/wine - but not at lunch, at least not for me) are the beverage choices – nice and simple and reasonably priced. The service was super friendly, too!
My FAVORITE part is that you can add mushrooms, bacon and/or carmelized onions for FREE!!! Yes, you heard it, nada, zip, zilch, nothing, FREE. Not $1.30/extra topping!
So don’t go if you’re on a diet because it’s delicious – wonderful grilled beef, fresh buns, shoestring fries… YUM!
So stop in next time you’re in McLean and hungry. And if you’re interested in McLean real estate, give me a jingle!
Happy Thursday!
Jennifer
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5 Fun (really!) Facts about Leaf Collection in Arlington County
November 9th, 2007 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Local News
O-K Arlingtonians – Leaf Collection has officially begun.
Don’t you love this time of year? Bright yellow, red and orange leaves adorn the trees and now has created a carpet of fall colors on the ground. All of these leaves need to go somewhere! Arlington County Environmental Services has leaf collection down to a science. Here are some fast (and fun) facts that might be of interest:
1. TWO Options for Leaf Collection:
Arlington County Environmental Services offers us two options: vacuum curb service, OR you may place leaves in the FREE biodegradable leaf bags that the county provides. The leaf bags will ONLY be collected during this leaf pickup time of year – and won’t be picked up again until the spring yard waste pick-up. Check the schedule to see when they will be in your neighborhood.
2. TWO months of collection:
Arlington County will make two leaf collection passes, one in November and again in December.
3. What do they do with all these leaves?
After the leaves have been collected, Arlington mulches them and makes the mulch available to residents.
4. How many leaves are collected?
Just a fun fact here. In 2006, so many leaves were collected in Arlington County that they could cover the Washington Wizard’s court 18 stories high with leaves! Now, that’s a lot of leaves!!
5. Dry Leaves Are FIRE HAZARDS!!!
Bet you didn’t know this – DON’T PARK YOUR CAR ON A PILE OF DRY LEAVES – One Arlington man learned his lesson the hard way when he returned to his car to find it engulfed in flames – so bear that in mind!
I think that about sums up everything and more that you’d ever want to know about leaf collection in Arlington County!
Happy Friday
Jennifer
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