Owner: Northern Virginia Real Estate URL:http://northernvirginiarealestate.wordpress.com Join Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 09:44:47 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Come on by to read about the real estate market in Arlington, Virginia and the greater Northern Virginia area. We have a lot of fun on my little blog! Site statistics:Click here
FSBO… 2007-06-13 15:08:54 For Sale By Owner… why not, right? WRONG… When considering putting your home on the market FSBO (really you’re an unrepresented seller — think about that for a moment) you may encounter several difficulties you didn’t count on. It sounds nice and easy – stick a sign in the ground with your phone number on it and the hoards and masses will come, right? Here’s a thought, and this data comes straight to us from the National Association of Realtors:
“Did you know?
. . . the typical FSBO home sold for $187,200 compared to $247,000 for agent-assisted home sales”
WOW — obviously these are national statistics – we can tell this from the price, but the message is that when you’re not using the expertise of a qualified REALTOR, you can put yourself at a significant disadvantage! They go on to illustrate some of the more difficult challenges that unrepresented sellers face:
Most Difficult Tasks for FSBO Sellers:
Getting the right price . . . 11%
Understanding pa Read more:hellip
How much is too much? 2007-06-11 07:59:36 Pricing….
Not a scarier word has ever been spoken. In this market, whether you’re a seller or a buyer, pricing is the key. Is this house/condo overpriced? Is it priced right? Or better yet, is it “priced to sell?” Are comps valuable? Do statistics tell us anything?
There are so many items of intangible value — neighborhood — washer/dryer in-unit — access to public transportation — charm, that’s a doozy. How much value can be placed on any one of these factors? The reality is, nobody knows.
The market dictates the price. PERIOD. Not the seller, not the listing agent. What sets the price is what the market will bear for that particular property. Some will tell you that if priced right a property should sell right away. Sometimes that’s true. But sometimes, especially in this market, a buyer is hesitant to write an offer early on
Friday Fun? 2007-06-08 09:30:17 Many of my cyber-friends have designated Friday
as “Friday fun” day on their blog. My first problem is knowing when Friday is… but I’m pretty sure it’s today.
It’s supposed to be 96 degrees today – that’s not fun unless you’re lying under an umbrella being fanned or misted while sipping iced tea (it’s still morning). But knowing me, I’d look like this.
Have you ever tried to use your laptop outside? It’s virtually impossible to see the screen – so I’m not too sure how well this would work.
In other “fun” for today, I have a full day planned of chasing paperwork, taking pictures, meeting with a new agent who wants to get inside my head for a bit (it’s a scary place to be!! Trust me!!) and then, I’m thinking of taking some interesting Arlington pictures to share with you. There are some interesting spots.
I’m hoping not to melt today! Hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk — ever tried that? I am going to use this picture as a ment
Arlington Housing Market Stats - May, 2007 2007-06-07 14:42:20 Believe it or not, as I have said in recent posts – the market is still a good solid market in Arlington
. Here is a look at some recent statistics.
First here is a chart showing the May numbers as they compare with last year. We’ve sold more condos and more single family homes than during the same month last year – our average days on market are higher, which means more inventory and our average sales prices are either steady or slightly lower. Again,though, I’ve mentioned before that it’s tough to look at just 1 month because there may have been a $6M property that changed hands drastically affecting the average selling prices.
May ‘07
This year
Act
U/C
Sold Units
Avg DOM
ASP
Condos
439
225
160
49
423K
SFH
347
171
107
78
844K
SFH 22207
110
70
41
70
988K
Previous Year
Sold Units
Avg DOM
ASP
154
40
421K
98
46
853K
41
50
1,010K
So b Read more:Housing
, Market
, Stats
New Construction in Arlington - Update 2007-06-04 07:48:41 Good morning! Ever wonder how Arlington
can keep up the growth? Or, have you heard rumors about a new project? OR, have you driven by one of those big signs saying “XYZ Project, Opening Summer 2007” but it’s still a vacant lot?
Over the weekend, I stumbled on a fantastic website that Arlington County maintains that focuses on the Economic Development. It’s fascinating! It goes neighborhood by neighborhood (e.g., Ballston, Clarendon, Virginia Square, Columbia Pike, Pentagon City, Shirlington, Rosslyn, etc…) and categorizes “Under Construction
,” “Recently Completed” and, my favorite, “Projects of Interest.” It’s a great resource to read about upcoming changes, dispelling rumor/myths, etc… CLICK HERE to go check it out!
There’s also a section of “The Crane’s View” that will show some sort of artist’s rendering of the project - sometimes it’s a streetscape, others, more like a bird’s eye view – anyway, pretty cool!
Don’t forget, Read more:Update
Dual or Designated Agency? 2007-06-02 06:09:39 Agency — something we deal with every day. I thought I’d take a quick moment to distinguish between the 2 types of agency mentioned above. Buyer agency and seller agency are topics for another day. But I do spend some time when meeting with new clients or first time buyers going over the differences between dual and designated agency.
The most important thing to understand is that agency relationships are between the “broker” and the client, not agent and client. So while we as agents ARE the one with the relationship, the legal agreement is between broker and client. So, understanding that, it becomes a little easier. Dual agency is where the broker AND agent handle both sides of the transaction and to the best of their abilities, represent both the buyer and the seller. When acting as a dual agent, the agent has duties to both and what it boils down to is that they cannot disclose to the purchaser the lowest pri
Coming up for Air!!! 2007-05-30 07:56:42 Whew… the last few weeks have been some of the most hectic for me in the recent past. WAY too many balls in the air at once. Very long days, run into long weeks and pretty soon I realized I’m off the wagon! So, here I am – climbing back on.
For 3 days last week I was with some out of town buyers. I think it must be tough to arrive in a city and within 3 days find your next home and begin the contract process. That’s precisely what happened. But there’s a lot to learn about transacting real estate here in the state of Virginia, and more specifically in Northern Virginia. Even within our region we have differences in how contracts are handled, negotiated, etc… This particular one happened to be for a property out in Lansdowne on the Potomac, in Leesburg – a pretty far jog from Arlington!
Anyway, there are a few nuances about real estate here in Virginia. First of all, it’s a buyer bew
Some Interesting Market Statistics 2007-05-23 07:24:04 Hello there — Yes, I’ve been MIA for a few days… it’s called buried in work and taking care of clients first. That’s a good thing, right?
Yesterday I received an email from MRIS (Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc — our MLS company) indicating the availability of some new reports – I found two of them quite interesting.
This one discusses a recent perspective on the sub prime “mess” as he refers to it — written by NAR chief economist David Lereah.
This one offers a local twist on the housing forecast as it relates to other economic indicators. It’s GREAT local information -but remember, even when looking at the “MRIS Region” – that includes the entire DC Metro area – our housing markets are still very localized as discussed in an earlier post re: the pace of the Arlington housing market – at least for April, 2007.
I’m off and running. Enj Read more:Market
, Statistics
To Inspect or Not? 2007-05-18 08:30:51 One of the questions I get asked a lot is “do I need a home inspection?” Well, MOST of the time the answer is a resounding YES!!! Not only is it an opportunity to uncover possible deficiencies in your prospective new home, but it’s also your chance to learn about your home. Perhaps you’ve never bought a home before? Or perhaps you’ve always had a heat pump and in your new home it’s a gas furnace… Your Home Inspect
or will help you learn all sorts of wonderful things about your home and about home maintenance in general.
With regard to property condition, here in Northern Virginia, our contract stipulates that there will be 6 systems to convey to the purchaser in Normal Working Order: heating systems, cooling systems, plumbing, electrical, appliances and smoke/fire detectors. Aside from those, sellers generally aren’t required to warrant or disclose to a purchaser anything about the condition of th
Arlington Real Estate Sales are HOT HOT HOT 2007-05-17 16:08:35 Wow – I would like to report to you that real estate sales in Arlington
County Virginia for April, 2007 are alive and well!!! April 2007 saw an increase of 16.7% over April 2006. WOW – again, WOW!! We outpaced the entier Northern Virginia region significantly. Overall, the region experienced a 12% decline year over year.
While this is terrifically exciting news – it’s a month… just a month. Our months can swing wildly by one or two big sales or lack thereof. However, not to rain on the parade – this is great news for our local area. I know traffic has picked up and there seems to be a buzz in the air - that’s cool!
So stay tuned in – and if you’re interested in selling your property – give me a call and let’s talk! No time like the present
Happy Thursday!
Jennifer
Tags: arlington+va+real+estate, northern+virginia+real+estate
Read more:Estate
, Sales
Exercise and Ice Cream 2007-06-15 10:05:33 You know what day it is!!! FRIDAY!!! I had so much fun last Friday and apparently my readers did too. Friday Fun is a little new for me, but I thought about how much fun it was and decided to give it another whirl.
About 2 months ago I began an exercise class at 6am — NOT FUN!! It’s boot camp style, with a softer edge to it, though… STILL NOT FUN!! (nice people though, but hey, I’m a REALTOR, not a morning person and NOT an exerciser). So I slog out there, rain, cold, wind (and now HEAT) and drag along my weights, my mat, my water bottle and trot along with everyone else. FUN??? not so much
Here’s the problem… I’ve noticed NO changes! That’s right, NONE. Pants are still snug, scale is still saying the same thing… nothing, nada, zip, zilch, zippo………. NOT ANY FUN AT ALL!!!!!!! (By the way, these abs are what I can only DREAM of! Read more:Exercise
, Cream
Virginia’s Property Owners Association Act (POA) 2007-06-21 03:00:17 In Virginia
, when purchasing property that is governed by a Property Owners
Association OR a Condominium Association, a special rescission period is granted to review the rules. Here’s how it works:
The listing agent or the seller requests what’s called a “resale package” from the management of the association either right when they put a property on the market for sale OR when they receive a contract. Commonly this package includes the covenants, rules & restrictions of living in that community or building, the balance sheet and other financial health related topics, information on any upcoming large expenditures and how they plan to pay for it; information on the existence of and provider for the master insurance policy (typically in a condo) and other such rules. It will also have a 2–4 page summary in the front that will tell the buyer some very important information:
What are the current dues and how often and how they are
Where technology is headed… 2007-06-20 13:42:46 WOW – my dad just sent me a link (now what you need to know is that my dad frequently sends along links with humor, click this to support that, etc&hellip
;) but this is so totally cool I wanted to share it with my friends in cyberspace!
It’s about a technology called surface computing – apparently Microsoft is working on a technology to be made commercially available perhaps by the end of 2007 which will enable various surfaces (think walls, tables, etc) to be manipulated by multiple touch inputs… oh, I can’t describe it very well, so watch this link.
I can see a tremendous use for this sort of technology in the real estate world. Imagine sharing pictures, going over contracts, creating brochures, etc… what will they think of next?
Happy Wednesday
Jennifer Klaussen
Tags: surface+computing, northern+virginia+real+estate
Hooray - it’s SummerTime!! 2007-06-22 07:40:56 This is it - the day parents all over Arlington County have been dreading since last September! Yes, it’s the last day of school!! What’s this got to do with Friday Fun you ask?? Well, my kids would tell you it’s the “funnest” day of the year! For me, it’s a mark in time.
I can’t believe another year has flown by – another set of birthdays, another set of seasons, more shoes and pants outgrown, longer hair, etc… my babies are growing up! Is that fun? Yes and no. It’s fun to see them go through changes and experience things for the first time – but they’re not so little anymore – they certainly don’t fit in my lap anymore. This is even the first year they’ve had their friends all signing their yearbooks! WOW… Not fun that I was lazy in January when it was sign-up time for summer camp. Who can think of summer camp when it’s 6 months away?
So, as we head into the months of hot, lazy days, with absolutely NO structure at all, I will
Build or Buy? Tough Choices 2007-06-26 21:32:33 This seems to be a favorite topic of discussion these days around Arlington. I hear about it of course with clients, but it’s discussed around the office, at cocktail parties, school functions, etc. Whenever I meet someone I don’t know, at least half the time this conversation rolls around.
The typical story is “we’ve outgrown our house and we can’t decide whether we want to add on/renovate or whether it’s just better to buy new.” And so it goes. The problem is it’s a tough question to answer as it really depends on one’s family situation, cash flow, assets, equity, etc…
From a personal perspective, when we purchased our current home we purposely looked for a good footprint in a good neighborhood that we could live in immediately but was ripe for renovation. We found just that, lived in it for a year as we got to know the space and light, then we bit the bullet, moved out and experien Read more:Build
, Tough
Virginia Sellers may pay HIGHER TAX RATE later this year… 2007-06-25 16:39:11 Yep, it’s pretty much a done deal – not “officially” but the word I’m hearing is that the Northern Virginia
Transportation Authority has all but put pen to paper to pass the bill that will allow local authorities to increase the sellers grantor’s tax from what’s now $1/$1000 of sales price to a whopping $5/$1000 of sales price. WOW!!!!!!! That’s a five-fold increase and a cost that sits squarely on the sellers shoulders. In practice, this means that selling a property worth $500,000 today would incur $500 in Grantor’s tax – after the increase takes effect, it will rise to $2,500!!! Holy guacamole – that’s HUGE!
They will vote at their next meeting, which is to be July 12. The effective date they’re saying is uncertain, but we’ve been lead to believe that it will take effect on or about September 1st. Of course, there are other increases (for example, increa Read more:Sellers
, later
, hellip
How’s your Health? 2007-07-02 07:50:43 Yes, today we’re talking about health. Had a checkup lately? Have you visited your family doctor? Well, all that might be interesting, but I’m talking about your financial health. YES, have you had a checkup lately? Seen your practitioner?
There are a few basic things one should do especially if preparing to enter into a real estate transaction anytime soon:
Run Your Credit
You are given the opportunity once each year to run your credit “free” so to speak. Click here to read a great article on the process, how it works, where and whom to contact, etc…
Address any Credit Issues with a Plan
Sometimes your credit report will reveal things you’re completely unaware of. You might find that a credit card or account you thought you “closed” years ago is actually still active with the company even though there have been no charges in a very long time and the cards have been long c Read more:Health
Friday Fun — Lines around the block and then some… 2007-06-29 16:41:44
O-K – I was at the mall today for lunch with another REALTOR friend of mine and OH MY GOSH - you’d think the Rolling Stones were coming! Today’s the day - the day the world’s been waiting for! 6.29.07 THE DAY THE APPLE iPHONE IS RELEASED!!!!!!!!!! I hilariously thought I’d be able to just hop on down to the Apple Store after a quick bite to eat and pick one up. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA – the Apple security guys are probably still laughing at me. I tried to take photographs of the insanity, but the mall security came over and had stern words for me &mdash
; did you know it’s “illegal” to take pictures at the mall? They’re worried about their sculptures being stolen&hellip
; keep that in mind the next time you try to take pictures at the mall.
Anyway I digress. This new phone is supposed to be super cool and everything any human ever hoped for – althoug Read more:Friday
, Lines
, block
Interesting Art in Arlington 2007-07-05 17:47:51 There I was… and there “it” was…
A couple of days ago I snuck into a Starbucks for a little treat. I went to a different one than I usually go to – I try to mix it up a bit sometimes. I happened to look across the road and noticed such an interesting piece of art…
This was created by an artist named Jim Sanborn in 1988 for Arlington
County and currently resides in a park on Clarendon Blvd between Clarendon and Courthouse. There are several pieces in this particular park. I just found it so interesting and am trying out some advice by a fellow blogger (if you’re reading, you know who you are) to incorporate more local photographs into my posts. Local interest, they call it…
So, here you have it for today – cool art!
Happy Thursday!
Jennifer
Tags: art+in+Arlington+Virginia, Arlington+virginia+real+estate
Happy 4th of July 2007-07-04 09:58:31 It’s Independence Day! Today I find myself feeling a little more introspective, appreciative for our freedom and ready to have some quality time with my family.
BUT FIRST, I plan to meet up with the boys from Sellsius who are on their Cross Country Bus Tour. It should be loads of fun. Another fellow blogger and I will have lunch with them and I’m sure a good time will be had by all. I can’t wait to see the bus!
Enjoy the day with your families – I plan to!
Jennifer
Read more:Happy
The Apple iPhone comes home to… ME!!!! 2007-07-03 07:46:17 Yes, it’s true – I did it. I couldn’t help myself. My Treo ( which I’ve had a love/hate relationship with since I got it — more HATE than love) had been misbehaving and if you know me, you know I LOVE technology, so I just had to do it. I must admit it’s a rockin’ little thing!
I haven’t even discovered all of it’s talents yet – spent yesterday sync’ing my address book and getting the blue tooth to work, but it’s MINE! MINE ALL MINE! No lines, plenty of help at the Apple
Store in Clarendon! VERY knowledgeable sales folks, and friendly too!
It was a totally different experience than any other phone I’ve ever purchased. After you play around a bit, and talk with the friendly Apple sales folks, you just go up to the counter and say “I want one, please!” And they hand you one (after you fork over a lot of money - because of course you need the blue tooth Read more:comes
, iPhone
, hellip
Arlington VA June Sales - Numbers tell it all… 2007-07-09 18:33:30 Hello all
I have June Sales
numbers to publish – they’re very telling. In most markets I report on (Arlington
condo, Arlington Single Family and Arlington Single Family in 22207) I’m seeing prices flatten. Here’s how things look year to date:
Jan 1 - June 30 — 2006 - 2007 comparison
Units Sold
ASP
DOM
Condo
‘07
854
401K
60
‘06
718
402K
49
SFH
‘07
542
802K
83
‘06
575
814K
47
SFH 22207
‘07
211
975K
89
‘06
200
938K
53
What I find interesting is that we’re still tracking ahead on units sold for both Condos and the single family market in 22207 – total single family units sold are down slightly year over year. As I’ve mentioned before, what’s interesting about this is that we had a busy first half in 2006 and a drop off in the s Read more:Numbers
, hellip
Friday Fun for today is MIA… 2007-07-06 15:25:37 O-K, for those of you expecting a Friday
Fun post today - how about this:
ALL DAY LONG I FORGOT IT WAS FRIDAY. I even forgot to go to my exercise class this morning – YES, it’s TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!
I forgot to write a Friday Fun post. Didn’t put 2 and 2 together until I wrote “Happy Friday” on the bottom of my Blog Tour photos&hellip
; that was fun, but it was Wednesday.
So, I’m a mess – but it IS Friday! So enjoy!
Happy Friday and stay cool….
Jennifer
I guess that “I forgot it was Friday” excuse only works ONE time to miss workout class! But really, this time I DID!!!
Tags: Friday+Fun, Arlington+VA+Realtor
Blog Tour USA Comes to Arlington 2007-07-06 15:10:18 My colleague Scott Montgomery, my husband and I had the distinct pleasure of hosting the Sellsius boys in Arlington
for lunch on July 4th… We had a great lunch, great fun, GREAT food (at Mexicali Blues), great company, etc… We shared a lot of laughs and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. Those guys have some really insightful ideas about the future of real estate, both from a blogging/marketing perspective as well as business structure. What an interesting few hours it was!
Here are a few photos – if you’re a blogger awaiting their arrival – or whether you’re an avid reader, enjoy!
My arrival – hey look at that cool bus…
The bus – check out those faces!
The boys – in full action mode – Rudy behind the camera and Joe - probably blogging away in full form.
The balancing act! Check it out – we got up to 8 to balance and I was sitting right in the strike zone!
My new bud
Open House? Who Benefits? 2007-07-15 17:08:27 So as I sat at my open house today I pondered the age old question of who benefits from an open house? Many sellers believe that open houses are necessary components to a well-rounded marketing plan. I say, “maybe.” The jury’s still out on that. I guess it can’t hurt, but it’s actually a very small number of homes that are sold to a buyer who walked into the open house and decided to purchase that home.
Most of our open house traffic these days comes from 1 of 2 places (maybe a distant 3rd)… 1) signs 2) online ads (CraigsList, etc) or (the distant 3rd) local newspaper ads (and I don’t mean The Washington Post – I mean a publication such as the Sun Gazette). What that potentially means is that the quality of the open house attendee has diminished.
At the open house I hosted today for example, it’s a 1 bedroom condo in Arlington – it’s a great unit, well priced, shows Read more:House
, Benefits
Arlington Condos 2007-07-17 20:46:01 Today I had a great opportunity to show a selection of Arlington
Condos to some new clients of mine – there are so many options in the condo market. We were focused on some of the newer buildings along the Orange Line – we looked at a few units in 1800 Wilson, 1021 Garfield and Lexington Square. Now, let me tell you - the inventory is surprisingly low and (as I’ve said in previous posts) prices are steady, if not higher than I’ve seen lately, at least in this market segment.
It struck me how the buildings are defined by 1) proximity to metro 2) “neighborhood” 3) age of building and 4) building amenities. When we were discussing 1800 Wilson, it was “between 2 metros, near great restaurants like Rhodeside Grill, Red Hot & Blue” etc… Then, 1021 had the distinct benefit of being 2 blocks off of the fabulous Clarendon metro and restaurants/shops, etc… Lexington Square is “nes
Toes — yes, I said TOES 2007-07-20 17:16:45 Yesterday as I sat in a training class my mind began to wander, and I became distracted…. yes, I admit it, I wasn’t really giving the instructor my full and undivided attention. As I looked around the room (around the floor really) I noticed that all of the women sitting around me all expressed themselves through their toes – you know, some had a french pedicure, others dark red, others bright pink, orange, purple, green, blue… so it made me curious and I set out on a mission this morning. I even have a friend who usually has rhinestones on her toes – but not today…
For today’s Friday Fun post I decided to bring my camera along during my full day of work in the real estate world and ask everyone I ran across if I could take a picture of their toes – I got a lot of funny looks - that’s for sure.
Here are all of the toes I was able to capture today. There are people who ONLY allowed me to photograph their t Read more:mdash
Buyer Agency - too vague? 2007-07-19 16:15:17 Today’s topic is sometimes a sticky one – sometimes misunderstood – sometimes abused – but most of the time, it works out wonderfully for all parties involved.
Today I came across some information that really surprised me. I received a referral from another real estate agent this past winter and worked with this particular client for 2 1/2 months to help them find their dream home under a buyer agency representation agreement. During that time, we wrote one contract that didn’t go through due to the presence of a better offer. In my estimation, we looked at somewhere between 50 and 60 homes together. That’s A LOT!!! At the end of those months together, they seemed exhausted and frustrated and decided to take a break - they told me they were renewing their lease for another 6 months and would resume their search thereafter. They thanked me for my diligence, my patience with their schedule and my hard work t Read more:Buyer
, vague
The BIG move… 2007-07-23 09:44:59 Today I am VERY happy! Today Keller Williams Arlington moved into our temporary/permanent space and it feels SO good! You see, we’ve been in temporary space for the last 6 months – a vacated bank building. Yep – vault, drive-through window and all! Last Thursday and Friday, the staff here worked tirelessly to get us up and running for business first thing this morning. WOW – I have a desk again!!! I’m beyond thrilled. I know REALTORS are supposed to be migrant by nature&hellip
; but some of us have routines and patterns. Everything in it’s place and a place for everything. I’m working on that one this morning.
Oh, and why is it temporary/permanent? We’re building out our REAL space, so we’re temporarily being housed on the 11th floor – not bad!
So, if you’re hanging around the Courthouse area – Cosi, California Tortilla, CVS, etc… (even Five Guys is
Knowledge Breeds Success: Credit Scores 2007-07-26 09:35:00 What does that mean? Knowledge
Breeds Success
? Simply put, the more you know, the more you can achieve. Take the example of credit scores. I read an interesting article in the Washington Post yesterday about credit scoring and the benefits of understanding it, and dedicating yourself to making your credit scores better. It said, based on an analysis that Washington Mutual conducted,:
“If all consumers raised their credit scores by 30 points, total savings would exceed $20 BILLION”
That’s pretty powerful, isn’t it? So what can you do? First, KNOW your credit score. It’s easy - the 3 main bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian will provide you with one free report per year. So first, find out where you stand – did you know that a higher credit score can get you a better interest rate on your home loan? Saving you thousands in interest over the life of your loan.
Next, don’t just move debt around, actually work on a plan to pay down or pay off your deb
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