It’s 2009 - And our thoughts turn to….
January 5th, 2009 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
selling our homes…. Yes, it’s true. As we move through the fall and into the holiday season, some people have already planned a spring home sale. After all, our spring selling season begins in about 5 weeks! I’ve already gotten calls from past clients and a few inquiries from new prospects who are planning a spring sale and purchase of a new home.
Really, it’s not too early, folks. This is a perfect time to begin the process of cleaning, purging, storing, tidying, etc… so it’s not such an overwhelming process once it is broken down into tiny tasks!
There are some great preliminary tools you can use to see what’s going on in your neighborhood. One of them is right here on my webiste. You can put your address into the sidebar where it says “MLS Market Snapshot” and a report will be generated JUST FOR YOU with local sales and other statistics such as days on market, etc… it’s a cool tool you can start with. It also runs an automatic update every 30 days or so.
Obviously your next move would be to give me a call to get a real pulse on the market - what’s going on? what can you expect? what sorts of things do you need to do in order to get the most out of your home sale? what type of marketing is important? etc…
Depending on who you listen to, we expect 2009 to be a vibrant real estate market. As you know from my recent posts, homes continue to sell, with those that are properly priced still moving rather quickly - certainly inside of 30 days.
So if you are one of those individuals, couples or families contemplating a move in 2009, I would welcome the opportunity to earn your business.
Happy Monday
Jennifer
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Happy New Year - Goodbye 2008, HELLO 2009!!!
December 31st, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Reston Dirt
I just want to wish all my readers, friends, clients and colleagues a very Happy New Year!
Have a safe night (I’ll be playing Wii on my couch) and let’s all look forward to an amazing 2009!
Best
Jennifer
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Colonial Village 2008 - A Year in Review
December 30th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Condos, Arlington Dirt, Market Stats, Neighborhoods, Northern Virginia Home Buying, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
I thought this might be a good time to go over some sales statistics from 
some of the larger and more popular buildings, developments and neighborhoods in Arlington Virginia for 2008. Since I have previously written about Colonial Village, I thought it a good place to start.
Looking back at the condo sales in Colonial Village for 2008, there have been 24 units sold (settled) since January 1, 2008 which is 17 1–bedroom units and 7 2–bedroom units. Let’s first look at the 1–bedroom stats:
Average sales Price: $276K (highest was $286K, lowest was $239K)
Average (net) Sales Price as a percentage of list: 96%
Average seller subsidy: $5,000 (so expect about 2%)
Average Days on Market: 36 (however, the median was only 16 since there was 1 unit that took 196 days to sell)
Then - for the 2–bedroom stats:
Average Sales Price: $343K (highest was $364K, lowest was $315K)
Average (net) Sales Price as a percentage of list: 95%
Average Seller Subsidy: $3,700 (so relatively less than for the 1–bedroom units)
Average Days on Market: 44
As for right now, there are 6 1–bedroom units on the active market listed between $265K-$292K. There is only 1 2–bedroom unit currently available and it’s listed for $349K.
If you are interested in learning more about Colonial Village as a place to live OR if you’re interested in listing your home there, please give me a call to discuss.
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! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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Does the Real Estate Market REALLY shut down in December?
December 29th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats, Northern Virginia Home Buying, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
So here I sit, Christmas was last week and I hope everyone has enjoyed a
little down-time with family and friends. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or some other holiday, I hope you’ve had a chance to decompress a little bit - I have! But now is the time I look towards 2009 with excitement and a renewed energy – meanwhile, I’ve been wondering – does the real estate market REALLY shut down in December? So I did a little research…
Other than erratic blog writing, I’m not really sure I could have quantified what the real estate market does in December. Anecdotally, we’ve always said “there won’t be any new listings between Thanksgiving and New Year’s” and we say “nothing’s happening” and perhaps those are all excuses. Here’s what I learned…
Fact 1 - there were actually 39 BRAND new listings from December 15, 2008 through this moment. (compare that with 187 total in November and 278 total for October and so forth, so yes, it’s a relatively small percentage, but hey – there ARE actually NEW listings!)
Fact 2 – there were 23 contracts ratified between December 20 and December 26. That’s amazing!
So, (remember I said I did a “little” research) from this I can conclude that there are still new listings coming on the market and there are still buyers writing contracts. While we’re not seeing the volume of a typical spring month – I wouldn’t expect that. Considering my expectations were pretty close to nil, I would say we’re doing OK!
January is a great time for new beginnings. If you’d like to discuss your upcoming real estate needs, buying or selling, please give me a call. 2009 is going to be a GREAT year!
Happy Monday
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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A Whole Lotta Stats - November 2008 in Arlington County Virginia
December 22nd, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats
I pulled these stats together last week and it only just dawned on me today that I never reported them. So here we go - hold on because there’s a lot to report today.
First, November of 2008 is almost exactly on track with November 2007 – the condo sales were a little slower, but all in all, with the financial meltdown that we’re going through - to see the numbers by comparison is very comforting. Here’s what we saw in Arlington for November 2008 home and condo sales:
to see how this compares with last year:
Pretty close, huh? Condos, as I said, are off - especially in what closed in November of this year – but all in all, I’d say we’re doing OK! Even our absorption rates look good:
Now, I’ve also been reporting to you on contracts written. It’s been interesting looking at this activity as it compares with weekly news – bailouts, interest rate changes, etc… For the week of 12/6–12/12 there were only 20 contracts ratified – I would say that’s about what I would expect as the year winds down, etc… but for LAST WEEK… as of now (and I usually wait until Tuesday or Wednesday) we’ve got 31 already recorded. I think that’s a direct result of the interest rate drop we’ve seen lately.
These are exciting times to be in the real estate market – whether you’re a seller, a buyer or an agent, like me, we continue to put one foot in front of the other and move along. It’s definitely not all gloom and doom out there in the real world. As always if you’d like to discuss it further, please don’t hesitate to give me a ring…
Happy Monday!
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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7 Helpful Hints for Selling Your Home in the Winter
December 10th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
Being a seller this time of the year is a lot different. It’s DARK early, it’s 
COLD, it’s SNOWY or ICY, it’s DREARY… c’mon, who would choose this time of year to sell? Well, let’s see if we can accomplish a few things - 1) Let’s create a welcoming environment to get your house sold and 2) Let’s see about turning negatives into positives.
So here we go
WINTER HOME SELLING TIP #1
Keep the heat on. If you have zoned heating, or usually keep a part of your home closed off to save on heating bills, I would strongly urge you to re-consider. You don’t want a buyer to be hurried off before they’re done looking because of the chill in your home. Also, if you usually keep a part closed off, or the vents closed, don’t do that now! You don’t want a prospective buyer to think there’s a problem with your heating system. No amount of savings is worth missing your buyer.
WINTER HOME SELLING TIP #2
Keep your outdoor spaces free of snow and ice. Look at the photo below (provided by google images)
![Snowhome2[1]](http://www.thearlingtondirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/snowhome21-small.jpg)
As an agent, when I approach this home to show it to my buyers, I CAN’T EVEN GET UP THE FRONT WALK!!! c’mon - make it easy to show, make it SAFE for you and any liability you may face from someone slipping on your front walk or your deck… Keep your shovel and some Ice Melt handy and clear off those outdoor spaces…
WINTER HOME SELLING TIP #3
Turn your lights on. Now I know this isn’t always practical when you leave your home in the morning to know if someone will be showing it or not; but come up with a basic set of lights that will welcome any prospective buyer and help them find their way through your warm and well-lit home. The more the better.
WINTER HOME SELLING TIP #4
Keep rugs by the doors for your lookers to wipe their feet. You may have a sign by the front door to please remove their shoes - but what if they want to walk out on the deck, or in the backyard, or around the house. To protect your floors/carpets AND as a courtesy, pick up a few inexpensive rugs at Target and make it EASY for that buyer to look around!
WINTER HOME SELLING TIP #5
Think about warm holiday/winter scents: gingerbread, pine, mulled cider spices, etc… Perhaps you could use a small bowl of potpourri or a small scented candle to introduce these scents. Don’t overwhelm someone, but they can add to the ambiance you’ve already created with the lights and warmth.
WINTER HOME SELLING TIP #6
If you know you’ll be having a showing at a specific time (perhaps it’s noon and you know someone will be coming by at 2pm) consider leaving on a gas fireplace - you know, one of the sealed ones. If it’s safe and for a short period, you can really add to the setting you’re creating. I would NOT recommend leaving a wood burning fire going or an un-sealed gas log situation.
WINTER HOME SELLING TIP #7
Don’t neglect the outside - there are plenty of plants that thrive throughout the winter - there are some beautiful winter cabbages and such that you can plant to keep your outside looking fresh and seasonal as much as your inside. Talk to your local nursery if you are having trouble coming up with ideas.
The most important thing to remember is that if there are buyers out there in the cold, wet, dark, dreary conditions - the likelihood is that they NEED to buy something. Make every showing count and you will be glad you did!
If you want to talk about listing your home for sale, don’t automatically put it off until spring. Call today to chat about it and we can figure it out together.
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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Interest Rates are FALLING - What does that mean to ME?
December 9th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Northern Virginia Real Estate Finance, Real Estate 101, Reston Dirt
So it seems that everyone’s fixated on interest rates – even people who are not considering buying or selling real estate - it’s a popular water cooler subject, for sure! People ask me about rates all the time and the reality is 
that I rarely give a straight answer (good strategy, huh?) 
The reason I don’t answer those questions is the answer is: “it depends”
It depends on the applicant’s credit scores, the amount of down payment they have, the program they are choosing, the lender and/or investor that will purchase their loan, etc…
Having said all of that, I wanted to take you through a real scenario of what falling interest rates could mean TO YOU as a buyer.
SCENARIO:
Let’s say you want to buy a home and you spoke with a lender to get “pre-approved” a few months ago. They would have taken your salary history, debt information, run your credit scores, etc… and let’s say they qualified you to purchase a home for $400,000 and you have $80,000 to put towards a down payment making your loan for $320,000 - with me so far?
Let’s assume that a few months ago, the interest rate quoted was 6.5% – (for the sake of keeping things simple, let’s not add any sort of loan origination fee or points into the discussion, however, please remember it’s an important point to evaluate when selecting your lender). Let’s also assume that it’s a straight, fully amortized loan (not interest only).
So your payment (without adding in taxes and insurance) which includes principal and interest would come to $2,022.62.
So we chat and we go out looking for homes and perhaps you travel for a month and you get back last week and call me up to discuss resuming your search… guess what – (assumption here) now interest rates are 5.5% and your new estimated payment on that same loan is now $1,816.92.
WOW - this means a savings of just over $200/month. You’re SO EXCITED.
The other solution would be that if you were really within your comfort zone at $2,022, at TODAY’s rate, that amounts to a loan value of $356,227 - so your PURCHASE POWER has increased by over $36,000 and now you could write an offer on a property upwards of $435K and it would cost THE SAME as it would have a few short months ago… cool, huh?
What’s the downside? Well, if rates rise, it all happens in reverse - so when you were once approved for $400K, perhaps now it’s only $365K… that hurts.
Many lenders will offer what they call a “float down” option to allow you to take advantage of ONE rate drop during the time you’re waiting to go to settlement - that’s an excellent offering, if they have it.
Bottom line is ask a lot of questions and if you’re in the home buying process, pay attention. Be sure you are working with the BEST lender you can – it’s not all about the rate (although reading this article you’d think it was) but it’s also about costs and service. Do your homework and find someone who is truly interested in your positive outcome! It will be well worth your time invested up front!
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! And remember, spring is RIGHT around the corner!
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Local Blogger goes AWOL - she’s BAAAAAAACK!
December 8th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats
Hello all… time to catch up! I’ve been super busy the last few weeks or so – Thanksgiving came and went and I hope you all had a very special Thanksgiving. We do have so much to be thankful for and these days, with the entire world as we know it seeming to implode at every turn, it’s nice to pause and be thankful for what we have… friends, family, jobs, homes, etc…
So speaking of homes, I thought today, for my first post back after my brief hiatus I would bring you up to speed on contract writing, lest you think I haven’t been keeping up - here are the numbers for the past few weeks:
I reported last week’s a little early and they could bump up a contract or two, but really, for it being Thanksgiving week, I think it’s pretty solid. It says that we are still out there selling houses, putting one foot in front of the other, through holidays, cold, etc…
As is typical this time of year, there aren’t a tremendous amount of new listings coming on the market, but there are some wonderful buys out there. So, whether you’re contemplating selling or buying, I say press on…
Happy Monday!
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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Confidence in the Real Estate Market is Building in Arlington Virginia
November 18th, 2008 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats, Northern Virginia Home Buying, Northern Virginia Home Selling, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt
OK, so if you’re a regular reader, you’ve figured out by now that each week I will report to you the number of contracts written/ratified for the previous week – I am here to tell you, we had a big week last week!
Yes, that’s right! 46 contracts were ratified last week - with 1 exception, that’s the biggest week we’ve had since August (we did have a week late September/early October when we had 47). There were about as many single family homes as condos with a few townhouses and duplexes tossed in – there were properties that sold in 1 day, and in fact 6 sold un under a week, and 11 sold in under 2 weeks. There was actually one condo that had been on the market a total of 1,289 days. YIKES… I would NOT want to be that owner or agent!
If you’d like to discuss placing your home on the market OR if you’re thinking of beginning a search, I’d love to hear from you.
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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Georgetown Cupcake Scores BIG with ME!
November 12th, 2008 Categories: Area Attractions, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia News, Northern Virginia Real Estate Dirt, Reston Dirt
I got home last night after a long day and found that my family had gone on a little adventure to surprise me with one of my favorite treats – CUPCAKES! You see, The Washington Post recently ran an article proclaiming Georgetown Cupcakes Chocolate Ganache cupcake to be the local #1 cupcake! That day they had a huge spread in the paper and my daughter and I drooled over every picture putting them all in order that we’d like to try them. I’m a baker by hobby so I can appreciate all of the work put in and also what a difference fresh, natural ingredients makes to the end product!
So, back to last night - I got home to find an adorable bright pink box with a cool brown swirly sticker on it, sitting on the kitchen counter… oh my… it was filled with the most delicious looking cupcakes you’ve ever seen – not too big, not too small, not too fancy, not too weird… perfect in every way.
I sampled the mocha (chocolate bottom w/mocha frosting and a chocolate covered espresso bean) and finally settled on the Vanilla Squared (vanilla cupcake w/vanilla frosting - what a surprise!). I enjoyed every bite.
Georgetown Cupcakes hasn’t even been open a year and yet they sell between 3,000 and 4,000 cupcakes EACH DAY! Here’s the line my family stood in JUST FOR ME:
They bought a half dozen for $15 and I can’t wait to go home today to sample some more! They are well worth the 20 minute wait in line and the $2.50. It will now be a personal goal to sample each and every one - then I can report to you MY personal favorite. So STAY TUNED..
Meanwhile, if you’d like to discuss real estate (or cupcakes) feel free to call anytime. I look forward to hearing from you.
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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