Archive for May, 2008
Happy Memorial Day
May 26th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria Dirt, Arlington Dirt, Falls Church Dirt, McLean 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, 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://thearlingtondirt.com/files/2008/05/the-dating-game1-small1.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, McLean Dirt, Northern Virginia Basics, 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, Home Buying, Home Selling, McLean Dirt, 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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