Arlington Dirt
Giving Back
July 28th, 2010 Categories: Arlington Dirt
In October, I will be participating in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Light The Night Walk. Light The Night is the nation’s night to pay tribute and bring hope to people battling cancer.
I’m raising money to support the fight against blood cancer. The funds I raise for Light The Night will help find better treatments and cures for blood cancers so patients can live better, longer lives. You can join me in the fight by making a donation or by registering for the Walk and fundraising.
The Walks take place in the evening and walkers carry illuminated balloons — white for patients and survivors, red for supporters, and gold for those who have lost their battle to blood cancer. Anyone can take part — children, adults and seniors are welcome! It’s a casual fundraising event with music, food and fun prior to the Walk. It’s an amazing night! The Northern Virginia Light The Night Walk will take place on Saturday, October 2 at the Reston Town Center. To learn more go to www.lightthenight.org/nca.
Please join the fight by making a donation through my fundraising page. Just go tohttp://pages.lightthenight.org/nca/Reston10/jklaussen to make a secure, tax-deductible donation to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Any amount donated will help to make a difference in the lives of those affected by blood cancer. Your generosity is appreciated!
Please feel free to forward my request to your friends and family. The more people we have joining the fight, the closer we are to finding a cure!
Thanks for your help!
Jennifer Klaussen
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Arlington Virginia Real Estate is LOCAL
July 14th, 2010 Categories: Arlington Dirt
So I was looking to do a little local online advertising and was perusing who of
my colleagues are currently using this particular service which is geared towards a market segment that would be relocating to the Arlington Virginia area. As I scrolled through the listings I didn’t see ONE SINGLE AGENT from Arlington listed – they were all from Manassas, Purcellville, Gainesville, Woodbridge and the likes. Now don’t get me wrong those are lovely areas – but I would bet that they are not experts in Arlington Virginia Real Estate – what say you?
It made me think, are we doing our prospective new clients (you, the readers) a disservice by advertising ourselves in areas we’re really not well equipped to service? I wouldn’t DREAM of advertising my services to a town 35 miles away from where I live and work… perhaps if I lived in a rural county and there were 3 or 4 towns I would understand. But really there’s enough right here in my own back yard to keep me busy.
I guess the bottom line of my message today is if you are researching an area you are planning to relocate to, and you stumble upon a great agent via their blog or Facebook page or Twitter or even a referral from a friend, figure out where they sell real estate – it really is local (I would even call it hyper-local) and you would be best served by hiring a local resource – as for me, I list and sell mainly in Arlington and the immediately surrounding areas of McLean, Alexandria, Falls Church, Vienna and Reston. If you’re thinking of buying and selling in one of these communities, give me a ring and let’s talk!
Happy Thursday
Jennifer
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Condo Focus – Lexington Square 2010 style
July 12th, 2010 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Condos, Market Stats
As most of you know, the Lexington Square condo complex between Ballston and Virginia Square is one of my favorites. Not just because we lived there once, but it just seems to have it all! Great location, great pool, exercise room, grilling area, decent street parking, etc!
So I thought I’d give you a brief rundown of the activity in the Lexington Square complex so far in 2010…
So far this year there have been 17 closed sales compared with only 10 by this date in 2009!! They are summarized as follows:
4 – 1br units have closed between $324K-$348K
4 – 1br/den units have closed between $375K-$389K
7 – 2br/2ba units have closed between $415K-$435K
1 – 2br/2ba/den unit has closed at $520K
2 – 3br/2ba units have closed for $695K and $755K respectively
Currently there are only 2 active units: a 1 bedroom unit listed for $339K and a 3br unit listed for $759K… there are also 2 under contract, both 2br units listed between $425-$430K
This is a fantastic building – nicely managed with great amenities in a wonderful location. If you have any questions about living here please don’t hesitate to call. I have helped clients buy, sell and rent in this great complex and I’ll look forward to helping you, too!
Happy Monday!
Jennifer
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The Arlington Virginia Housing Market – 1st Half 2010
July 10th, 2010 Categories: Arlington Dirt, Market Stats
As you might suspect, I get asked a lot “How’s the Market?” and if you’ve heard me answer before, it’s usually “it depends.” With the craziness we’ve been experienced, I’m not even exactly sure myself of the true answer to this question most of the time…
We still have unprecedented, historically low interest rates. It’s beyond me why everyone considering buying doesn’t do so RIGHT NOW! With low interest rates, the dollar stretches so much farther! But for the purposes of this article, actually, that’s neither here nor there.
With the tax credit of 2009 and the last minute extension into 2010, we have artificially messed with the proper order of the world – so who really knows?? I have some data for you in 6 month chunks going back to 2007. Here’s how the single family market has been behaving the last 3 1/2 years:
Crazy, isn’t it? 2008 was a terrible year for units sold – and certainly 2008 moving into the early part of 2009 saw longer days on market than we’d seen in a number of years as well. As for pricing, we’ve stayed fairly flat for the last 2 1/2 years seeing the lows in the 2nd half of 2009… I sure would like to believe we’ve stabilized and are heading back up – but I’d like to know why the numbers are what they are – is it truly that prices are down? Or is it that through the tax credit, we encouraged primarily first time buyers to get busy and for the most part, they are not purchasing $1M+ properties… thus perhaps stimulating the lower end of the single family market? And you know, that will make it appear that prices are trending downward, when perhaps it’s not true at all?? Just a theory.
Let’s look at the same data for the Arlington condo sales market:
Following the trends I outlined above, 2008 was a terrible year – units were down and we saw prices eventually going into 2009 below the $400K mark. Also during 2008 the Days on Market were trending up with the tax credit of 2009/2010 perhaps now affecting days on market as well as unit sales?
In the end, I’m really not sure what’s spurring market activity – but I can tell you anecdotally it has been trailing off. We still have inventory issues – right now we only have 264 single family homes for sale in Arlington; we only have 420 condos for sale. Those are low low low!!! But with these interest rates, potential buyers would be foolish not to get themselves into the market before rates go up. There just are no two ways about it.
If you’d like to explore your buying options, please don’t hesitate to call. We’re never too busy to help our new clients (and past clients and referrals and anyone else who shows up on our doorstep with real estate needs) navigate through the process of home buying, selling or both!
Happy Saturday
Jennifer
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