Because my office is there, I do tend to get a lot of questions about McLean, but the 2 I seem to get more than others are:

1.  Can I afford to live there?

and:

2.  Are there ANY types of homes besides MANSIONS?

Let’s begin with the 2nd question – McLean is home to all sorts of property types, from condos to townhomes, from starter homes to TRUE mansions.  There are fabulous contemporaries, wonderful statuesque colonials;  there are craftsman new construction and even a bungalow thrown in here and there.  The condos range from affordable garden style buildings through the luxurious Palladium which was completed a few years ago.  Similarly there are a variety of townhome communities from starter to the very high end and we see those same broad spectrum options in the single family home market too.

As for affordability – McLean is certainly home to many many MANY multi-million dollar homes.  However, with the upper market affected by tumbling values, there can be some great deals!  So here are the ranges:

In the condo market over the last year, we saw a 1bedroom/1 bath sell for as little as $150,000 and it was NOT a foreclosure or short sale!  On the other end of the spectrum, 2009 saw the sale of a 3br/3.5ba 2000+ square foot unit for $1,425,000.

As far as townhomes go, on the low end, we had sales that ranged from $460K for a bank owned townhome in the heart of McLean to $1,275,000.

Now, single family homes – HUGE spread from a low of $325,000 which was basically a lot right on Rt 123 to a whopping $8,250,000 cash deal for a beautiful, one-of-a-kind piece of history.

So affordable?  I would say: yes? no? maybe?  Could you find something to buy that fits your budget?  We’d have to discuss whether your wants/needs line up with what’s available, but one thing’s for sure, I know McLean and there are plenty of opportunities.  Give me a buzz and we can explore it together.

Happy Thursday

Jennifer

And we all know what happened during weeks 6 & 7 (approximately) of 2010 – Snowmageddon!  Snowpocalypse!  and look – we were still averaging in the 40-50 contracts per week!!  It’s great to see that 2010 has started off with a bang – what we need to remember is it’s not a be-all/end-all statement.  last year obviously started out a little slower than 2008, but quickly picked up steam in the spring and never looked back.  We ended last year with a 20% increase over 2008 – so I guess anything can happen but so far, I’m seeing market activity.

On another note – as I peruse the MRIS, (our local MLS) I am also seeing agents putting comments in that are indicating receipt of multiple offers.  But, per my post last week or the week before, prices are still staying moderate due to the financing situation we’re in.  We’ll see how that works itself out.

If you’d like to see more, or perhaps you’d like some research done on your neighborhood please feel free to give me a call.  Remember, this is only for Arlington -

Happy Tuesday!

Jennifer

Yes, you might think this is a wishy-washy answer; you might even think that person is dodging the question…  OR you might even think they don’t know, so they’re covering… Actually, “it depends” is the most accurate answer any savvy real estate agent can give you.  Why?

Well let’s look at some scenarios:

SCENARIO 1 (person asking question bought home in 2007 and has seen a 15% decrease in value; has a 100% financing)

Q:  How’s the market?

A: It’s GREAT – FABULOUS, couldn’t be better! (agent is apparently having a good year)

Q: Really?  So it’s a good time to sell?

A:  Sure is!  Houses are selling like hotcakes!

Can the seller sell his house?  Sure!  The market is pretty active; but will he have a positive outcome?  Only if he has a pile of money in the bank and is willing to pay it to sell his home.

SCENARIO 2 (person asking question wants to buy but has limited cash resources and blemished credit)

Q:  How’s the market?

A: It’s GREAT – FABULOUS, couldn’t be better! (agent is apparently having a good year)

Q: Really?  So it’s a good time to buy?

A:  Sure is!  Rates are low, prices are reasonable – inventory is the biggest problem but if we’re tenacious we can be successful!

Can the buyer buy now?  Maybe, maybe not…

I think I’ve made my point – by saying “it depends” it allows the agent to better understand the perspective from which the inquirer is coming.  This way, they can assimilate all of the market conditions that are applicable to that person’s situation and they can have a more meaningful and relevant conversation.  It’s not that the agent would be trying to sugarcoat or “sell” when answering, but knowing why the person is asking is critical to providing a good answer.

So the next time you ask “How’s the Market?” I hope you’ll find yourself engaged in an intelligent conversation about the market!  Just ask me and I”ll be happy to fill you in!

Happy Friday

Jennifer

1) It starts at the TOP…  Gary Keller has amazing vision and focus… he is PRESENT in the day to day business of the company and he has built a model that works (Of the top dogs in the Real Estate Industry KW was the ONLY company that grew in agent count in 2009, the ONLY company that was profitable and the ONLY company that increased in sides).  I am so proud to be a part of an organization with such an amazing, visionary leader with models and systems in place to be successful in this business.

2) In the last 5 years, Keller Williams has profit shared over $200 MILLION dollars to its agents alone.  This is essentially my retirement plan and I’m thankful to have it.

3) Keller Williams is really a training company for people that happen to hold real estate licenses…  I know, it sounds backwards, but seriously the idea is that if agents are well educated, well trained, well prepared, they will be more successful, with happier clients and make more money.  On a personal note, education and training is near and dear to my heart.  In fact, within our office I chair the committee that focuses on education and agent productivity growth…  nuf said…

4) Keller Williams is a National Brand, in fact, one of the most recognized brand for real estate franchises in the industry according to the Swanepoel TRENDS Report for 2009. Guess what that means?  Referral business from a nationwide source!

5) For all of the reasons stated above, it makes ME a better agent with a great company behind me for my clients.  This makes my clients happy, my co-op agents happy, and even THEIR clients happy a lot of the time!  I like happy – can you tell?

OK, that’s a little insight into my world behind the scenes!  And now back to your regularly scheduled program!

Happy Wednesday

Jennifer

The Escalation Addendum was born…  it was a lot like proxy bidding on eBay!  In it, a buyer would indicate the highest price they were willing to pay in some increment they determined (it was largely a made up number – often catchy…  the house address was a clever gimmick – so for 123 Main Street they may offer $123) over the next higher offer.  That’s obviously an oversimplification, but that’s how it worked.

The second factor was terms.  Buyers would waive home inspection, waive radon inspections, no financing contingencies, waive appraisal and waive even their right to cancel under the Property Owners or Condominium Association acts.  It was NUTS…  and if you were really lucky (although in retrospect, I’m not sure if luck is the phrase I would use…) you would be the winning bidder at some ridiculous price – but even in that hairy scary world, the market was setting the price in it’s odd way.

Flash forward to 2010 – we find ourselves in a low inventory situation and once again, and since history does have a way of repeating itself,  I’m seeing multiple offers crop up once again.  I just had a listing where we had multiple offers after just 3 days on the market.  One of the buyer agents asked me about the escalation addendum and how I felt about it.  What did I say?  ”I LOVE escalation addenda but c’mon – these days they aren’t worth the paper they’re written on”  (this is assuming that price is right to begin with AT or as close to market value as you can get and that all bids are already at asking price)

You see, if a property is priced well, and the market responds with multiple offers, the seller and the listing agent are well aware that they still have a MAJOR hurdle to jump over to get to settlement – it’s the bank!  It HAS to appraise.  Very few people in this day and age are willing to waive ANYTHING much less their appraisal contingency.  So we find ourselves with banks artificially suppressing home values.  You see – the market determines the price for a house – you know that, right?  Not the seller, not even the buyer really – but a negotiated outcome between what the buyer is willing to pay and the seller is willing to accept.  If the “market” is increasing the value because of a housing shortage and increased affordability due to low interest rates – guess what – prices CANNOT rise because the banks control the appraisals and thus the pricing.

So the bottom line is this: if you find yourself in a multiple offer situation here in 2010 you will HAVE to get creative to set yourself apart from the competition.  It’s likely that offers will be largely identical with a few places for deviance…  so get creative, make sure your agent is a go-getter, well schooled in creative offer writing and presentation.  If you’re a seller, you may likely have all of your wishes come true (oh, except for a higher price).

If you’re thinking of jumping in, give me a call – I have the experience and creativity to guide buyers through the process.  If you’re a seller, I can help position your property in the best way for the best possible outcome!

Happy Tuesday

Jennifer

Hi, My name is __________! I’ve been reading your blog and I love it, it’s been so helpful.  I’d like to meet with you about my upcoming home sale/purchase.  Can we meet this weekend?

OK – Those are the BEST!!!  I LOVE those calls.  And for those of you who WERE one of those calls for me, I thank you!!  I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

So, bear with me for a moment and think about this – what if I had been BAD? What if I was not as thorough as I am?  Or what if I wasn’t as experienced as I am? OR What if you didn’t LIKE ME??  Or,what if I passed you off to a team member when that wasn’t what you’d prefer?  There are so many things that can go wrong and, listen up, just because someone writes about real estate, or local restaurants or events, or just because someone follows statistics  doesn’t make them the best fit for you nor does it necessarily make them the self-declared expert.

Now I know you’re thinking this is odd coming from me; but I’ve seen so many people pretending to be something they’re not;  pretending they’re more experienced than the next guy;  pretending they’re infinitely more qualified.  they network like crazy and talk a good talk…   Honestly it makes me CRAZY!

So what’s the point?  Do a little homework – ask a few questions – here’s what I’d start out with:

1) how long have you been in business?
2) how many transactions do you handle each year?
3) do you sell real estate full time?
4) how much business do you do in my neighborhood/building/town? (now while this is NOT a deal breaker in my book, if someone is BLOGGING about one town or area and they live 30 miles away… not so sure about this and it would cause me to ask a few more questions)
5) can I speak with a few past clients/references?

There may be more, but you get the drift.  You see, I’m confident in my ability to not only write about my community, but essentially put my money where my mouth is.  I’ll gladly share my experience with you, information about past transactions, where I’ve sold, where I’ve shown, where I’m comfortable and where I’m not.  We will also know after a face-to-face if we click or not – that’s important too!

So give me a try!  Let’s meet, discuss your real estate needs and see if we are a fit!  What have you got to lose?

Happy Friday
Jennifer

If you know me at ALL, you know I can’t turn down a good cupcake… so when I came across @bakeshopva on twitter a few weeks ago, aka Bake Shop, I couldn’t believe my luck that I would be so fortunate as to have a cupcake bakery in my very own backyard!

So I’ve been meaning to stop in, but then there was this pesky snowstorm, then a blizzard… it made it hard to find a moment.  But then came today – I was determined to get down there today and I’m so glad I did.  Bake Shop is located in the Zoso building in Clarendon on Fillmore Street.

I was a little disappointed not to find the white/white cupcakes but I quickly got over it as I admired the beautiful tasty confections they had available; it was a tough choice but I settled on Cookies & Cream and I was NOT disappointed one bit!  (I also drooled over the lemon, the chocolate peanut butter, red velvet… you get the idea – so we brought home all of those flavors to try this evening!).

My son got the chocolate peanut butter so I did get to try it, too!  Everything was delicious!  Also I got some GREAT SCOOP while I was there from the guy who (in his word) makes the coffee!  Bake Shop is featuring local coffee-maker Nick Cho’s new brand Wrecking Ball Coffee.  I brought some home to try!

So all-in-all it was a great afternoon!  Yummy cupcakes, a new coffee find and met some cool new peeps!  I hope to be frequenting Bake Shop often – maybe he’ll let me bake up a batch in his kitchen – now THAT would be cool.

If you’d like to live close to here, here are a few properties close by:

Enjoy – stop in Bake Shop and tell them Jennifer sent you – and if you want to talk real estate, call me anytime!  Maybe we can meet over cupcakes and coffee!  YUM

Happy Tuesday

I’ve written about it before, so for a history lesson, you can click here to read up on an earlier post written more about the history of Colonial Village!

For now, I thought I’d give you the run down on what happened there in 2009 as far as sales…  There are only studios, 1br/1ba and 2br/1 ba units.  (If there are other floorplans I’m completely unaware of them).  There aren’t very many studios and actually in 2009 none traded hands.

The Stats:

A few notables:

*As far as the super high DOM for the 1br units, there were a few anomalies (i.e., units that took forever to sell, for whatever reason I cannot speculate).  But the MEDIAN (see yesterday’s post for the discussion of average vs. median) is only 16.5 – that’s a big difference!

*There was only 1 transaction for a 2br/1ba unit with a subsidy and that was $7,000… generally speaking it is much more common to see the subsidies on the 1br units.

*the Lowest/Highest prices for 1 br units were $248,500 and $298,500 respectively (as an aside, the lowest priced sale at $248K were ORIGINAL owners in Colonial Village and apparently this unit had not seen an update since 1940 – so keep it all in perspective)

*the Lowest/Highest prices for 2 br units were $300,000 and $355,000 respectively.  (The low end in this case was a bank owned property)

So Why is Colonial Village is so great?

1) It is nestled between 2 metro stops – Rosslyn “down the hill” and Courthouse “up the hill”  Take your pick depending on if you want your exercise or not.  If you drive, you’re merely a hop/skip/jump to get on Lee Highway, Rt 66, Rt 50 OR the GW Parkway – so terrific access any way you look at it.

2) For the location, these condos are still very reasonably priced and represent one of the best deals around!

3) They were built in the 1940’s – so they have a lot of the old world charm that many are looking for.

4) The surroundings are beautiful – it’s hilly and beautifully treed & landscaped.  The buildings are generally small and clustered around small courtyards.

5) Most of these units are designed such that they get light on at least 2 sides and some, on 3!

Now they aren’t for everyone – the biggest negative I hear is that they have common area laundry rooms – no in-unit laundry – but this hasn’t been a big deal for the folks I’ve sold to in Colonial Village.

So, as for now… what’s current?  There are only 2 – yes TWO – active listings right now – a studio listed for $220K; and a short sale 1br for $240K.  If you like Colonial Village and you’re thinking of selling; give me a buzz.  Likewise if you think this might be a place you’d like to call home, keep me in mind.  We would need to act quickly as units rarely stick around very long here!

Happy Monday!

Jennifer

So I started thinking about this and why this might be the case…  One thing that bothered me was this blogger was using “packaged” research – meaning it was taken by a 3rd party (who shall also remain nameless), and delivered back in a nice neat package.  I have certainly been attracted to the ease of these 3rd party products, but in this case, I think it was harmful and here’s why…

Let’s look at the Days on Market for the closings that occurred in Arlington County for the past 30 days…

Hmmm, which tells a more accurate story?  Average?  Or Median?   Now let’s look at the closed sales of Single Family Homes for the past 90 days and look at pricing:

Pretty big difference!  There are a few takeaways as far as I’m concerned:

ANOMOLIES

The Arlington County real estate market is chock full of anomolies.  For example, there are 2 bedroom condos that sell for over $2MILLION!  There are new construction single family homes to be built on in-fill lots that are placed in the MLS and listed for sale before the existing home is even torn down; this will have a significant impact on the “Days On Market”.  There are a few listings in excess of $5MILLION – if/when one of these sells, it will skew drastically the sales data!

KNOW YOUR DATA

If you follow a particular trend (such as average sales price) always look for the data in the same format.  However, if you see a number that looks odd, look into WHY…  there’s probably a reason.  Look for it…  Sometimes when I report data I will pull out a listing or two, with explanation, because I feel it skews the data…   You have to be well familiar with the data to do this properly.

HIRE SOMEONE WHO CAN EXPERTLY INTEPRET

So when you go to hire a real estate agent; in my humble opinion, you need to hire someone who not only is familiar with the data, but is well skilled in interpretation.  It’s important to make the best decisions you can when listing your home and/or when making an offer to purchase.  The data can tell many stories, just be sure you have an accurate picture.

I hope I’ve given you something to think about today.  If you’re considering buying or selling, give me a call and we can get started TODAY!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Jennifer

But really, in the early ’90’s when Starbucks began franchising what happened?  They began replacing the local coffee shop, where you knew the guy or gal’s name behind the counter; they knew exactly how you liked your coffee and you were welcome to stay and chat all morning if you liked.   They had the same warm & fuzzy feeling, come in, get comfy, stay as long as you like, and their product was amazingly consistent, but they were pushing out the local independent coffee shop.

Well in a little building on Franklin Road in Lyon Village, right off of Wilson Blvd, you will find that local oasis called The Java Shack.  To me, it was reminiscent of coffee shops I experienced when I lived in California.  Nice lighting, tiny cozy spaces, weathered furniture, great outdoor space (although when I stopped in last week it was sub-freezing) and very friendly guys behind the counter!

I found The Java Shack to be a true local gathering place, just as their sign indicates – free wi-fi is great too!

I know I’ll be having more meetings in this friendly local establishment!

Oh, and if you want to know what’s for sale around this spot:

As always, if you see something that interests you, give me a buzz! I’m always happy to talk with my readers about the local real estate market!

Happy Tuesday

Jennifer