How Updated School Boundaries Can Save You 15%

November 22 by Marina Brito

Yay! You have found the perfect dress for your upcoming holiday party.  As you get ready to check out, you pull out your 15% off coupon.

The perfect purchase - at 15% off!

The perfect purchase – at 15% off!

“Where did you get that 15% off coupon?!”, says the nice lady who is standing behind you.

“I got the coupon in the mail”, you say.  (She probably got one too, but she didn’t look for it.)

Doesn’t it feel great to have the right information at the right time?

When you’re buying a home by school boundary, it pays to be well informed too.

For example, let’s look at how the recently approved boundary changes (the Fairfax-Lanier study approved earlier this year*) can save you 15%:

Continue Reading…

3 Mistakes to Avoid when Buying a Home by School

November 8 by Marina Brito

The first time that I made pancakes, they turned out like hockey pucks. And then I wished I had welcomed my Mom’s advice on how to make fluffy, golden pancakes… Listening to her would have saved me from some key mistakes!

Pancakes

Follow good advice to avoid non-fluffy pancakes

Buying a home is certainly a lot more important than making pancakes, and I hope that the following pointers will help you avoid 3 of the most common mistakes people make when buying a home by school: Continue Reading…

How to tame the Halloween sweetness monster

October 25 by Marina Brito

Shakespeare once wrote: “Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?”

Halloween candy is the perfect example of a good thing

When I was a kid, Halloween candy was a perfect example of too much of a good thing.   After going Trick-or-Treating,  I could only eat a few pieces of candy before they all tasted the same to me: too sweet.

So my friends and I experimented with ways to enjoy our candy without growing tired of it.

Taming the sweetness monster

We started with balancing the sweetness of our candy with not-so sweet elements that would make the sweetness of every piece of candy pop as if it were the first one.

Experimenting with other flavors

In one experiment, we added salty elements.  Have you ever tried a salty pretzel or a little cheese right before a piece of candy? Yum…

Here is a really fun Halloween-inspired treat with a bite of pretzel and a little cheese (via CocinandoConCatman):

Salty Pretzel and Cheese Broomsticks

Salty Pretzel and Cheese Broomsticks

Other times, we added a little bit of a tangy flavor to a piece of chocolate by taking a bite of fruit with it… (my favorite!)

Aren’t these fruit-filled jack-o-lanterns the cutest? Continue Reading…

METRO: Top boundaries for commuting to DC

October 18 by Marina Brito

Jenny is a successful attorney who works in Downtown Washington, D.C.  Her son, Max, is getting ready to enter 1st grade and she would like him to be in the best school possible.

Jenny also wants to have the shortest commute time since she wants to help Max with his homework every evening.

DC METRO map of stations in Virginia

Map of the Washington D.C. METRO rail

Max and Jenny have decided to live near the METRO, so that she can ride it every day to work.

What is the METRO?

The METRO is Washington D.C.’s rapid transit system, which connects Washington D.C. with parts of its suburbs.  In Virginia, there are four lines that service Fairfax County.

The METRO’s existing lines in Fairfax County are: Continue Reading…

How to buy a home while selling another (without going crazy)

October 11 by Marina Brito

Which came first, the chicken, or the egg?

What comes first: the chicken, or the egg?

What comes first: buying or selling?

When you are buying a home, and you have another home to sell, you’ll find yourself in the “chicken or egg” predicament:

  • Should you buy first, and then sell?  or,
  • Should you sell first, and then buy?
Many people sell a home and buy a new one, so it shouldn’t be too complicated…

And it isn’t complicated, especially if you know the options that you have at your disposal. Let’s look at the first option: buying first Continue Reading…

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