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Fairfax County Real Estate – How is the market?

December 6 by Marina Brito

How is the Fairfax County Real Estate market?

Local fruit is fresh - like Real Estate news should be: fresh and local

Local fruit is fresh. Like the Fairfax County Real Estate stats are: local and fresh

The other day, I was chatting with a Realtor® friend of mine who lives on the West Coast, and we were talking about each of our housing markets. As expected, our markets are very different, but it’s hard to really know what’s going on in each market from what the national media reports.

Without our chat, I would have not known that her market was up significantly from last year and that it was well on its way to recover from the housing bubble of a few years back.

Real Estate is local

As they say, real estate is a very local matter, and unless we review the local statistics, it’s difficult to get the real picture. Even reading the “Washington area real estate news” is not local enough. As you know, the Washington DC area is comprised of a few counties in Maryland, a few counties in Virginia, plus Washington, D.C. – so it’s not quite local enough for getting an accurate picture.

So, when my Realtor ® friend asked me: Has the Fairfax County Real Estate Market recovered from the housing bubble of a few years back? I chose to answer her question with this article.

Let’s analyze the local stats (i.e. just the Fairfax County Real Estate market).

On this analysis, we’ll focus on the previous 5 years of activity in the Fairfax County Real Estate Market, and we’ll look at:

Average sold prices,
Average Days on Market, and
Inventory vs. Closed Sales

Let’s get started: Continue Reading…

Best Fairfax County High Schools – Ultimate Ranking (2011-2012)

November 29 by Marina Brito

Finding The Best Schools among Fairfax County High Schools is tough. Should you use SAT scores? Or SOLs? How about using The Ultimate Ranking?

Choosing The Best Schools is a very personal thing – like choosing a running shoe

Do you like your running shoes cushioned, or minimalistic? Or do you choose by them by color? Most people, before they choose their running shoes, they research ratings to help them get a more objective point of view on which the best ones might be.

Choosing a school is like choosing a running shoe

Choosing among Fairfax County High Schools is a matter of personal preference (like choosing shoes)

Like when choosing a shoe, choosing the best school requires research

Are you partial to large schools with lots of resources, or are you more comfortable with small, community-fostering schools? Or perhaps there is a sport program that is of the utmost importance to your selection. Or a foreign language.

Regardless of personal preference, most people research to find the best schools first and then narrow down their choice based on their special program requirements.

And what they mean by best schools is, generally, using some kind of rating or score to compare the schools using an objective measure.

Choosing the best school using scores can be helpful… sometimes

Choosing one score to use to find “the best school” can be tricky, especially when comparing Fairfax County high schools. Should you use the average SAT scores by school? Or perhaps the Standards of Learning (SOLs)? Or, maybe The Washington Post’s Challenge Index®?

In the past several weeks, we have published Fairfax County high schools rankings using these scoring methods.

And the feedback has been quite positive – except that, when faced with more than one ranking, it’s difficult again to compare them all and come up with the simple answer to: “What are theBest Fairfax County High Schools?” Continue Reading…

Fairfax County High School Rankings: IB vs AP

November 15 by Marina Brito

When choosing a high school, either for a current high-schooler or for the future, there are several considerations. One consideration which is in almost every parent’s mind is: How good is the school?

And, well, “good” is quite a subjective measure

But when they say “good”, most parents are referring to how much their children will be challenged to reach their highest potential.

Children love to be challenged

One way to ensure that children have the opportunity to be challenged is by attending a high school offering a high-level program of courses. Two of those programs are the Advanced Placement program (AP), and the International Baccalaureate (IB). Continue Reading…

No Buyer Agent? “Squish like grape”

November 8 by Marina Brito

One of my favorite movies from when I was growing up is “The Karate Kid”. And my favorite scene is when Mr. Miyagi says to Daniel-san:

Walk on road, hm?

Walk left side, safe.

Walk right side, safe.

Walk middle, sooner or later [makes squish gesture] get squish just like grape.

Stay safe with a Buyer Agent

When you want to buy a home, you have a couple of choices: you can have your own Buyer Agent working on your side (safe); or you can fend for yourself while the agent works against you (not so safe)… or something in between (squish like grape).

But before we get into the details, let’s figure out what does “Agency Representation” mean.

Representation is about protecting your interests

In this case, it’s about protecting your interests as a buyer. As a buyer, what kind of interests might you have? For example, your interests as a buyer are usually along these lines: Continue Reading…

Three facts about the upcoming 3.8% tax

November 1 by Marina Brito

Today is the “Day of the Dead” in Mexico where people honor their dead. And Benjamin Franklin once said: “…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” And speaking of taxes, several clients have asked me recently about how the new 3.8% tax will affect them when they sell their home.

“…nothing is said to be certain, except death and taxes.” – Ben Franklin

First, let’s see where this 3.8% tax is coming from

The 3.8% tax is part of the Health Care Reform Act, which passed in 2010. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), this tax isn’t very well known because it was added at the last minute onto the law and it wasn’t considered in hearings.

However, this tax is now starting to be a concern to some people because it will go into effect in 2013.

Now, let’s see what this tax is and what it is not: Continue Reading…