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Up or Down? How will our real estate market be in 2016?

January 8 by Marina Brito

Did you know that several Redskins players are amazingly frugal?

Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins, the Redskins’ quarterback, drives an old van because he likes to be frugal.

Kirk Cousins, the quarterback, drives an old van that used to belong to his grandparents.

Other players who make millions of dollars per year share 2-bedroom apartments with friends, ride their bikes to practice or drive their 1990’s college cars to work.

These players say that it makes sense to be frugal because while they are making pretty good money now, they never know when their income is going to change and they are going to go from enjoying the good times to dealing with the bad times.

The real estate market also reminds us that there are good times and bad times.

At the moment, we are enjoying a good time in Fairfax County

Not so long ago, in 2008, we went through a bit of a rough patch. Thankfully, it didn’t last very long and now we have been on a good patch for a while.

How long will this good patch last?

Nobody really knows, but so far, the last few months and the current market status point to a continuation of a strong market.

Let’s quantify this strong market…

Where are we in relation to the “market crash” of 2008?

Continue Reading…

Did you know? Yes, we are REALTORs®

February 6 by Marina Brito

We are REALTORs®

Yes, we are REALTORs® !

Yes! We are REALTORs®.

  • We can help you buy a home by school boundary

Recently, we had a few subscribers tell us that they weren’t aware that we could help them buy a home.

They were delighted to have found this website “a rich, unique resource” (in their own words), and then go through the frustration and disappointment of buying a home with an agent who didn’t speak the Home by School language.

We were disappointed to have lost their business too.  So we asked them what we could have done better to make us both happy.

They suggested we make our services more obvious

See, our style has been “friendly and low pressure” communication, hoping to earn your trust before we ask for your business or for your referrals.

But these nice people said that there is too much going on in their busy lives, and that they needed clear, effective communication from the start.

Hence this post.  We’re going to be as clear as possible. I hope that you don’t find us “pushy” or “self touting”.

Yes, we are a team of Realtors®, and we can help you!

Continue Reading…

Happy Thanksgiving & Black Friday Deals!

November 27 by Marina Brito

Once again, we’ve made another trip around the Sun and we find ourselves in holiday season.

This is a great season to be thankful, to enjoy family and friends, and… to buy a home!  (I bet you didn’t think I’d end the sentence with “buy a home”, eh?)

Well, yes!  This is a great season to buy a home

Call it Black Friday, Black Month, Black Season deals, or something else, but the point is that the end of the year is the best time to buy a home for the best price.

Active Listings Oct 2014

Active Listings Oct 2014

If you have been following this blog for a while, you might have noticed that we have a post announcing the best time to buy a home every year at about this time. This is one of our previous posts:  Fairfax County Real Estate – When is the best time to buy?.

And even though this year also promises good deals to be had, this year things are slightly different.

This year is an even better time to buy a home!

Here’s why:

Continue Reading…

To build, or not to build?

June 2 by Marina Brito

Mandy and Sid have been looking for the right home. They know the specific school boundary that they want to live in, but homes in their price range aren’t exactly what they have in mind.

Sketch of the elevation of a home

To build, or not to build onto an existing home?

So they are thinking about buying a smaller home that they can improve to meet their needs.

Mandy and Sid want a four bedroom home

They want their home to have at least 2,500 sf of living area, plus a 2-car garage, and a large family room. But homes of that size and characteristics are over their budget.

Instead, they are wondering if it makes sense to buy a small, 1950’s rambler on a good-size lot that is for sale and turn it onto their “dream home”.

They’d like to either build a new home from scratch or use the existing foundation and add on to the footprint, plus add a second story.

What goes into improving an existing home or building a new home?

To keep it simple, a purchaser would buy a small home in a large-enough lot, hire a builder to design and build the new home, and after a few months, move into their dream home.

How much would a dream home cost?

Continue Reading…

Why check into the registered offenders database

May 2 by Marina Brito

Imagine buying your dream home, at the perfect price, in the perfect location.  And once you move in and meet the neighbors, they politely mention to keep your kids away from your next door neighbor. But why?

Do your homework before you buy a home

Do your homework before you buy a home

Well, he’s a registered offender.

What???!!!

How come nobody told you about this when you were first looking at the home?

Why do you find out about this issue now when you can’t do much about it? (Other than putting up your new home for sale?)

And shouldn’t the seller of the home have disclosed this fact?

Surely there must have been some wrong-doing here! Well, maybe. But most likely, no. Continue Reading…

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