Associate Broker, Long & Foster Real Estate
When Santa Visits Bristow Seems I’ve been a little too lax since 2009 to get a photo of Santa visiting my Bristow neighborhood of Braemar. You certainly get plenty of warning when Santa is coming. The sirens on the firetruck and lead vehicle blare away on the first Saturday in December. This happens for hours Read More …
How Much Did the Seller Pay for the House? When helping buyers find a home to purchase, there will ocassionally come a question when deciding what to offer. How much did the seller pay for the house? This question, to an experienced, top producing Bristow Real Estate Agent, might as well be as relevant as Read More …
What is a Low Appraisal Guarantee? In a fiercely competitive seller’s market, where buyers far outnumber the inventory for sale, buyers are scrambling for ways to make their offers stand out in multiple offer situations. A low appraisal guarantee is one tactic I am seeing buyers using. Low appraisal guarantees are additional down payments that Read More …
Monday, My Favorite Day of the Week When I was a cubicle warrior, commuting into DC and Arlington, I hated Mondays. Friday, of course, was my favorite day of the week then. TGIF is a common phrase, so I was not alone. Something changed in my attitude and weekly outlook when I became a real Read More …
Listing During the Holidays: To Decorate or Not? When someone who celebrates Christmas lists during the holiday season, one of the first questions sellers generally ask is whether they can still decorate their home. It’s a legitimate question and the answer is going to vary based on each agent you ask. Some will tell you Read More …
It’s The Most Wonderful… If you complete that thought with the words, “time of the year,” then you are definitely on my wave length. Today, that tune by Andy Williams is front and center in my mind. We are officially in the Christmas season. Let the hustle and bustle begin. Decorating. Shopping. Baking. It’s all Read More …
Friday After Thanksgiving in Real Estate Back in the days when I worked retail, the Friday after Thanksgiving was a dreadful day. Wake up at the crack of dawn to be in the department store to meet the masses looking for the greatest deals. The customers would be as worn as you, and act out Read More …
Determining Fair Market Value When Making an Offer You found the home you want to make an offer on, but it’s got some areas you would like to improve. How do you go about determining a fair market value offer? The first step to determining fair market value is to look at the closet comparable Read More …
Is It a Bad Thing to Be the First Offer? This afternoon I met with a small group of experienced, local Gainesville/Bristow real estate agents. The topic was business planning for 2021 and exchanging ideas on how to meet new buyers and sellers. And as any agenda with a talkative and opinionated group of professionals, Read More …
Careful Not to Overplay Your Hand The market you WANT to house hunt and negotiate in may be vastly different than the market in which you are ACTUALLY shopping. Case in point is our 2020 Northern Virginia real estate market. With so little on the market, and still plenty of buyer demand, the advantage in Read More …