Associate Broker, Long & Foster Real Estate
Many have opted to sit out the process of buying a home in 2023 and 2024 due to higher mortgage interest rates, the thought being that they will enter the market when rates come down. What those buyers are not considering is the other buyers that will also be entering the market when, and if, Read More ...
Selling a home can be a stressful process. How we live is not how we sell. Home owners usually know their properties need polishing, but may not know how much. From the moment I meet future sellers I help them evaluate the projects they should be taking on prior to listing, and just as importantly, Read More ...
The Impression Your Home Makes When Listed Walking into a beautifully staged home, where it is obvious that a professional stager with a large inventory of items at their disposal has prepped the home is a lovely sight. However, not all staging is about modern furnishings. Particularly when you are staging a home in the Read More …
Are Buyers Still Out Looking for Homes? This afternoon I met with nervous, soon-to-be home sellers. They were curious if the latest orders surrounding the pandemic precautions by Governor Northam in Virginia had slowed down buyers from house hunting. I’m sure they are not the only future home sellers wondering this. For starters, the initial Read More …
Should a Seller Ever Consider a Pre-Settlement Occupancy Agreement? Ask any well trained, professional listing agent with experience under their belt what they think of a pre-settlement occupancy agreement and I would bet that nearly all of them would be adamantly against pre-settlement occupancy. Let’s pause here for a moment and I’ll explain what pre-settlement Read More …
A Very Happy December Buyer In August I received a call from our corporate relocation department. They were assigning a relocating buyer to me that had fired her first agent. That situation can be a bit intimidating to walk into, but I forged ahead. I’m often the second agent buyers have had. Either agents are Read More …
Communication is the Key to a Smooth Deal If there is one common denominator to a deal where parties lose trust in one another, is it lack of communication. In real estate deals, communication is the key to success. There can be bumps in the road, but waiting until the eleventh hour to disclose the Read More …
Proof I Was Born Trustworthy What does a picture of an empty bedroom have to do with me being trustworthy? Well, it all begins with the story of where this picture was taken. Today, while visiting the neighborhood where I grew up, I stopped and knocked on the door of our next door neighbor. Miss Read More …
Fun with Staging Whenever I meet with Bristow and Gainesville home sellers about listing their home, staging is a subject that inevitably comes up. Staging isn’t about emptying the entire contents of your home and putting in rental furniture, though some sellers seem to think that is what staging entails. Staging starts with editing the Read More …
Temporary Housing For sellers in a seller’s market, the only downside to selling is knowing where they will live next. For sellers that have sold and then bought in the same market, whether a move up or downsize, they are likely facing the same conditions that made selling so attractive: That’s a hard market for Read More …
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 …