U r b a n T r e k k e r

8 Steps to Revitalizing Your Home

Thinking about revitalizing your home sometime soon? The next question that comes to mind usually is - "but.. where do I start?"  With all the stuffs accumulated over the years, de-cluttering  our home sounds like a great idea  but we know that it won't be easy. This is the area where most of us can use experts' advice or help. Because - many times we would let ourselves get tangled in the process of keeping our stuffs intead of.. giving them away! Unless, we are getting ready to put our house in the market, this is not something that we would do right away.

Here's a start -  8 steps to revitalizing your home from "168 Ways to De-Clutter Your Home" by Lilian Too, a world renowned Feng Shui expert.

Happy Thanksgiving

I thought this is funny - from Dave Barry's blog.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!

   

     

Real Estate Notes

OLD TOWN FAIRFAX REDEVELOPMENT
A couple of days ago, on my way to my broadcasting class, I drove by pass the site of Old Post office in Fairfax City. Yes, I'm taking broadcasting in case you're wondering. The site where post office building used to be - is vanished from the face of the earth! Actually, what happened was they tore the building  down sometime this year as part of the City's revitalization program. This is how the City envisioned how they plan to revitalize it.

On two parcels of land owned by the city -- the former Post Office site and a parking lot on North Street and Old Lee Highway -- a development team headed by Trammell Crow is the city's development partner. On the site of the former post office building, the developers will build 92,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 43,000 square feet of office condominiums, with a public plaza in the middle of the buildings. This site also will have a 700-space public parking garage.

read more....

Walk Arlington

When people think about Northern Virginia, they almost always associated it with the "burbs", outside DC suburbs that is. Not Arlington though. With Metro Line stop in places that wrap around in and out Arlington County, it has made Arlington the new showcase of urban living outside DC.

What is a WalkArlington?

WALKArlington is an initiative of Arlington County, Virginia - where people have many options for moving about their community.

Ultimately, WALKArlington is an effort to build on an existing partnership between Arlington citizens, businesses and County staff to encourage more people to walk more often.

How's the Market?

The question I am most frequently asked is - "How is the market?" The second one is - "Is it a good time?" to what - buy or sell. A lot of times I have to ask follow-up questions, just to be sure they get the right answers.

With regards to the direction of the market, I am optimistic. I believe  Metro DC area will see another great year in real estate in 2005!

Here are some of the facts for Washington DC area, so you can get an idea of where the real estate market is heading next year.

Our local economy is doing much better than the rest of the country.

According to Dr. Stephen Fuller from George Mason University on where the economy has been and where it is going, both nationally and in our neck of the woods. The Washington D.C. area boasts the lowest unemployment rate (at 3.4 percent) of any major metropolitan area in the country. In Fairfax County alone, unemployment is 2.4 percent. The second lowest unemployment rate in a major metropolitan area is 5.2 percent in Boston - more than 1½ percent higher than D.C.