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

The Best Home Designs in Arlington

The winner of Design Arlington 2009 Awards Program. These designs below are just beautiful. You'll be more impressed when you digging into more details (more like before and after) about their places, here. 

Awards of Excellence

 Fort Scott Residence,
(2765 Fort Scott Drive)

Owners: Michael Reamy and Andres Tremols
Architect: David Jameson Architect, Inc.
Other: Carl Petty Associates, Ltd.Spout Run Residence,
(2758 North Nelson Street)

Owners: David Harris and Elena Sterlin
Architect: David Jameson Architect, Inc.
Others: Added Dimensions, Inc.McGlone Residence,
(4521 32nd Road North)

Owners: William McGlone and Lisa Ruskowski
Architect: Wiedemann Architects, LLC
Others: McNamara Brothers, Inc.; Frank Chow, P.E.ECO-Art,
(Crystal City Water Park)

Sponsor: Crystal City Business Improvement District
Artist: Sergio Martinez
Others: Vornado/Charles E. Smith; Archstone-Smith

Awards of Merit

Flynn/Harless Residence,
(521 North George Mason Drive)

Owners: Eileen Flynn and J. Paul Harless
Architect: Susan Woodward Notkins Architects, PC
Others: Smeda, Inc.; Tony Beale, P.E.; Clark’s Lumber & MillworkHibbitt Residence,
(1028 North Daniel Street)

Owner: Karen Hibbitt
Architect: Moore Architects, PC
Others: GN Contracting; Structural Design Services, PLLC

220 Twentieth,
(220 20th Street South)

Owner: Vornado / Charles E. Smith
Architect: Dorsky Hodgson Parrish Yue
Others: Balfour Beatty; HOK; Hartman Design Group

The Shelton,
(3215 24th Street South)

Owner: AHC, Inc.
Architect: Bonstra Haresign ARCHITECTS
Others: Harkin Builders; Landscape Architect Bureau

The Wooster and The Mercer Lofts,
(1600 Clarendon Boulevard and 1615 North Queen Street)

Owner: Abdo Development, LLC
Architect: Cunningham|Quill Architects
Others: Abdo Construction, LLC; Davis Construction;
Ehlert/Bryan, Inc.; GHT, Ltd.

Kettler Capitals Iceplex,
(609 North Glebe Road)

Owner: Arlington County Board
Architect: Architecture, Inc.
Others: VIKA, Inc.; RTA Group;
Rathegeber Goss Associates

Arlington Arts Center,
(3550 Wilson Boulevard)

Owner: Arlington County Board
Architect: cox graae + spack architects
Others: McMullan & Associates;
Century Engineering, Inc.;
R.C. Fields, Jr. & Associates

[via Arlington County]

Smackdown: Fairfax vs. Montgomery county

In politics, this is what you call opposition research. By looking outside, Montgomery county assigned 2 staffs to do a comparative data report. (Because Fairfax "snatched" a couple of big businesses relocating to the area - I think Hilton is one of them- instead of Montgomery county). The report released by Office of Legislative Oversight Montgomery counties gives Fairfax county the bragging rights for the number of jobs, income, and crime rate. Though, Montgomery county is ahead in terms of percentage of land preserved for open space/ parkland. In terms of population, Fairfax has more population density per square miles, 2,570 persons/sq.mi vs. 1,912 persons/sq.mi for Montgomery.

Comparative data, via Office of Legislative Oversight Montgomery county.

                                                   Montgomery County                 Fairfax County

Land area                                     497 miles                                    395 miles

% of land preserve as open space    38%                                            15%

Population (2008)                         950,980 people                          1,015,302 people

Budget approved FY10                  $4.47 billion                                $4.34 billion

Expenditure per resident               $4,706                                       $4,316

Sources of revenue:

Property tax                                32%                                             57%

Income tax                                  27%                                            none

Other tax                                     7%                                               11%

All non tax revenue                      34%                                              32%

Tax rate:

Residential (per $100 assessed)  from $0.975 to $2.835                from $1.066 to $1.113

Commercial  - ditto                    from $0.975 to $2.835                from $1.176 to $1.443

No. of jobs  (2007)                     654,728                                       855,842

Unemployment                            5.2%                                            4.7%

Housing:

Total housing units                    365,083 units                                393,365 units

Median housing price ('08)         $489,400                                       $523,300

Foreclosure rate                        2.4%                                              3.3%   

Sure, jobs attracted more people to move to Fairfax. Fairfax has 200,000 more jobs than Montgomery! However, there's other things to consider when it comes to choosing where you want to live, work and play. Fairfax spend less per resident as oppose to Montgomery. On the other hand, taxes higher in Montgomery county than Fairfax. What about schools? Oh well.. you can continue digging in the data...       

Read full report, here.

Washington DC's Foreclosure Up 1.7% from 2008

Image via Wikipedia

The second wave of foreclosures? The first wave was because of toxic loans. The second, (I believe) this has something to do with job losses.

The Washington region ranked 48 out of 203 metro areas with 56,347 foreclosure notices in 2009, for a rate of 2.6 percent of housing units. That’s up 1.7 percent from 2008.

The Baltimore area ranked 108 out of 203 metro areas examined in RealtyTrac’s report. There were 15,064 properties that received foreclosure notices in 2009, or nearly 1.4 percent of the region’s housing market, up 27.9 percent from the year before and 88.7 percent from 2007.

[via Washington Business Journal]

Related articles by Zemanta

• Foreclosures Set Record in 2009 (dailyfinance.com)
• Foreclosure Filings: 2009 Not Pretty, 2010 Expected to Be Worse (seekingalpha.com)

Assessment is Not What the House is Worth

Some people mistakenly believed that assessment is the same as appraisal, including my neighbor who came by the other day. He thinks that assessment is appraisal. It is not. It's two different thing. Assessment is what the local government assess of the value of a property based on a formula - for tax purposes. It could be mass appraisal, not independent appraisal, like when you want to get financing from your lender. You get to how much your house is worth, usually after an appraiser is sent out to preview your house, at the request of a lender. If you are selling, lender put the order on behalf of buyer. Based on what the appraiser sees (including improvements), recent comps, the appraisal would then give his/her professional opinion on the value of that property (either use for financing or refinancing).

Though, if we look at the example below, Arlington County's formula for tax assessment is directly linked with how much the house would sell. Assessments are made at 100% of value. However, for some other jurisdictions, like the District of Columbia, it is a different story. DC uses a different formula than Arlington. They use what they call the 'assessment ratio,' which is the assessed value/ sale price ratio. To me, DC's formula it's kind of complicated to figure it out. There's so many different average variations they use. (You can read here for more). The assessment ratio is then used to get to the estimated fair market value.

Here's my interpretation..

Assessment vs. Appraisal

Resources:

District of Columbia FY Assessment Ratio Report

Arlington County Real Estate Assessments

Washington DC-Arlington-Alexandria Foreclosure Rates Up

Data from First American Logic shows that foreclosure rate for the same period for November 2009 was 2.46%, which was an increase of 1.08 percent from 1.38 percent in '08. However, when you look at the REO or bank-owned foreclosure, that measure the percentage of loans not sold at auction but back to the lender, the rate stays flat in '09. What does this tell us? 1) Investors grabbing bank foreclosures left and right, or 2) the loan modification works or 3) bank haven't released much of their inventories (still in the shadow). The trend seems to show that in reached peak in February '09. Then slightly coming down after that.

So, if you have inside knowledge, let me know.  Because HousingWire reports that the big guns (Bank of America, JPM Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Fannie and Freddie) - all suspend foreclosure through the holiday season. The other thing is, there's some 2.4 million foreclosure in the shadow inventory, that is supply of homes that are seriously in delinquent or in the foreclosure process. Look at the data below for DC region. Do we see shadow there?

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC				90+ Day Delinquency Rate	Foreclosure Rate	REO Rate
November 2009				7.71%	2.46%	0.64%
October 2009				7.38%	2.34%	0.65%
September 2009				7.08%	2.23%	0.67%
August 2009				6.73%	2.23%	0.59%
July 2009				6.40%	2.19%	0.60%
June 2009				6.28%	2.16%	0.66%
May 2009				6.08%	2.13%	0.67%
April 2009				5.90%	2.05%	0.67%
March 2009				5.69%	1.90%	0.72%
February 2009				5.62%	1.69%	0.89%

Source: First American CoreLogic.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 4,000 Citigroup Borrowers in Foreclosure Get 30-Day Reprieve (zillow.com)
• Big Banks Repeatedly Bend Home Loan Modification Rules (huffingtonpost.com)
• Citi to suspend foreclosures for 30 days (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• More homeowners get long-term help (money.cnn.com)
• Foreclosure Filings: 2009 Not Pretty, 2010 Expected to Be Worse (seekingalpha.com)
• Record Year for Foreclosures as Unemployment Rises (abcnews.go.com)
• Fannie Mae getting into home rental business (msnbc.msn.com)

EPA Launched Water Sense New Homes

If Energy Star new homes is for new homes that follows the guidelines for energy efficiency. The WaterSense labeled homes is EPA's answer to reducing water consumption. Homes build according to EPA's specs use less water. And with installing Energy Star appliances, these homes get to consume twenty percent less water than a typical homes. According to EPA, the WaterSense homes save about 10,000 gallons of water every year. Translate that to the money you would save annually (not counting the use of less water, thus save the environment).

Via EPA.

WaterSense labeled new homes are designed to reduce residential water use indoors, as well as outdoors, compared to typical new homes—allowing you and your family to enjoy all the comforts of home while using less water and energy, and spending less money on utility bills.

WaterSense labeled new homes help families save an average of 10,000 gallons of water and at least $100 on utility costs each year by including WaterSense labeled plumbing fixtures, an efficient hot water delivery system, water-efficient landscape design, and other water- and energy-efficient features.

We may have to wait (awhile) before we see new WaterSense labeled homes build for this area. Mind you...there's been 'only' one built in Northern Virginia, so far. However, for those who are interested in going forward. Go for it. It pays to save water. The incentive is there.

US Home Prices Slashed 12% in December

Trulia, that has been tracking price reduction trends, has some interesting stats to look at. As of December 1, 2009, 22% of homes on the market have experienced at least one price reduction. December price reduction is the lowest for the year. The total amount slashed dropped from $28.1 billion to $24.7 billion.

Speaking of good deals, the one major city that held the record for higher percentage price reductions for two months in a row, is Minneapolis. 40% of listings have seen price reduction in any way and fashion. Arlington, Virginia, have 28% of increase in price reduction.

Looking for deals? Here are the areas, in our neighborhoods, with price reductions (as of today):

• Washington DC: 1,070 properties
• Arlington: 200 properties
• Fairfax: 131 properties
• Alexandria: 388 properties
• Falls Church: 124 properties
• Manassas: 76 properties
• Springfield: 69 properties

The luxury homes market, homes over $2 million, still have not bounced back yet. Sellers continue to offer their listings at an average of 14% price cut vs. 10% for homes under $2M. And the number represents 26% of all listings that have seen price cut.

More stats, here.

Live Chat: BRAC- Arlington and Beyond

We'll begin this chat at about 12:30pm. 17,000 employees will be relocated out of Arlington county, which will be the biggest lost ever for the region. Will talk with Arlington BRAC team to hear what the county is doing to replace some of the jobs and how it's going to impact DC region. The BRAC team will be here to answer any questions you have about the transition. So come and join the conversation.

Foreclosures to Drop in 2010

Oh well, this has been happening (for a while) over here, in Washington DC region. I'd be so surprised if these days, you put a contract to buy foreclosure, with "no" competition from other buyers! Via MarketWatch Real Estate Weekly. 

A University of Michigan researcher is predicting that foreclosures will begin to fall next year, dropping from 2.75 million in 2009 to about 1.75 million in 2010 and 2011.

They will decline to less than an annual 1.5 million by 2012, said Dennis Capozza, professor of finance and real estate at Michigan's Ross School of Business. The drop in foreclosures will be due to better national and local economic conditions, including a strengthening economy, slower house-price depreciation and tighter underwriting of mortgages, he said.

Home Remodeling Payback 2009-2010

Remodeling magazine just released its 22nd annual Remodeling Cost vs. Value report for 2009-2010. Conventional thinking would have thought that remodeling kitchen and bathroom still offers the best value, right? Not anymore. It's the other part outside and inside the house that offers better return for your money. The greatest return of this year's cost vs. value reportedly come from curb appeal, outside your house projects.

Seven out of top 10 high-yielding value, are exterior projects, that cost under $15,000 and yet offer the best return. The driver: recession. It's the economy. Many homeowners have decided to scale back their projects and be frugal. Another reason for the popularity is the tax credits for energy-efficiency upgrades, like roof, windows, etc. (more on energy-efficiency tax credits). Most buyers wouldn't mind paying a bit more for new and energy-efficient windows.

The best bang-for-your-buck: entry door replacement (steel). This is where cheaper is better. The job cost $1,172 on average, however, the resale value of $1,470 recoup 128.9% of your investment. If you replace your entry door with fiberglass door, instead of steel, it doesn't offer you the same return. Not only the product cost more than double at an ave. of $3,490, it only recoup half of (steel) for a mere 65.2% return on your money. Not bad. But not the best investment for the money.

Here are the top 10 mid-range remodeling projects. (in bracket shows cost recoup):

1. Entry door replacement steel (128.9%)
2. Attic bedroom (83.1%)
3. Deck addition wood (80.6%)
4. Siding replacement vinyl (79.9%)
5. Minor kitchen remodel (78.3%)
6. Window replacement wood (77.3%)
7. Window replacement vinyl (76.6%)
8. Basement remodel (75.4%)
9. Major kitchen remodel (72.1%)
10. Bathroom remodel (71%)

For our area, Washington DC region, the four value added mid-range projects with great potential, are attic bedroom, backup power generation, basement remodel and roofing replacement. The more expensive projects, even though cost more, the recoup cost is far less than the money spent. In other words, it's not worth it.

For full coverage, go here and here.