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

GreenIt Workshop

Arlington County's Department of Environmental Services is hosting a series of free workshops in the Spring to help you make environmentally-friendly choices for home, office and community.

Check this out. 

Download Calendar GreenIt Arlington

 

What Agent?

There was a time (when I was active) everyone I know seems to know "someone" who is in real estate. Mom, friend, niece, nephew, relative.. all sorts of relationship labels. Just because you know this person via a person close to you, doesn't mean that this agent is good for you.

So how can you tell if your agent is right for you? Washington Post Express got it down to a few things important when you're looking for someone to represent you (buying or selling).

• Patience and personality.
• Demeanor is a huge part of what makes an agent great (or awful)
• Good communication skills, an encyclopedic knowledge of the area, self motivation, honesty and tech savvy.
• Driven
• Not afraid to tell the truth 
• Not self-serving
• Personal touch
• And more here. 

In this day and age of Internet and social media, "agents use of online tools is more important than certifications they have," says Jon Heithaus, CMO of Metropolitan Regional Information System.

What you say?

Read more.

A Realtor Who Heads a Non-Profit Serving the Homeless

MEET ROBERT PAXTON

Rob doubles up his gig as a Realtor and head of Safe Haven, a non-profit organization based in Falls Church. Rob hangs his real estate hat at Long & Foster's Annandale office. 

I first met Rob at a volunteer event hosted by a mutual friend of ours, in Reston. In our conversation, he mentioned that he works for this non-profit that serves meals for the poor. It just so coincidence that in my sparetime, I sometimes do volunteer work (outside my political activism) for organizations that serve meals for the poor/homeless. But in that capacity, I had never really seen the faces because most of the time we work behind-the-scene, until... last week.

So I decided to pay a visit to his organization last week.

On weekdays, Rob is wearing the hat as the Director for Safe Haven, "a non-profit day shelter that provides food and comfort to the hungry and homeless in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County," according to their website. Safe Haven is falls under the umbrella of First Christian Church of Falls Church. (He didn't tell much about his real estate business. We talk most of the time around the organization he works for).

Safe Haven was founded 10 years ago by Bill LaLiberte who decided at the age of 83 that he wanted to do something for the area homeless with the help of his church.

While waiting for Rob to finished up his meeting, I talked to Erin McKenney, who works as his assistant. At the time, Erin and a volunteer were working the table registering and counting how many people actually showed up that day for breakfast and lunch.

She told me that day they have at least 100+ people. "We have 153 people show up today," she says. People would come and go. "Sometime you see the same people come to the site, sometime they would come one day and never show up again."

Safe Haven serves meals (breakfast and lunch) on Thursdays for most months of the year. However, during the cold winter months they add another day - Tuesdays - to the schedule. 

Rob came to Safe Haven from another non-profit gig he had not far from where his office is now, where he taught financial literacy to the low income (mostly unemployed). He's been with the organization since mid 2010.

On the menu was pasta, salad, and cakes for dessert. So after they served the homeless, we - the volunteers and us - got to taste the food for lunch. Yum! The quality of the food was really good. The salad was fresh. With the exception of cakes, think the salad and pasta were prepared by volunteers from scratch - at Safe Haven's kitchen.

"One day, one of my friends who I haven't seen in 20 years, read about what I do now from Washington Post - and sent us a check - which was enough to feed them for 6 months!" Rob says. Every month, volunteers from different churches in the area come to help them out - whether working the kitchen, washing dishes or serving meals. There's usually one week a month that Safe Haven have to provide the meals upon themselves. 

In addition to working to help the homeless, Rob also loves to help homeless animals. He saved his then someone's dog from a foreclosed home. 

Rob would like to see next year - budget permitted - that Safe Haven expands their services into job training in addition to the ESL (English as a Second Language) that recently was added to the program. "People just need jobs. They want to work," he says. For him to expand their services into job training, they would need to pump up funding from private donations. Because right now, the small grants they received from the County covers only expenses for staffing up the program. There's no funding to cover the job training program yet.

If you want to help, donate and/or volunteer, you can reach them via their website http://www.fccfc.org/index.cfm?page=history-ministry. You can also find them on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Safe-Haven/193058304041713 

WISH LIST for Safe Haven

Here is the list that was put together by one of the volunteers. You can drop your donation off at Safe Haven, 6165 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church - Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 3pm.

 A Day at Safe Haven (pictures)

How to Save Money on Renovation

SPONSORED POST

Thinking about remodeling your home? In today’s housing environment, whether you are buying or selling, a renovation may be the key to substantially increasing your home’s value. And the difference between this home or that other home – if you’re on the market to buy.

You've got the option to fix up the outside of your home, the inside or both. You can also have a small makeover project that can “wow” people like changing fixtures, painting or updating lighting. Or do a large scale project that include complete kitchen or bathroom remodels, the addition of hard wood flooring or the finishing of a basement area. Whatever you decide.

Here is the challenge. Renovation planning can be time consuming, confusing and overwhelming, it requires careful planning with a financial and time management budget. Chain stores with limit stock options can lead to long waits and delays in renovation projects. Driving from store to store searching for the perfect price and checking ever changing stock can be a waste of time when homeowners have options like a Direct Buy membership.

Why Direct Buy membership makes “cents?”

Direct Buy Membership offers one stop shopping in a local showroom or online at directbuy.com at prices up to 50% off retail. Direct Buy membership gives members access to over 1 million products at direct from the manufacturer prices.

Direct Buy uses its member’s collective buying power to purchase merchandise at wholesale prices then passes that savings along to its members. Direct Buy members have the ability to choose from a wide variety of merchandise from flooring, fixtures and cabinets to jewelry and furniture. Direct Buy reviews praise this innovated and simple way to shop at greatly discounted rates. Direct Buy Reviews also found Direct Buy’s no pressure sales force friendly and knowledgeable. 

 

Online Fine Properties Fair Oct. 18-19

Shopping for your next second-home property? Here's an idea for you. The Economist's Online Fairs business just annouced that they will host an online event that showcase listings that represents a unique collection of the world's most exclusive properties. You can check these properties out from the comfort of your home. How cool is that?

From ski homes, to golf estates to urban luxury living, the Fine Properties Fair offers attendees access to important information about global vacation second-homes in top locations like the Carribean, Florida, Central America, Europe, Australia, Canada, and more. In addition to browsing real estate listings, visitors can also meet online with real estate experts participating in the event. Visitors can join webminars focused on trends on international real estate investment.

If you haven't attended virtual event, think of it like going to an exhibition except instead of real booths you have virtual booths, where you can participate in whatever activities they have on there.

Realtors can benefit from this kind of luxury properties Fair. Who knows your client is interested in buying their second, third homes - internationally?

"Purchasing high-end real estate is never an easy decision," said Isaac Showman, Vice-President and head of Online Fairs. "The Fine Properties Fair provides all of the information potential buyers might need to make an informed decision and does so in just one place."

Fine Properties Fair is going to be held on October 18-19.

Check it out. You can log in from anywhere in the world and register for FREE at Fine Properties Fair.

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Disclosure: Urban Trekker is partipating in the information network.

Streets of Arlington: Clarendon

When you have a camera and wandering around the neighborhood, this is what you get. Pictures of streets in Clarendon.

This BMW Comes with the House

By: Jeff Leighton

 

Here's your opportunity! The most recent renovation done by Fine Metro Homes is a massive 3 level almost 3000 square foot Wardman style row house that is priced under $500k. And a 2011 BMW 328i 2 year lease is included for an acceptable contract. 

The house has undergone substantial renovations to make the interior space more open as well as installing a new kitchen and bathrooms.  The living room alone is large enough to test drive your new BMW and the basement was even finished to provide another living area with a full bathroom and walkout.  

This property is located within a mile of 2 metro stops from Brookland-CUA and Rhode Island Ave- Brentwood.  It also includes a parking space in the back of the house as well as street parking.  

Walk score: 69.

Listing information

MRIS: DC7614426

17 Evarts St. NE, Washington DC

Price: $459,000

5BR, 3.5Ba, 3 levels

See the full gallery on Posterous

You can find more details on the property, here.

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Fine Metro Homes is a residential and commercial investment company founded by David Maier and Jeff Leighton who specialize in rehabbing DC area properties and acquiring commercial buildings. Please visit our website at www.finemetrohomes.com and drop us a line.

Posted via email from urbantrekker's streaming

Green Building Makes Dollars and Sense

by: Guest blogger

Let’s start with some facts: On average, incorporating green building practices into a new building will increase upfront costs by 2%. Green building practices are shown conservatively to yield savings 10x the amount of the initial investment assuming a 20 year building lifecycle. See 134 page report The Cost and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings.

Now for some math: If you build a $300,000 home, you could make it green for an initial investment of $6,000. $6,000 x 10 = $60,000 over 20 years. $60,000/20 = $3,000 in the first year. That’s 1/2 the initial investment.

Some notes about the above numbers: Those figures do not include other proven correlated effects such as comfort, health, and productivity benefits. Some of you financial whizzes out there may also say “What about the discount rate? What is the Net Present Value of that $60,000?” Unlike future cash flows you might see in an annuity, these figures are based on monthly savings on water, energy, waste, etc. I have made the reasonable assumption that theses costs will grow at minimum by our inflation rate though I think it more likely that energy costs will outpace inflation possibly yielding more than a $60,000 saving. The initial study was conducted in California in 2003.

Now for the commentary: Green building practices don’t care where you fall on political spectrum; they are simply more efficient with your resources. Despite the obvious benefits only 17% of new homes built in 2007 were even energy star compliant according to USA Today. So the real question is why aren’t more people building green? Hoffman and Henn proposed that “presumed associations” and the “mythical fixed-pie” are to blame and I would tend to agree with them. Moreover these issues extend beyond homebuyers to all people involved the homebuilding process from real estate agents to contractors.

Presumed associations are a proven tendency among people to recall likely events more than unlikely events. Simply put, people remember the hippie movement in the 1970s with the ugly homes with weird building materials and naturally assume that the green alternative is similar and undesirable.

The mythical fixed-pie is another proven tendency among people to believe that because something is better it automatically must have a disadvantage to accompany it. Essentially, people think that because green is desirable and better for the environment that they will bear the cost of that benefit. As shown above that clearly isn’t the case.

So what do we do? People in general and people involved in the homebuilding process especially have a responsibility to educate themselves on the green (sustainable) building practices. This post isn’t meant to be a manifesto for world change but at the very least it should challenge some of the preconceived notions that we have when it comes to home buying , building, and improving.

//

Michael Little is an MBA, CFA, CDPE and real estate agent in the Minneapolis area and owner of the Michael Little Housing Group a group dedicated to honesty and integrity in real estate. You can visit his website to learn more at Minneapolis homes for sale.

Posted via email from urbantrekker's streaming

How is the (Housing) Market?

“How is the market?” That’s usually the first intro question that anyone I’d met in my past career life as a Realtor, would ask me. Listening to what agents have told me, at the present time, there is a shortage of supply.

According to the new report by Delta Associates and MRIS (Metropolitan Regional Systems), the Mid-Atlantic housing market showed signs of moderate recovery. No housing boom yet. But it’s moving. Via Washington Post.

Sales volume was up 9 percent over the same time a year ago, and prices ticked up 3.3 percent. The average home spent 71 days on the market, down from 110 days during the first quarter last year -- the shortest time since 2006.

First American Logic reports that home prices in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, including sales of foreclosed homes (also known as distressed properties), increased by 4.48 percent in February 2010 compared to the same period last year.

REPORTS FOR NORTHERN VIRGINIA and WASHINGTON DC

NVAR (Northern Virginia Association of Realtors) region – Arlington and Fairfax counties:

The total number of homes sold in March up by 4.62 percent from 1,384 to 1,448 homes. Average days on market dropped from 89 days to 52 days. Homes for sale currently under contract (for the same period) increased by 12.49% from 2,306 in 2009 to 2,594 in 2010. That brings to year-to-date sales price of $429,605, up from $385,285 or 11.5%.

Among the three types of dwellings – single family, townhouse and condo – sales of condos actually improved a lot in March, it’s up from 385 to 446 units.

Here’s why we have shortage in the market, via NVAR.

• total number of active listings drop 10.37% from 8,096 to 7,232 homes for sale.
• inventory of homes falls 14.33% for number of months supply 4.99 months.

GCAAR (Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors) – Washington DC:

SINGLE FAMILY HOME

Total number of single family homes sold in March up 49.5% from 204 to 305 units, which brings the year-to-date sales of 742 units up 39.2 from last year at 533 homes. However, the average sales price have been trending down. In 2009, average sales was $551,236. March 2010, the average sales price was $487,648, a drop of 11.5%. Ditto for median sales: from $408,000 to $335,000 or 17.89%. [via GCCAR]

 
 via: GCAAR

Homes for sale supply up 11.7% from 599 units to 669 units. In comparison to last year, single family homes supply on a year-to-date basis drop by 30.6%. This is the same situation Northern Virginia faced: shortage of supply.

CONDOMINIUM

The number of condominium sold up 19.2% from 172 to 205 condos. What’s striking is the number of condos under contract: it’s up 58.5% from 248 to 395 units. Year to date data showed an increase of under contract condos up 40.3%, from 590 to 828 units.

Sales price stay flat at $408,000- $409,000 level. Even median price shows not much of a drop around $350,000- ish. [via GCCAR]

Condos supply for DC paint a different picture than single family homes, because supply is actually trending up.

THE FORECAST

This is the forecast per Center for Regional Analysis (CRA), George Mason for up to June 2011.

TAKEAWAYS:

For buyers still on the sideline, waiting for something perfect to come. Nothing perfect will ever come. You’re the only one who can make your house perfect! Yes, YOU.

With regards to the right price, the one thing that I learned from the day of peddling mutual funds and stocks, home prices will always fluctuate. No one has control over it. So you will have to trust your gut and move forward. Take the plunge.

That’s my take.

How about you? What have you heard about the housing market lately? If you’re buying, what's your experience been?

Technorati Tags: housing market,business,current affairs,washington dc,northern virginia,arlington,fairfax,homes for sale,first time buyers

Urban (City) vs. Suburban Living (in Pictures)

Images speak louder than words. Here are some pictures I took recently in DC and Arlington East Falls Church neighborhood. You can see the striking difference between urban (city) living and living in the DC suburb like Arlington. I took the pictures of the streets in Arlington's East Falls Church and Dupont Circle at the same day. 

At EFC streets, you don't see that many people as on the streets of Northwest DC in downtown, Dupont Circle and George Washington University. Living in the city have its advantage: people, walkability to stores, easy access to public transportation, etc. In the suburb of DC like Arlington, unless you're really close to the center of - along orange line metro in Arlington - there's practically not much going on around your neighborhood. People seldom walk. Walk means exercise. Other than that, they drive. (I'm guilty of it, too). 

What do we have here in our hood? The closest stores we have around our neighborhood in North Arlington (a mile from EFC metro), is CVS, 7/11, a Chinese restaurant, a deli and a few other mom and pop stores.. that offer basic services.

That's the suburb for you.

A side note: the pictures you see below are mixed with some old pictures I've taken from around Rosslyn neighborhood in Arlington. I have taken like thousands of neighborhoods pictures in Northern Virginia and Washington DC, but just haven't had the chance to upload them. I'll add more sets when I have time. 

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