December Settlements Feel Extra Special

December Settlements Feel Extra Special In mid-October, I was contacted by a couple who were referred to me by friends who had purchased their home with me in June 2021. If you click that link, you will hear the tale of an entirely different buyer experience than what my most recent buyers experienced. Things can Read More …

Why Are So Many Sellers Lowering Their List Prices?

Why Are So Many Sellers Lowering Their List Prices? Summer 2022 saw a shift in buyer behavior, brought on by sharply increasing mortgage interest rates. We had started the year about 3.5% and by late summer, rates had more than doubled. The frenzy to jump into a multiple offer scrum and make above list price Read More …

A Critical Skill for Listing Agents

A Critical Skill for Listing Agents The Northern Virginia real estate market has been so overly seller favored for long enough that it seems there were two misconceptions in the late summer marketplace. 1) Sellers believe that the frenzied buyer behavior of the past two and a half years is a given and that their Read More …

Trading Suburbia for a More Rural Property

Trading Suburbia for a More Rural Property In late July I was contacted by former clients that had sold a townhouse and moved into a single family home in a Bristow HOA community in 2016. The reason for the move back in 2016 was to get more space for a growing family. The prevailing sentiment Read More …

“Was Anyone Ever Murdered or Did Anyone Die Here?”

“Was Anyone Ever Murdered or Did Anyone Die Here?” With Halloween coming up and skeletons seemingly around every corner in October, it is a great time to address a rather macabre subject that ocassionally comes up with buyers as they narrow down their home selection. It happened just this afternoon that a buyer asked, “Was Read More …

Selling a Property With Boundary Issues

Selling a Property With Boundary Issues Having been a licensed real estate agent since 2005, I can tell you that there is a lesson in every transaction. Lessons that can be passed on to other sellers, buyers or even other real estate agents. The sale that closed today on my listing in Manassas is another Read More …

There is More to Consider Than SOLDS

There is More to Consider Than SOLDS The fall real estate market in Northern Virginia is changing, just like leaves on our deciduous trees are undergoing a transformation. Many had become used to the frenzied pace of extreme buyer demand that stormed in during 2020 and lasted through 2021, that had sellers setting record high Read More …

Contract to Close in Six and a Half Months

Contract to Close in Six and a Half Months It is always an honor to help someone who has known me my entire life buy or sell a home. In the case of my buyers who just purchased a brand new home in Carter’s Mill in Haymarket, one of them was actually my fill-in babysitter Read More …

What Good is a Listing Brochure?

What Good is a Listing Brochure? Anyone who has listed with me as a seller or been trained by me as a new agent knows that when it comes to listing brochures, I am not a fan. In an age where the answer to anything lies in the palm of your hand with just a Read More …

When Going Under Contract is Not Immediate

When Going Under Contract is Not Immediate Not every home goes under contract immediately. It is still a seller’s market out there. I have recently negotiated deals from Bristow to Woodstock and last night, Middletown. What is happening in the market is a shift in buyer behavior. They are no longer prone to acting in Read More …