Author: ARLnow.com Sponsor

Just Reduced Properties in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Each week, “Just Reduced” spotlights properties in Arlington County whose price have been cut over the previous week. The market summary is crafted by Arlington Realty, Inc. Maximize your real estate investment with the team by visiting www.arlingtonrealtyinc.com or calling 703-836-6000 today!

Please note: While Arlington Realty, Inc. provides this information for the community, it may not be the listing company of these homes.

Happy Valentine’s Week, lovebirds.

And, if you somehow forgot that V-Day is in only two days, you are incredibly welcome for the reminder!

Whether you totally dig this affection-filled holiday or hate it beyond belief, now is an incredible time to be dedicating a little bit of that love and attention toward real estate.

Okay, so the home of your dreams may not give you a bouquet of roses or a box of heart-shaped candy. But it can prove to be an incredible investment and a major game changer in your quality of life.

If and when you’re tired of writing that landlord of yours a check each month, the team at Arlington Realty Inc. is prepared to help you achieve your home-owning dreams.

Just as in the world of love, there’s much more to it than a simple swipe right. You’ll want a team that truly gets it, has your best interests at heart and the experience to back it up.

And now on to this week’s numbers…

As of February 10, there are 112 detached homes, 15 townhouses and 60 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 6 homes experienced a price reduction in the past week:

Please note that this is solely a selection of Just Reduced properties available in Arlington County. For a complete list of properties within your target budget and specifications, contact Arlington Realty, Inc.

Runners Rejoice! Registration Is Open for the PNC Parkway Classic Road Race April 26

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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Registration is open for the annual PNC Parkway Classic, hosted by Pacers Running.

The event, which draws thousands of runners from around the country, takes place Sunday, April 26 with an 8 a.m. start time.

An immediate favorite since it began in 1984, the PNC Parkway Classic is a rare opportunity for runners of all abilities to realize a dream come true: To run on the wide open pavement of the George Washington Memorial Parkway — no cars! — for 10 miles, 5K, or a family-sized Kids Dash (with a 10:30 a.m. start time).

The 10-mile course begins at historic Mount Vernon Estate; the 5K starts at Oronoco Bay; the Kids Dash kicks off at King Street in Old Town Alexandria. Along the way there are views of the fresh spring bloom aligning both sides of the highway and scenic vistas of the Potomac River which runs parallel to much of the course.

The 10 mile point to point race starts at Mt Vernon Estates and finishes at Oronoco Bay Park in Old Town (free shuttles available from D.C., Arlington and Alexandria). Enjoy the finish line party with Port City Brewing.

Ask Eli: Resale Value of New Construction

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!

Question: We bought a new home in Arlington five years ago and are considering selling, but we’re concerned about the resale value of new homes given the amount of newer homes being built in the market. Do you have any data on how new homes do when they resell for the first time?

Answer: The new/newer construction market is the only Arlington sub-market that is anywhere close to properly supplied, with almost 4.5 months of inventory available (number of homes for sale divided by average sales per month = months of inventory).

Most housing economists say that a market is at balance for buyers and sellers when there is six months of inventory. For comparison, sub-markets like one-and-two-bedroom condos, <$1M detached homes, and townhouses each have between one and three weeks of supply.

New Homes Are Appreciating…

There’s a logical case to be made that when a new home (built within the last decade) gets resold, it will struggle to compete with other brand-new homes given how similar these homes have been over the last ten years, combined with the amount of supply in the market. Fortunately for owners of recently built homes who may sell in the near future, that logic does not prevail and new homes are being sold for more the second time around. 

…But Just A Little

There aren’t a ton of data points yet (most people buying expensive new construction will be there for a long time), but just enough that I think we can start to get a good idea of how new homes (that aren’t new anymore) from the past decade perform when they’re resold into a market with many similar new homes.

To study this, I identified homes built since 2012 that have since resold, excluding homes that sold within one year of their original purchase or any homes with major improvements since the original purchase or clearly left in disrepair.

Here’s a summary of my findings:

  • 53 homes met the criteria, nearly all in North Arlington
  • Average appreciation on resale was 6.7%
  • Average annualized appreciation was 2.1%
  • Only seven homes sold for less than they were bought
  • Sixteen homes sold for at least 10% above what they were bought
  • On average, it took 64 days for these homes to go under contract, about 30% longer than the entire detached home market during that same period

Cause For Concern?

For those who own a new(er) home, you may be underwhelmed by these numbers relative to what the rest of the market is doing — compared to other detached homes in the Arlington market, new homes are appreciating at a noticeably slower rate.

Part of that is due to the fact that there’s a much higher supply of similar new/newer homes for sale so that will naturally keep prices more stable. Another reason is that it takes longer for the upper end of the market to appreciate, so the growth we’ve seen <$1.25M hasn’t impacted the $1.5M+ market as much.

So is a new home a bad investment because it appreciates less than other homes? Not at all.

First, one of the reasons buyers pay a premium for new/newer homes is because your maintenance and repair costs should be significantly lower for the first 10-15 years. Investment value isn’t only about what you buy and sell for, it’s also about how much you spend between the two transactions keeping the house operating (often more valuable than appreciation).

Second, for most families, a new/newer home offers square footage and a floor plan they can’t find anywhere else so the non-financial/quantifiable benefits are significant. Opportunities to customize to taste also factor into the non-financial/quantifiable return that owners may receive.

The new construction market operates differently from the rest of the housing market. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected]. And a quick plug for two custom homes on ¼ acre lots I’m selling in Bellevue Forest, being built by James McMullin, Arlingtonian and third-generation Arlington developer/builder. Demolition and excavation will start in the next month!

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to set-up an in-person meeting to discuss local real estate, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at www.EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N. Fairfax Dr. #10C Arlington, VA 22203, (703) 390-9460.

Legal Insider: Virginia to Ban Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This is a sponsored column by attorneys John Berry and Kimberly Berry of Berry & Berry, PLLC, an employment and labor law firm located in Northern Virginia that specializes in federal employee, security clearance, retirement and private sector employee matters.

By John V. Berry, Esq.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a few days away from enacting legislation that bans discrimination in employment, public accommodations and housing based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

On February 6, 2020, the Virginia Values Act passed HB 1663 in the Virginia House by a vote of 59 to 35 and SB 868 in the Virginia Senate by a vote of 30 to 9. The new legislation adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s civil rights protections in the Virginia Human Rights Act.

The Virginia House published a summary of the new legislation, establishing several new civil claims as unlawful discrimination. The original summary of HB 1633 provides a good summation of this landmark legislation:

[The new law] creates explicit causes of action for unlawful discrimination in public accommodations and employment in the Virginia Human Rights Act. Currently, under the Act there is no cause of action for discrimination in public accommodations, and the only causes of action for discrimination in employment are for (i) unlawful discharge on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, including lactation, by employers employing more than five but fewer than 15 persons and (ii) unlawful discharge on the basis of age by employers employing more than five but fewer than 20 persons.

The bill allows the causes of action to be pursued privately by the aggrieved person or, in certain circumstances, by the Attorney General. The bill prohibits discrimination in public and private employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The bill also codifies for state and local government employment the current prohibitions on discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, or status as a veteran.

Additionally, the bill (a) prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or status as a veteran; (b) prohibits discrimination in credit on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, disability, and status as a veteran; and (c) adds discrimination on the basis of an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, marital status, or status as a veteran as an unlawful housing practice…

The legislation has to win passage one more time as a procedural matter. However, the Governor, who sought the legislation, expects to sign the bill into law shortly. For the first time, the new law applies all of Virginia’s anti-discrimination laws to public accommodations, such as retail stores and restaurants. It is a month of major change for civil rights in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

If you are in need of employment law representation or advice, please contact our office at 703-668-0070 or through our contact page to schedule a consultation. Please also visit and like us on Facebook or Twitter.

Rethink Energy: New Arlington Solar Calculator!

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This regularly-scheduled sponsored column is written by the Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy team (AIRE). This county program helps you make smart energy decisions that save you money and leaves a lighter footprint on the environment.

The Arlington County Board approved a partnership with Dominion Energy Virginia to purchase power from a new solar farm in southern Virginia.

The facility is expected to generate more than 80 percent of the electricity used annually for all County buildings, streetlights, traffic signals, water pumping and wastewater treatment.

Exactly how much solar does it take to do this? The solar farm will be about 475 acres!

Try this new calculator to compare how big Arlington’s portion of the solar farm will be compared to your civic association. Douglas Park is the closest civic association in size to the solar farm.

The agreement will not require any capital funding or upfront costs from the County. The project will have no impact on customer rates.

Interested in solar for your home or business?  Email us at [email protected] and we’ll let you know when the next solar co-op launches.

A very special thank you to Michele and Mathias Hansen at the Arlington-Based Geocodio for helping to make this microsite possible!

Open Houses in Arlington This Weekend

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Looking for a home? There are plenty of houses and condos open for viewing this weekend.

Check out the Arlington Realty website for a full list of homes for sale and open houses in Arlington. Here are a few highlights:

1607 N. Bryan Street
6 BD/5 BA, 1 half bath single-family home
Agent: Re/Max West End
Listed: $2,325,000
Open: Sunday 1-3 p.m.

 

4523 Wilson Boulevard
3 BD/3 BA, 1 half bath villa/townhouse
Agent: Washington Fine Properties
Listed: $1,299,000
Open: Saturday 1-3 p.m.

 

2500 N. Upshur Street
3 BD/2 BA, 1 half bath single-family home
Agent: Kw Metro Center
Listed: $986,000
Open: Saturday 1-4 p.m.

 

261 N. Park Drive
3 BD/3 BA single-family home
Agent: Long & Foster Real Estate Inc
Listed: $799,900
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

1101 16th Street S.
2 BD/2 BA villa/townhouse
Agent: Neighborhood Real Estate Llc
Listed: $699,000
Open: Saturday 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

 

4880 28th Street S. #B
2 BD/2 BA condo
Agent: Samson Properties
Listed: $535,000
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

4933 7th Road S.
3 BD/2 BA, 2 half bath condo
Agent: Compass
Listed: $475,000
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

Just Listed in Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Just Listed highlights Arlington properties that just came on the market within the past week. This feature is written and sponsored by Andors Real Estate Group.

My name is James Andors and I am thrilled to be continuing what Ron Cathell started eight years ago with Just Listed.

This column helps thousands of Arlingtonians keep their finger on the pulse of our aggressive and fast-paced Arlington housing market and you can expect I’ll do the same. Each Friday morning I’ll keep you thoroughly informed about our local real estate market as well as dig into relevant topics impacting housing, market trends, inventory and where we believe we’re headed.

My family moved to Arlington in 1993. Our team, the Andors Real Estate Group, was established by Louis Andors and we’ve been specializing in Arlington real estate for 25 years. Over the years, we have helped hundreds of Arlington buyers and sellers move in, move out and move around this great community. I grew up here, went to Arlington County public schools, and I am very fond of this special part of the Capital region we all enjoy so much. It’s a pleasure to be writing this and I hope you enjoy!

This week has been more of the same for Arlington home buyers and sellers — we’re very short on inventory and many homes sell within just days of hitting the market. Sometimes homes sell before the “For Sale” sign ever goes up, though I expect we’ll see less of that going forward.

Our local multiple listing service, BrightMLS, has just finished the rollout of new Coming Soon/Off-market rules and regulations effective February 1. The main change — homes must be listed in BrightMLS within one business day of any public marketing. The home can be entered into Active status (ready for showings) or Coming Soon status (no showings allowed yet). This new policy is designed to gain maximum exposure for sellers and provide the widest possible selection for buyers.

This week some 64 Arlington sellers listed their homes for sale, while buyers ratified 41 contracts. 24 of the ratified contracts were on homes listed within the last seven days.

Last week we had 149 active listings and this week we’re left with 161. Absorption dropped just a bit this week — I expect the uptick in holdover inventory will be under contract by next week’s column…

Interest rates have stayed low this past week triggering a huge boom in mortgage refinances.

Current homeowners — this can save you money! Refinance applications are up 15% from last week and are now at their highest demand levels since 2013 per the Mortgage Bankers Association. They estimate the average savings of incoming refinances will be almost $300 per month.

New mortgage applications are up 5% this week. The average 30-year fixed rate mortgage has held steady at 3.5%, no appreciable change from last week. If you’re a little farther into the ownership of your home, the 15 year is as low as 3%.

Next week we’ll talk a bit about why not all Arlington homes sell right away and how you can ensure your home ends up IN the market instead of sitting ON the market.

Please feel free to comment below and I look forward to writing for you next week! Additionally, if there are specifics you would like to see me cover, you can leave those in the comments as well.

The Andors Real Estate Group’s new website will be up and running next week. In the interim, Click here to search currently available Arlington real estate. Call the Andors Real Estate Group today at (703) 203-1117 to talk more about buying or selling Arlington real estate.

Become an Original Member of VIDA Ballston

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

VIDA Fitness is expanding our family and opening our doors in Virginia!

Coming this spring, VIDA Ballston is our sixth location, and promises to offer all the exceptional and upscale amenities that members have come to expect over the years. VIDA has been voted the Best Gym in D.C. by Washington City Paper and The Washingtonian, and offers countless services to promote a healthy and happy lifestyle.

VIDA features state-of-the-art equipment, and boasts spacious weight room floors perfect for all types of strength work. We draw the best instructors in the D.C. area to drive results and engage members in hundreds of classes on our expansive group fitness schedule.

Between yoga, mat Pilates, barre, Zumba, Body Pump, and much much more, we have something that every member is sure to enjoy. Our dedicated staff of Personal Trainers are some of the best in the industry, and will work with you to create and design individual workout plans to help you achieve your goals.

All of our facilities feature luxurious locker rooms that are fully stocked to ensure you have everything you need to start your day, and leave the gym feeling refreshed. Relax in our steam rooms and saunas after your workout, and enjoy quality Bang Salon products to leave feeling nourished and restored.

Be sure to lock in our special Ballston introductory rate by the end of February, to take advantage of pricing that will never be this low again! You will receive discounted personal training, discounts off Aura spa services, access to SweatBox, and much more!

Visit www.vidaballston.com/ballstonlastcall today, and become the latest member of the VIDA family! We can’t wait to share the VIDA experience with you.

The Schar School at George Mason Launches a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Trade

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

The Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University is building on the school’s existing expertise in security studies (the Schar School is ranked No. 2 by U.S. News & World Report in this category) with a new Graduate Certificate in Strategic Trade.

Strategic trade policy implies a strategic relationship between firms, countries, and export control regimes. It includes arms control, nuclear nonproliferation, and a variety of national security issues plaguing all nation states.

“This program will help students pursue jobs in trade compliance, export controls, and dual-use trade controls in both the public and private realms,” said program director Kenneth Reinert, who also oversees the Schar School’s Master’s in International Commerce and Policy program.

“We designed the Graduate Certificate in Strategic Trade […] to position students for career success in a rapidly evolving global economy.”

Reinert founded the program along with professor Andrea Viski, founder and editor-in-chief of the Strategic Trade Review and founder and director of the Strategic Trade Research Institute.

The Graduate Certificate in Strategic Trade program is the ninth graduate certificate in the Schar School’s growing portfolio of top-ranked programs. Completion of the certificate requires five courses (15 credits), including one core course in Strategic Trade Controls, and the choice of four electives in a range of topics including nuclear nonproliferation, national security technology, illicit trade, arms control, and global trade relations.

Certificate programs are an increasingly popular credential to bolster a resume and navigate career changes and advancement. The Schar School’s certificate programs are designed to feed into the master’s degrees — certificate earners can count their five completed certificate courses towards their master’s degrees, saving time and tuition expenses.

To learn more about the Schar School’s graduate programs and how to apply, request information here, or browse campus visit options here.

Statutes of Liberty: Travel Ban 4.0 — And Then, They Came for Kyrgyzstan

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This sponsored column is by James Montana, Esq. and Doran Shemin, Esq., practicing attorneys at Steelyard LLC, an immigration-focused law firm located in Arlington, Virginia. The legal information given here is general in nature. If you want legal advice, contact James for an appointment.

First, it, was Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Then, Chad, North Korea and  Venezuela. Now, it’s Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar, Sudan (again!) Tanzania and Kyrgyzstan.

You may have the impression that the Trump Administration’s attempts to ban travel had failed, failed and failed again. You would be right. However, the Administration (and its indefatigable appellate litigators) have found a formula that has, to date, survived judicial review. That formula is on display in the latest travel ban, which we’ll call Travel Ban 4.0 to distinguish it from the others.

On Friday, January 31, 2020, the President issued a proclamation promulgating Travel Ban 4.0, which suspends the issuance of immigrant visas to nationals from Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar (Burma) and Nigeria. The ban is less harsh for two other countries, Sudan and Tanzania, because it only freezes visa issuance under the Diversity Visa Program.

This new ban goes into effect, for all countries concerned, on February 21, 2020. After that date, U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the world will no longer issue immigrant visas unless the foreign national is granted a special waiver. However, nationals from those countries will still be eligible for nonimmigrant visas, such as student visas and visitor visas, and will still be eligible for green cards if they happen to be in the United States.

Travel Ban 4.0 differs in certain important respects from its previous iterations. In issuing the Proclamation, President Trump cites to these countries’ alleged failure to share important security information and for lacking passports with certain security features. Some nations fail to issue travel documents to their nationals who have been ordered removed from the United States. The President also believes that once nationals from these countries enter as lawful permanent residents, they will therefore be harder to remove.

Every individual matters, but some of the banned countries are more populous than others. North Korea doesn’t send many visa applicants our way, and, although some of our very best clients are from Kyrgyzstan, the really big numbers in Travel Ban 4.0 come from one country: Nigeria. Nigerians — who are some of the best-educated immigrants in the United States — make up a large community in the D.C. area and in many other parts of the United States.

We’re your friendly local immigration lawyers, not foreign policy wonks, but, speaking simply as concerned citizens, we think that Travel Ban 4.0 is going to cause a lot of suffering in exchange for very little security gain. If the Administration were truly worried about security, why would it allow foreign nationals to continue to travel to the United States with nonimmigrant visas?

We’ve already seen that foreign students sometimes spy on the U.S. government. Travel Ban 4.0 won’t stop the next Maria Butina. But it will stop our U.S. citizen clients from being reunited with their spouses and minor children.

If you or someone you know might be impacted by this new travel ban, please contact your trusted immigration attorney. Travel Ban 4.0 includes procedures for applying for a waiver. Those procedures are onerous and opaque, but we’re committed to helping people through it.

If you have questions about Travel Ban 4.0 and related topics, please comment below. We welcome all comments and will reply to as many as we can.

Virginia Tech Helps Working Professionals Advance Their Tech Careers

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

No matter what industry you work in, technology is constantly changing. Companies are searching for candidates with new skillsets and experience with emerging technologies.

At Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center, adjacent to the West Falls Church Metro station, an administrative team manages more than 700 online graduate students looking to develop new skills and fill gaps on their resume.

Virginia Tech developed its #4 nationally-ranked Master of Information Technology program (VT-MIT) in 1999 in response to a request by the Commonwealth of Virginia to help meet the growing demand for employees in the information technology field.

Since then, the 100% online program has kept pace with changes in technology, in both course delivery and course options.

Working professionals from across the country are taking the online courses at their own pace and designing a degree that works for their individual goals, whether they are a seasoned IT professional or looking to shift into a tech career.

VT-MIT currently offers 11 areas of specialization, including analytics and business intelligence, big data, cybersecurity, health information technology and software development.

The program also offers six graduate certificate options for professionals that are not looking to pursue a full degree.

VT-MIT plans to continue adding new courses and graduate certificates that keep up with current trends in tech, particularly as the wider university takes on a central role in the cybersecurity ecosystem.

Virginia Tech launched the Ballston-based Hume Center for National Security and Technology in 2010 and was tapped by the state in 2018 to lead its $25 million Commonwealth Cyber Initiative.

The university’s forthcoming Innovation Campus is expected to triple Virginia Tech’s footprint in the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and become a magnet for leading tech talent, research and education.

For more information about Virginia Tech’s 100% online Master of Information Technology Program, visit vtmit.vt.edu or sign up for an upcoming information session.

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