Author: ARLnow.com Sponsor

Bordeaux and Dordogne: The two best regions of France you haven’t been to

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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Want to know the best place to find Parisian city vibes, the most prestigious wines in the world, and the most incredible countryside scenery in France?

Look no further than Bordeaux and Dordogne.

The city of Bordeaux is considered by many a smaller version of Paris. It boasts the same style of grand architecture, a variety of neighborhoods with their own identities, scores of Michelin starred restaurants, and wonderful plazas and streets for walking, dining, and shopping. Outside the city you can find countless winemaking vineyards of the highest revered appellations and classes.

Dordogne on the other hand is a region that embodies everything your French countryside dreams are made of: cliff hanging medieval villages, stunning castles, amazing historical sites, lush landscapes, vibrant markets, prehistoric cave art, and more.

Trusted Arlington based French travel experts, TripUSAFrance, offer a small group tour that takes travelers on an immersive trip to Bordeaux and Dordogne with local guides for 8 full days of touring these amazing regions with site visits, walking tours, and rewarding local experiences mixed in such as a wine masterclass, truffle hunting in an orchard, breadmaking demonstration at an old mill, making your own wine, and that’s not all!

Keeping the tours to a maximum of 14 travelers is a more sustainable way of touring that allows guests to experience better connections with the regional culture, local artisans, fellow travelers, and guides. But it also limits availability of the tours so don’t wait to book your spots on these exclusive trips before they are gone.

Click here to see all the details about this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

Neighborhood Spotlight: Hidden gems of Arlington

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

MCE loves local!

Let’s talk about local hidden gems with McEnearney Associates, Bob Adamson!

Arlington is a bustling urban area with plenty of well-known attractions, including the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. However, beyond these well-known landmarks lies a collection of hidden gems.

The Italian Store is a local institution that has been serving up delicious sandwiches, pasta, and pizza since 1980. This family-owned store and deli have become a beloved part of the community, attracting both locals and visitors alike.  Whether you’re in the mood for a sandwich, a slice of pizza, or some fresh pasta, this family-owned store is definitely worth a visit.

Charga Grill is a hidden gem that serves up delicious cuisine and has become a local favorite for its delicious food and friendly service.  The menu is diverse and offers something for everyone.  With its friendly atmosphere and affordable prices, Charga Grill is a local favorite you won’t want to miss.

If you’re looking for a unique and delicious meal look no further than Haute Dogs! This small eatery located has become a local favorite for its creative takes on classic hot dogs and sausages.  In addition to its delicious food, Haute Dog offers a fun and casual atmosphere and there are plenty of tables and booths for customers to sit and enjoy their meals.

Thai Noy is a small, family-owned restaurant that serves authentic Thai cuisine. The menu features classic dishes like pad thai and green curry, as well as lesser-known specialties like the crispy duck with basil. Be sure to try the mango sticky rice for dessert, which is a sweet and refreshing way to end your meal.

Are you looking for an outdoor activity?  Then visiting the Netherlands Carillon is a must-do for anyone visiting Arlington.  This iconic structure is a gift from the people of the Netherlands to the United States as a token of appreciation for the country’s help during World War II. The carillon is located near the Arlington National Cemetery and overlooks the Potomac River, making it a popular spot for tourists and locals alike.

Are you a music fan?  Located in the heart of Arlington, the Lubber Run Amphitheater is a community theater that hosts free concerts and performances throughout the summer months. The venue is surrounded by trees and features a covered stage, making it a great spot for an outdoor concert.

While Arlington is known for its famous landmarks and popular attractions, these hidden gems offer visitors a chance to experience the area’s natural beauty, local culture, and community spirit. Whether you’re a nature lover, foodie, or music fan, there’s something for everyone to enjoy in Arlington.

There is so much more to discover in Arlington! Connect with me to learn more!

Bob Adamson | 703.967.8033 | [email protected] | bobadamson.com | www.McEnearney.com

McEnearney Associates – Arlington Office

Links & Recommendations

For 40 years, McEnearney Associates has been a premiere residential, commercial and property management firm with 11 offices located in the Washington metro region. With service excellence, hyper-local expertise, powerful data insights, innovative technology and cutting-edge marketing, McEnearney Associates have helped their clients make informed decisions on their most valuable real estate investments. There is an important difference at McEnearney: It’s not about us, it’s about you. To learn more, visit us at www.McEnearney.com.

Statutes of Liberty: H-1B season was a disappointment

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

This sponsored column is by Law Office of James Montana PLLC. All questions about it should be directed to James Montana, Esq., Doran Shemin, Esq., and Laura Lorenzo, Esq., practicing attorneys at The Law Office of James Montana PLLC, an immigration-focused law firm located in Falls Church, Virginia. The legal information given here is general in nature. If you want legal advice, contact us for an appointment.

Although the spring season has finally arrived and is beyond pleasant, H-1B lottery season was not so pleasant this year.

As a refresher, there are 85,000 H-1B visas available per year for workers in specialty occupations.  A couple of years ago, DHS implemented a new lottery system with a much lower price to apply. Now, instead of submitted packets of hundreds of pages of paper, the employer must only purchase a $10.00 ticket online for each employee they would like to receive an H-1B visa. Then, if that ticket is selected, the employer can move on to filing the entire petition. Sounds better, right?

Well, sort of. Previously, we estimated that a lottery ticket had a 1/3 chance of being selected in the lottery. But this year, the chances of success seemed to decrease significantly. For example, for fiscal year 2022, DHS received 308,613 tickets.  For fiscal year 2023, DHS received 483,927 registrations.  

These numbers clearly indicate that there is a high demand for skilled labor via the H-1B program, but the chances of a company’s ideal candidate being selected during the lottery have diminished over time. As an anecdote, we represent a number of smaller companies and submitted a total of eight tickets.  Not a single one was selected. Now, our corporate clients have to figure out other ways to hopefully keep their employees.

Not only is the lottery bad for employers who need to keep key employees, but it’s bad for the employees themselves. Some have no other option to stay in the United States, despite many receiving their education and working the first year or two of their careers in the United States. Not getting selected in the lottery means that the employee has to potentially pick up the life she has created and move out of the country.

As the years go on, we will see if this trend continues. If so, it will likely result in smaller employers having a difficult time bringing on employees via the H-1B program since large companies will have the need, and capacity, to submit hundreds of tickets every year.

As always, we’re happy to answer questions and comments!

This sponsored column is by Law Office of James Montana PLLC. All questions about it should be directed to James Montana, Esq., Doran Shemin, Esq., and Laura Lorenzo, Esq., practicing attorneys at The Law Office of James Montana PLLC, an immigration-focused law firm located in Falls Church, Virginia. The legal information given here is general in nature. If you want legal advice, contact us for an appointment.

Neighborhood farmers markets open this Saturday!

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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Farmers market season is back!

And there is no better way to shake off the week than a quick ride, cruise or stroll to your local farmers market. This Saturday, April 15 two of Arlington’s newest farmers markets — Lubber Run and Cherrydale — will open for the summer season with a full array of locally grown farm fruits and vegetables, spring bedding plants, baked goods, empanadas, flowers, breakfast sandwiches and coffee.

The vendors travel less than 125 miles to bring their fresh produce and foods to the markets. Market customers enjoy the friendly vibe and flow of our outdoor markets. It’s a great time to spend with family, and friends. 

Cherrydale Farmers Market 

Located conveniently off Langston Boulevard (US Route 29) at the Dorothy Hamm Middle School, 4100 Vacation Lane, Arlington, VA 22207. The market is celebrating its third year of providing fresh produce and locally made foods in North Arlington. Many neighbors walk and bike each Saturday morning to the market. Parking is available close by at the school.

Spring means an abundance of fresh greens, asparagus, beets, and carrots, plus herbs and potted plants. Apples are always plentiful and are available in many varieties. Before long, strawberries will be here! Spring is also a great time to take home a bunch of gorgeous flowers. 

So grab a coffee and take home some fresh roasted beans for the week, along with delicious scones, madeleine cookies, fresh bread, flowers and homemade jams and nut butters. You can find prepared foods such as breakfast sandwiches, empanadas and dumplings. Cherrydale Farmers Market literally offers soup to nuts.

Some of the farmers also sell bedding plants for vegetables, greens and herbs, just at the right time to get them in the ground. Last year the market introduced music from local musicians and free yoga from Sun and Moon studio. This year’s market promises even more fun — and satisfied stomachs. 

See the Cherrydale Farmers Market website for info about our location and vendors. Pre-order options are also available from select merchants.

Follow us on Facebook for the most current market offerings.

Cherrydale Farmers Market
Dorothy Hamm Middle School
4100 Vacation Lane
Saturdays 8 a.m.-12 p.m.

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With warmer weather ahead, don’t let your car overheat!

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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Preparing for a spring break trip?

Don’t let yourself end up on the side of the road. Whether it’s your check engine light, or there’s steam coming from under your hood, we’re here to help. If your car’s temperature gauge spikes to the red area and/or you see steam/smoke coming from under the hood, you might have an overheating problem on your hands.

Here are 4 reasons your car may be overheating, and what to do if this happens to you.

 1. Low coolant or coolant issue

You might need more coolant which could be a quick fix, but it’s important to have a technician check out your cooling system to make sure you’re not losing coolant due to a leak or another issue.

 2. Radiator issues

Your radiator is an important part of your cooling system. If something goes wrong with this part and it’s not pulling heat away from your car’s engine the way it should, your engine could overheat. Regular maintenance is important to prevent radiator issues.

 3. Broken thermostat

Your thermostat is the gatekeeper of coolant. If it’s not working properly, it can prevent coolant from flowing the way it should and cause your car to overheat.

 4. Water pump issue

Your vehicle’s water pump is another key piece of the cooling system that keeps coolant circulating throughout the system. Similar to the failure of other cooling system parts, your car may be overheating because this component is faulty or broken.

What to do when your car overheats

First, turn off your air conditioning system and turn on the heat which should reduce stress on the engine and pull heat away from it. Find a safe place to pull over and turn your vehicle off to allow your engine to cool.

It’s important not to continue driving until you’ve diagnosed and addressed the problem, so your next move should be to call roadside assistance or arrange a tow to get your vehicle to a service center for diagnosis (you may have AAA or free towing through your insurance — call them first to check!)

CarCare To Go is a full service operation — we can handle everything from regular maintenance to big repairs to luxury hand detailing services. Give us a call anytime if you need guidance on what to do next in a situation like this — or book your next appointment online.

First time customers can enjoy a $20.23 oil change special, including complimentary safety inspection, and access to all video and photo documentation in your personal virtual garage.

Don’t wait, book now for a service experience like no other!

Small Business Focus: La Coop Coffee

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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This column is sponsored by BizLaunch, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

As spring begins, entrepreneurs work restlessly as ever. Juan Luis Salazar, the owner of La Coop Coffee, is no exception. He has recently opened a new small business in Arlington.

Salazar, originally from Guatemala, has decided to bring the taste of his native culture to Arlington through a delicious cup of coffee. La Coop Coffee is known for providing single-origin Microlot coffee, including the farmer’s name on each coffee bag. No blends. Just single-origin, specialty coffee from the Salazar’s hometown. “Our goal is to bring heart and home to customers through our coffee,” says Salazar.

The brews are roasted fresh on-site at the original coffee house and roastery located in D.C. Recently, Salazar opened a new venture in the Arlington Forest Community located at 4807 First Street North.

Even though La Coop Coffee is already a known entity in the District, Salazar knew opening a store in Arlington would be different. Therefore, he turned to BizLaunch for guidance, where he learned the county’s requirements for zoning, signage, taxes, etc.

With the help of BizLaunch en Español La Coop Coffee was able to polish the final details for its new home for single-origin coffee in Arlington and finally opened its doors on Saturday February 13, 2023.

To learn more about La Coop Coffee and its story, visit the company’s website, Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter.

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. 

As of April 10, there are 127 detached homes, 26 townhouses and 145 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 12 homes experienced a price reduction in the past week, including:

4001 N. Chesterbrook Road

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.

From WFH to IRL: An extraordinary workday that works for you

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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Over the past three years, the way we think about work and the workplace has intrinsically changed. 

Approximately 80 million Americans are currently working remotely at least one day per week. But working from home can be isolating — research from Zippia claims that 50% of remote workers feel lonely at least once per week.

The truth is, we’re social creatures at our core and have a fundamental need to connect with others in-person — be it in our personal or professional lives. There is a magic that happens when you bring people together — with purpose and in an amazing space — that can’t be replicated through technology. In fact, a report by Owl Labs found that only 36% of people believe the office is best suited for individual work, leading us to understand that the majority of people prefer in-person time for collaborative working sessions.

Enter Convene. Convene is a premium hospitality company that designs, builds, and manages premium meeting, event, and flexible office spaces. With two locations in the Greater D.C. Area, Convene offers an inspiring place to meet or get together with colleagues for those times when Zoom just won’t do.  

So leave your home office behind — if even for just a day or two a week – and discover an extraordinary workday that works for you.

Here are the top 5 reasons to consider Convene as you look to get out of the house and back to work IRL:

 1. Getting your team together helps foster a sense of connectivity and collaboration — but let Convene take care of the details.

Convene is a premium provider of meeting and event spaces, offering everything needed for a turnkey experience, including thoughtfully-designed spaces to maximize collaboration and productivity, full-service production management, in-house catering, and a dedicated A/V team for in-room and hybrid tech support. From town halls to brainstorms, training seminars, corporate social events, and more, each room can be custom-configured to accommodate your event type. Convene is the perfect end-to-end solution for anything and everything needed to have a successful team get-together, allowing you to focus on creating an engaging meeting or offsite without getting bogged down in the details.

 2. Let your work location impress and inspire. 

The view from the top is always better, and in the D.C. area, Convene can rival any lookout point. Its Arlington location is located on the 29th and 30th floors of the tallest building on the waterfront with 360-degree views, while its downton D.C. location features a building community rooftop overlooking the city — whether you are looking to impress your clients or inspire your team, these stunning views are worth leaving home for. Each Convene location is also beautifully designed, boasting high-end finishes, unique architectural elements, and local artwork that are bound to get the creative juices flowing.

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Ask Eli: 2,491 agents sold real estate in Arlington last year

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. Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Eli Residential channel. Enjoy!

Question: How many different real estate agents are there doing business in Arlington?

TL;DR (1:54)

Answer: There were 2,795 real estate transactions in Arlington last year, totaling $2.264B in sales volume. This is down from over 3,500 transactions in 2021 that totaled $2.786B in sales volume, but very similar to the 2019 and 2020 numbers.

There were 2,491 licensed real estate agents involved in at least one sale in Arlington in 2022. Each transaction usually includes two real estate agents — one representing the buyer and another representing the seller.

I looked over the 2022 Arlington transaction data and pulled out some interesting highlights below. Of note, there are many real estate teams that enter all sales under one agent’s name, so in these cases, individual numbers represent the production of many agents rolled into one agent’s name, but I don’t have transparency into that data. Here’s a link to an article I wrote in 2019 explaining how different agents/teams are structured.

  • 63% of agents who did business last year in Arlington had just one sale in Arlington (many of those had more sales outside of Arlington) and accounted for 24.4% of the total sales volume
  • 6% (65) of agents handled 10+ transactions in Arlington
  • 36% (9) of agents handled 20+ transactions in Arlington
  • 1,666 different agents represented buyers, 66 (4%) represented 5+ buyers
  • 1,379 different agents represented sellers, 115 (8.3%) represented 5+ sellers
  • The top 20% producing agents in Arlington accounted for 61% of sales volume
  • Keri Shull and her team once again led Arlington in total transaction and sales volume, representing 2.7% of buyers and sellers in Arlington and just over $94M in total sales volume, but for the first time I can recall, we have new leaders in the listing category, with Betsy Twigg leading listing sales volume at $46.5M and Kay Houghton leading listing transactions at 58
  • The highest average sale price with at least four transactions in Arlington is Julie Zelaska at more than $2.16M per sale
*Chart does not include internal sales agents

Most studies suggest that consumers are less concerned with measures like sales volume and more focused on the strength of communication and trustworthiness of the agent they’re working with, but market expertise and experience are still important factors for most people.

Many people see the low barrier to entry for real estate licensing, and the resulting high volume of agents, as a negative, but it also means that you have a lot of choices as a consumer and, with some effort, can make sure that you’re working with somebody who provides the type of service you’re looking for and the experience to match.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Eli Residential channel.

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

Home Buying Seminar: Make the most of your home search

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Are you looking to stop renting and start investing in your financial freedom through homeownership? Expert help is the key.

The Keri Shull Team, the top-producing real estate team in the D.C. metro area, is hosting a seminar to help aspiring buyers understand the competitive DMV real estate market and enhance their home search.

Join us on Saturday, April 22, at 10:30 a.m. for this FREE first-time home buyer seminar. Attendees will enjoy a  breakfast and will receive $1,000 credit toward a down payment or breaking a lease, and a 12-month home buy-back guarantee.

Bridget Mendes, a skilled realtor with the Keri Shull Team, has created this comprehensive class based on lessons learned through hundreds of real estate transactions. Don’t miss out on exclusive information you won’t find anywhere online.

Topics covered include:

  • How to avoid double-paying rent and a mortgage
  • How to craft a winning offer in a highly competitive market
  • The secret to finding off-market properties
  • What to expect financially and financing program options
  • The 4 C’s of real estate
  • And much more!

We look forward to seeing you for this FREE event at our office located at 1600 Wilson Blvd, 1st Fl. Parking is available under the building.

Spring savings at ProMD Health Arlington!

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

ProMD Health is hosting a Spring Fling event at their Arlington office on Thursday, April 20 from 4-7 p.m.!

This is your chance to meet their providers, Max and Soraya, and treat yourself to event-only specials, raffles, giveaways, freebies, food, drinks, and demos!

ProMD Health offers a complete suite of aesthetic treatments that will have you looking and feeling your very best. Indulge in some of the most exceptional treatments in the industry, from Botox, fillers, and aesthetic lasers, to Emsculpt, Hormone Optimization Therapy, and weight loss shots — ProMD Health is your one-stop aesthetics shop in Arlington.

Event space is limited, please reserve your free ticket now to save your spot!

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