Author: ARLnow.com Sponsor

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.

Good morning Arlingtonians, as always, I appreciate you tuning into Just Listed to start your Friday morning well informed on all things Arlington real estate!

Interest rates rose again (and this data largely does not reflect what has happened since Wednesday when the fed raised their benchmark rate 50 basis points). According to Freddie Mac, interest rates averaged 5.27%, the highest since 2009. Freddie predicts that house prices continue to rise this year, but at a much slower pace, and I concur. Despite strong demand both nationally and locally, enough of the marketplace will be priced out through higher monthly payments (because of rates) and that will slow growth — in fact, it already has!

I just read that Boeing is moving their headquarters from Chicago to Arlington! This is just the latest story in the continued growth and trajectory for Arlington as a whole, and you can chalk that up to another reason we’ll be resilient should an economic downturn materialize, both in the short term and the long term.

Real estate continues to feel turbulent in Arlington, but on paper it continues to crank! While showings, open house visitors and offers are still down from earlier in the year, ratified contracts are working feverishly to compete with an influx of new inventory, showing Arlington buyers aren’t too concerned with 5+% interest rates.

Over the past seven days in Arlington, sellers have listed some 122 homes for sale while buyers ratified 90 contracts! Of the 90 ratified contracts, 55 of those were on homes that spend seven days or less on the market! Last week sellers listed 128 homes and buyers ratified 99 contracts.

Right now, in Arlington, there are 304 properties fully available for sale. Of those 304, 91 are detached properties, 28 are town homes/semi-detached properties, and 185 are condominiums.

The average sales price for currently available homes in Arlington is $864,024 and the median is $625,000. Days on market has ticked up just a bit, with the average sitting at 45 days and the median at 25 days. This is exactly what I predicted would start to happen, and while 3 days more on market (median) doesn’t seem significant, it represents about a 13.5% increase in just one week!

This week last year, sellers had listed 99 homes for sale and purchasers ratified 82 contracts. There were 452 homes for sale, meaning we have 48.7% less inventory to choose from this year. Interest rates averaged just 2.96% — wow!

Click here to search currently available Arlington real estate. If you see a home that you’re interested in purchasing, give us a call! Our team are experts at WINNING when it comes to Arlington real estate — our agents routinely outmaneuver others when it comes to multiple offer scenarios — call us to find out how!

Call the Andors Real Estate Group today at (703) 203-1117 to talk more about buying or selling Arlington real estate. Below are eight new listings that I think you might like to check out — let me know what you think!

5011 14th Street N.

Listing of the Day: 3830 9th Street N. #808W

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Address: 3830 9th Street N. #808W
Neighborhood: Virginia Square
Listed: $749,900
Open: Cinco de Mayo Open House Today: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8 from 1-3 p.m.

Is this the biggest private terrace in Arlington? This condo is an entertainer’s dream…

Imagine over 800 Sq Ft of private rooftop terrace space and nearly 1,100 Sq Ft of interior living space all to yourself. That is almost 1,900 square feet of indoor and outdoor space!

New and modern luxury vinyl floors were just installed throughout the main living area. Enjoy sitting around your unique multi-sided fireplace or soaking up tons of natural light all throughout the unit. The kitchen has Corian counters, stainless steel appliances and a breakfast bar opening to the dining room. Both bedrooms are on opposite sides of the unit with their own full baths. The desirable large owner’s suite has great natural light, a walk-in closet and a soaking tub in the en-suite bath. The family room has sliding glass doors that open to one of the largest private terraces in all of Arlington, the possibilities are endless!

An enclosed in-unit washer/dryer, 2 garage parking spaces and 2 storage units convey. Live in this amazing location, close to the metro, Ballston Quarter, and Ballston’s shops and restaurants. Lexington Square has a massive on-site fitness center, party room and outdoor pool for your enjoyment. This condo is a rare gem in Arlington!

Listed by:
Shawn Battle
The Battle Group/Orange Line Condo
703-999-8180
orangelinecondo.com
[email protected]

Boring Title: Not your typical title company — puppies, Pac-Man, putting and purchases

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Title insurance is boring, but Allied Title & Escrow is here to decode the jargon and make it (somewhat) more interesting. This biweekly feature will explore the mundane (but very necessary!) world of title insurance while sharing interesting stories of two friends’ entrepreneurial careers.

Real estate title work isn’t glamorous and it’s extremely technical. From the outside, the process may look quite boring, but underneath the surface, there are many moving parts working together to create a seamless transaction for buyers and sellers.

At Allied Title, we have a dynamic crew working behind the scenes to ensure that your closing experience is not only seamless, but it is just as much fun as getting the accepted offer on your dream home!

Check out the video below to see how Allied is not your typical title company!

What do you think we should feature in the next video? Comment below to let us know!

Videography by Jonathan Thorpe. Check out Jonathan’s work and get in touch at www.jthorpephoto.com.

Have questions related to title insurance? Email [email protected]. Want to use Allied Title & Escrow when you buy a home? Tell your agent when you buy a house to write in Allied Title & Escrow as your settlement company! 

Arts Focus: Arlington Art Truck at 5 years — creating community, changing lives

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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By Michelle Isabelle-Stark, Director at Arlington Arts

Not long after I began working for Arlington County, Arlington Arts launched the Arlington Art Truck: a bold new project to take curated and interactive visual art experiences out into the community to where people congregate. Five years in, the program has succeeded beyond our wildest expectations.

The Arlington Art Truck is a curated mobile tool box for artists-in-residence to engage the public from April to October in interactive art projects designed to blur the line between participant and presenter, citizen and government. Nominated for the 2019 Robert E. Gard Award from Americans for the Arts, the concept was launched in 2018 with a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts grant.

Its activations have recently garnered media attention from WTOP 103.5 FM and NBC WRC4 TV news. But recently, we’ve begun to receive a more personally meaningful level of feedback about its impact: from the community.

“[The Arlington Art Truck] was at the Lubber Run Farmer’s Market, and I met a resident whose daughter has been following us since day-one,” says Special Projects Curator Cynthia Connolly. “Inspired by the way art engages people, her daughter is now considering studying Urban Design in college and wants to volunteer on the Art Truck!”

As part of its structure, the Arlington Art Truck works across County departments, featuring various ‘ride-along’ partners whose missions happen to coordinate with a particular arts activation, ranging from recycling to biking to work. In the current project with artist Laure Drogoul, our own Textile Studio helped Arlington’s Solid Waste Bureau by doing an on-location demonstration of sewing on patches with the new County logo on uniforms with the old logo that would otherwise have gone to a landfill.

“Although small in scope, this simple action demonstrates how the County can walk the talk when it comes to sustainability and waste reduction,” noted Erik Grabowsky, Solid Waste Bureau Chief for Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services. “Instead of purchasing new apparel with the new logo, we are prolonging the life of our work clothes by simply changing out the logo. [We] find value in these sustainability lessons artistically taught to an audience who might not hear it otherwise.”

From community members to arts professionals, to government agencies, the Arlington Art Truck provides a simple pop-up platform for revealing the arcane and unseen wonder of our everyday experience through an artistic lens, outside the confines of a four-walled gallery or museum. I’m inspired for what the next five years will bring.

To keep up with the Arlington Art Truck, bookmark the ArlingtonArts.org website, and follow @arttruckarlington on Instagram.

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 May 2, there are 123 detached homes, 31 townhouses and 199 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 23 homes experienced a price reduction in the past week, including:

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.

Ask Eli: Condos must be aware of new Fannie Mae guidelines

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 Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist. Enjoy!

Question: Can you summarize the important details of Fannie Mae’s new condo loan deferred maintenance requirements?

Answer: In response to the collapse of the condo building in Surfside, Florida last year, Fannie Mae issued new “temporary” lending requirements, effective January 1, 2022, for Condos and Co-ops to protect against future deferred maintenance issues and, hopefully, incentivize Associations to address issues faster.

I will highlight some of the key changes below, but I advise Condo and Co-op Boards/Management to review the policy changes in detail to ensure properties in your communities remain warrantable (banks will lend using traditional mortgage products), otherwise you’ll risk a significant drop in property values by limiting your buyer pool to cash buyers or those who qualify for alternative lending products (non-Fannie).

Significant Deferred Maintenance and Unsafe Conditions

This is the strictest of the new requirements, but also leaves a lot of grey area and subjective decision-making by each bank’s underwriter(s). The Fannie Mae language states:

“Loans secured by units in condo and co-op projects with significant deferred maintenance or in projects that have received a directive from a regulatory authority or inspection agency to make repairs due to unsafe conditions are not eligible for purchase. These projects will remain ineligible until the required repairs have been made and documented. Acceptable documentation may include a satisfactory engineering or inspection report, certificate of occupancy, or other substantially similar documentation that shows the repairs have been completed in a manner that resolves the building’s safety, soundness, structural integrity, or habitability concerns.

Significant deferred maintenance includes deficiencies that meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • full or partial evacuation of the building to complete repairs is required for more than seven days or an unknown period of time
  • the project has deficiencies, defects, substantial damage, or deferred maintenance that
      • is severe enough to affect the safety, soundness, structural integrity, or habitability of the improvements
      • the improvements need substantial repairs and rehabilitation, including many major components
      • impedes the safe and sound functioning of one or more of the building’s major structural or mechanical elements, including but not limited to the foundation, roof, load bearing structures, electrical system, HVAC, or plumbing

…These policies do not apply to routine maintenance or repairs that a homeowners’ association (HOA) undertakes to maintain or preserve the integrity and condition of its property. Also, if damage or deferred maintenance is isolated to one or a few units does not affect the overall safety, soundness, structural integrity, or habitability of the improvements then these project eligibility requirements do not apply. Examples of this scenario include water damage to a unit due to a leaky pipe that is isolated or damage from a small fire impacting the interior of a specific unit…”

(more…)

Neighborhood Spotlight: Touring Aurora Highlands (including National Landing)

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

What makes Aurora Highlands special?

Just southwest adjacent to Washington, D.C., Aurora Highlands encompasses Pentagon City and the surrounding subdivisions of Addison Heights, Aurora Hills and Virginia Highlands.

Much of the area was developed between 1896 and 1930, and is now recognized as the Aurora Highlands Historic District. The Pentagon City part of Aurora Highlands is mainly known for its high-rise condominiums, commuter hotels, and shopping districts (Pentagon City Mall and Pentagon Row), and most recently the newly named National Landing with the arrival of Amazon’s HQ2. Aurora Highlands is also a beautiful residential neighborhood with mature trees, many recreational amenities, and local restaurants and shops.  

For decades, Aurora Highlands was known as a commuter neighborhood for its proximity to Washington, D.C., The Pentagon, and Reagan National Airport and its easy public transportation access with Metro and frequent bus lines, but with new developments and amenities it’s increasingly becoming more of a destination for tourists and regional residents. Pentagon City alone has become a true live, work, play neighborhood with an estimated 8,200 residents, one of the world’s largest office buildings, more than 150 shops and restaurants, and Pentagon Row, which has 300,000 square feet of retail space and 502 residential units. 

And we can’t write an article about Aurora Highlands without talking about National Landing! With the arrival of our newest resident, Amazon, we will be seeing a lot of change and development as a result of $8 billion in private investment in the pipeline to transform and grow National Landing. According to NationalLanding.org (National Landing BID), there is expected to be more than 25,000 new jobs from Amazon alone by 2030, 7,800 new residential units, and an expansion of 400% in dining, shopping, and entertainment options. In addition to pedestrian and road improvements and more than 300 planned community outreach events.

Aurora Highlands offers a vast range of housing types from apartments and condominiums to townhouses and single family homes. The commonality amongst them is the amazing walkability to restaurants, parks, shops and so much more.

The historic district of Aurora Highlands is worth taking a stroll through on a warm afternoon, maybe after brunch at Bob and Edith’s Diner. It has three historic churches, a rectory, two schools, and recreation. “Sunnydale Farm” is known as one of the oldest dwellings in the neighborhood and is a Greek-revival style building circa 1870. There are a number of wonderful parks including the expansive 20-acre Virginia Highlands Park offering diamond fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, volleyball court, spray park, an urban garden and more.

There is so much to see and experience in Aurora Highlands, reach out to me if you want to learn more about neighborhoods in Arlington and around the region!

Christine Fischer | 703-930-6349 | [email protected] | www.fischerrealestate.com | www.McEnearney.com

McEnearney Associates — Arlington Office

Aurora Highlands 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.

Listing of the Day: 814 N. Harrison Street

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
1/5

Address: 814 N. Harrison Street
Neighborhood: Brandon Village
Listed: $1,100,000
Open: Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1 from 1-4 p.m.

Located on a one block street ending at the bike path and walking trail to Ballston, this expanded four bedroom, three and a half bath colonial is filled with light and updates.

Fresh paint, refinished wood floors and new carpeting enhance its appeal. Enter through a small vestibule to the living room, anchored by a wood burning fireplace. The living room flows into the large dining room adjoining the kitchen. Warm wood cabinets and stainless appliances brighten the room, and a door from the kitchen opens to the driveway — so convenient for bringing packages and groceries directly into the home.

Next is the big airy family room with areas for media, music, play and relaxing. Triple windows provide a view of the yard brimming with mature trees and shrubs. The mudroom opens to a deck and the paver patio and large, flat yard. The powder room completes the main level of the home.

Upstairs, there are four bedrooms, two bathrooms — and most convenient — the laundry area. New paint and carpeting provide a light clean look to the bedrooms, and the two bathrooms enhance the appeal. The primary bathroom has a double sink vanity and a large soaking tub — with views of trees in the backyard.

Downstairs, there is a rec room with space for play, hobbies, crafts and gathering for the big games. A full bath on this level allows the room to double as guest space. In the utility room there is a sink and room for storage.

Outside, the vintage two car garage offers space for cars, bikes, sports, gardening and camping equipment. And there is an electric car charger in the driveway.

Walk to shops, restaurants along the Wilson Blvd corridor to the vibrant Ballston community. And on the Fourth of July, neighbors can ring the bell at Constitution Park at the corner of George Mason and Wilson Blvd. How fun is that?

Listed by:
Betsy Twigg
McEnearney Associates
703-967-4391
[email protected]
www.betsytwigg.com

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.

Hey there Arlington!

Good news — mortgage rates STAYED THE SAME! So, they’re settling in over 5%, for now…  At least we stopped going up, for now!

This will be a quick column as I am finding myself stretched for time this week…

The market seems to have hummed along very well this week — most metrics I track are up and that’s a relief. As with anything, it could just be a blip or maybe we blame it on the weather. Either way, it’s a market, and clearly it’s highly dynamic and always subject to change. Here’s the data for the week — take a look and let me know what you think!

At this moment in time, there are 303 properties available for sale in Arlington, eight more than last week. Sellers listed 128 homes for sale, 46 more than last week! Ratified contracts are up 40 from last week with 99 contracts in the past seven days. A whopping 59 of those were homes listed just within the past seven days.

Of the 303 homes currently available for sale, 87 are detached homes, 32 are semi-detached/townhomes, and the remaining 184 are condominiums. These properties range in price from $100,000 all the way up to $7,950,000.

Average list price for currently available homes is $867,185, and the median price is $625,000. These homes have been on the market for an average of 46 DOM (days on market) and a median of 22. This week last year, there were 434 homes available for sale throughout the county. Sellers had listed 132 homes for sale and buyers ratified 109 contracts.

Click here to search currently available Arlington real estate. If you see a home that you’re interested in purchasing, give us a call!

Call the Andors Real Estate Group today at (703) 203-1117 to talk more about buying or selling Arlington real estate. Below are eight new listings that I think you might like to check out.

5315 26th Street N.

Listing of the Day: 114 N. Edgewood Street

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
1/5

Address: 114 N. Edgewood Street
Neighborhood: Lyon Park
Listed: $1,335,000
Open: Friday, April 29 from 5-8 p.m. and Sunday May 1 from 1-4 p.m.
1920’s themed Open Houses will feature Stout Floats and Root Beer Floats (for the young and young at heart)

This vintage Sears bungalow is nestled on one of the prettiest tree-lined streets in historic Lyon Park. An impeccably renovated 3-bedroom Craftsman, it updates the classic bungalow floorplan with the air and light of an open concept.

Tree-lined vistas from the inviting front porch and patio make this home a perfect private retreat and a great entertainment venue, from backyard barbecues to intimate dinners or fun-filled game nights. Over the past four years, the owners have put in more than $350,000 in improvements. With 3 newly installed full baths to a vaulted professional-caliber kitchen, this gorgeous light-filled home delivers yesteryear charm with modern convenience. The chef’s kitchen is a showstopper. Designed by design firm Concepts and Contours, the stunning kitchen features double-height custom white cabinets, skylights, black stone granite countertops, high-end stainless-steel appliances and an eat-in breakfast bar.

There are private spaces for work and play, a newly remodeled lower level with a new bath and laundry area, and a large screen media and hobby room. The lower level also includes ample space for housing the wine cellar, workbenches, home gym and HVAC.

Listed by:
Natalie U. Roy
Owner and Realtor ®
KW Metro Center
Bicycling Realty Group
2111 Wilson Boulevard, #1050
Arlington, VA 22201
(703) 819-4915
[email protected]
www.bicyclingrealty.com

Statutes of Liberty: Behind the books, how your local law office makes money (or doesn’t)

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 Arlington, Virginia. The legal information given here is general in nature. If you want legal advice, contact us for an appointment.

Note: this column was written by James Montana, who owns our little law practice. The opinions expressed therein are his own.

Your local lawyer, on the phone, either asking for a loan or making his next appointment for Guy Fieri-style frosted tips. Photo via Doran M. Shemin.

Whenever I walk into a business, I find myself musing, like Admiral Stockdale: Who am I? Why am I here? After I vault those philosophical hurdles, though, I usually find myself wondering: Am I getting a good deal? That is an important question, and the purpose of this column is to answer that question for you. Doing so, I hope, will give you a little insight into the finances of a local law practice.

The balance sheet has two sides: revenue and expenses. Revenue is determined by caseload and price. Outside of our corporate immigration work, we charge flat fees, and fees range from $300 for a work permit to $5,000 for deportation defense. The three lawyers here typically carry a caseload of between 100 and 150 cases. Does that mean that, at (say) 100 cases, and (say) $3,000 per case, a lawyer here generates $300,000 per year? Certainly not. Most immigration cases take more than a year to get to the finish line. Court cases sometimes take more than a decade. So, managing our revenue means taking the long view. If we think we can’t carry the load in 2023, 2024, or 2025, we turn down the money today.

Balancing our need for revenue with our professional obligation to keep cases at a manageable level is tricky. We try to keep fees low and client numbers up. Given those commitments, a good rainmaker might generate fees in the very low six figures.

Let’s turn to (perhaps) the more interesting side of the balance sheet: Where does that money go?

The largest expense by far is salaries. I don’t want to disclose lawyer salaries to the entire internet, but you can fairly infer from (1) gross revenue described above, and (2) the expenses described below that (3) we are not chuckling all the way to our third homes in Cancun.

We spend about $20,000 in rent, utilities and maintenance each year. (That’s low — we squeeze three lawyers into 500 square feet, and when we need something fixed, I buy the supplies at Ayers Hardware.)

We spend about $10,000 per year on paper, toner, free coffee for the clients and other office supplies.

We pay about $20,000 per year for a remote reception service. Our friends at Ruby Receptionists answer calls for twelve hours a day, five days per week, in English and Spanish, and are worth even that extraordinary number of pennies. Picking up the phone is an important part of our work.

We spend about $8,000 per year in postage. (13,793 first-class stamps? No, not really. We ship almost all of our correspondence to the government by Priority Mail or Certified Mail because, with all due respect to our friends at USCIS, we trust-but-verify all shipments to the immigration authorities.)

We spend about $12,000 per year on payroll management, workers’ compensation and bookkeeping services, and, when you roll in the cost of our practice management software, business insurance and malpractice insurance, you get to about $20,000.

Health insurance for our three lawyers — we cover 70% of the cost, for both workers and dependents — costs a neat $20,000 per year.

Amidst some other odds and ends, we have a small advertising budget, most of which goes to our friends at ARLnow. No, we won’t tell you how much. But it’s money well spent!

Do you have questions about the economics of law practice? Are you thinking of starting your own law practice? We want more people to work in our field, and we’re happy to mentor anyone who is thinking of giving it a try. And, as always, we welcome comments and will reply to all that we can.

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