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.

Inventory continues to flat line as we approach the end of the year!

Buyer demand remains strong as we make our way towards the middle of December, further squeezing inventory as sellers wait for warmer weather before listing their home.

At this point in the year, a lot of our remaining inventory is what I would refer to as “holdover” inventory — properties that have been on the market substantially longer than the average. Not all homes sell promptly in Arlington, and even in a fast-paced market, properties that are overpriced relative to their competition, condition, location or level of updating will sit on the market. These homes aren’t going anywhere anytime soon unless a seller makes a substantial price reduction to find the market.

This past week, buyers put 59 homes under contract in Arlington, but sellers only listed 47 properties for sale. Of the 59 contracts buyers ratified, 17 were on properties that had spent one week or less on the market.

We are now down to the lowest available inventory in approximately 22 months — more towards our pre-Covid numbers. Of the 343 available properties for sale in Arlington, 79 are detached homes, 46 are town houses/semi-detached properties, and 218 are condominiums.

As of this week, the average list price of homes currently for sale is $822,922, and the median is $559,950. Average days on market (DOM) is 82, and the median is 56. Homes of all types throughout Arlington range in price from $100,000 all the way up to $4,250,000!

This week last year, there were 512 homes available for sale in Arlington! Average days on market was 67, and median was 52. Sellers had listed 47 homes for sale, and buyers ratified 41 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 homes that came on the market this week that you might be interested in. There were only 18 new homes listed this week total.

1210 S. Barton Street #332

Upcoming free home selling seminar: Best tips to sell your home for more

By ARLnow.com Sponsor

Don’t leave money on the table in this hot market! Learn everything you need to know about maximizing your home’s value from a highly successful agent on the top-selling real estate team in the D.C. metro area.

Angela Decint, ranked as a top realtor by the Washingtonian, is hosting a selling seminar at the Keri Shull Team’s office in Rosslyn to answer some of your burning questions as you prepare to put your house on the market.

Here are some of the things that you will learn when you attend:

  • How to know the right time to sell your home
  • The right strategy for pricing your home to sell
  • The power of off-market home sales
  • How to market your home to as many buyers as possible
  • And much more!

This is a FREE seminar being held in person on Thursday, December 16 from 6 to 7 p.m. Why squander the opportunity to learn how to have the best possible home sale, especially when there’s no cost to you? Get the details you need to make the most informed decision for your future, and avoid all the unnecessary stress of home selling.

Register for this event today!

Statutes of Liberty: Build Back Better

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.

Is there a massive amnesty in Build Back Better? Yes. Will it happen? Probably not.

The Build Back Better Act (BBBA) is not about immigration, but it’s such an enormous bill that the even relatively minor parts of it which do concern immigration would, in toto, constitute the most consequential immigration legislation since 1986.

What are the most important provisions of BBBA for immigrants in the United States?

  • Section 60001 — Parole in Place

This section would offer “parole” to approximately 6 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States. “Parole” has a technical meaning in U.S. immigration law — it has nothing to do with the concept of parole in criminal law. Instead, think of parole as permission to enter the United States.

People outside the United States are already able to apply for parole if, for some reason, our ordinary visa system is not well-suited to the situation. “Parole in place” is, therefore, a grant of parole to persons already inside the United States.

The real-world effect of Section 60001 would be the grant of work permits and travel permits to an estimated six million unauthorized immigrants who entered the U.S. before January 1, 2011. These benefits would be five years in length, renewable for another five years — until September 30, 2031.

Approximately six million people would be eligible for this benefit. Although these parolees would not be eligible for green cards, parolees would have the three most important elements of immigration status in the United States — the ability to work, the ability to travel and substantial protection against deportation.

  • Section 60002 — Visa number recapture

This highly technical (but consequential) section concerns something called “visa number recapture,” in which the United States would make green cards slots available which were not used in prior years. Unlike earlier immigration reform proposals, the BBBA limits the number of slots recaptured to between 250,000 and 400,000.

  • Section 60003 — Allowing early applications for adjustment of status

Under current law, you can’t apply for a green card if you’re waiting in line for a visa number to be available. Section 60003 changes that by allowing you to apply for a green card while you wait for a visa number to be available, which is a big deal because you can apply for a work and travel permit while the application for a green card is pending. Section 60003 would not create any new eligibility categories for green cards, but it would force-feed a large number of people into the system all at once, and make them eligible for work and travel permits until their green cards are adjudicated.

  • Section 60004 — Minor fee increases

Section 60004 would allow for minor fee increases to items like green card renewals ($500), H-1B petitions ($500), applications to extend nonimmigrant status ($500 — see the pattern?) and certain work permit applications ($500).

Visitors and other non-immigrant entrants to the United States would be charged $19 upon arrival, which is a puzzling addition, but there you have it.

  • Section 60005 — Payola

$2.8 billion would be appropriated to help USCIS adjudicate Section 60001 applications, reduce backlogs and improve efficiency. It’s hard to appreciate numbers like $2.8 billion outside of context, so here’s the context that matters: USCIS’s enacted budget for FY 2021 was $4.7 billion, so $2.8 billion is a pretty substantial injection of funds.

We’re happy to provide you with our analysis, but we also encourage readers to read alternative views. The CBO provides a useful summary here; for analyses from competing sources, see this analysis from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (pro) and the Center for Immigration Studies (contra).

Will the Immigration Provisions of BBBA Withstand the Byrd Bath?

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Listing of the Day: 707 N. Ivy Street

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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Address: 707 N. Ivy Street
Neighborhood: Lyon Park
Listed: $1,389,000
Open: Saturday, December 11 and Sunday, December 12 from 1-4 p.m.

Walk to Clarendon’s Metro, shops, restaurants, parks and bike path from renovated, expanded 1920s bungalow on large, flat yard with detached, oversized garage.

Enter through the front porch to a foyer with the living room on the right and dining room on the left. These rooms flow into the kitchen with recent appliances, crisp white cabinets and granite topped island. The kitchen opens to the family room, featuring a wood burning fireplace, vaulted ceiling, wet bar and doors to large deck and patio.

The primary bedroom offers a vaulted ceiling, atrium door to the deck and space for a seating area or desk. A vaulted ceiling is repeated in the primary bathroom along with a double sink vanity, large shower and linen storage. Built-ins in the third bedroom add versatility as an office or den. The second and third bedrooms share an updated hall bath, and a powder room is also on the main level.

The lower level provides a laundry room with utility sink, storage closets and shelving. Just off the laundry room is the unfinished basement with space for gym, hobbies, wine cellar, crafts or storage.

A deep driveway leads to the detached garage with space for a car plus bike, gardening, sports and camping gear. Gardeners, children and pets will delight in the private yard with spaces for play, planting and peaceful gatherings.

Fresh paint, refinished wood floors, and shutters or wood blinds on the windows, make this home move-in ready. Enjoy a fantastic location on a pretty street blocks to Zitkala-Sa Park, and the charms and attractions of Clarendon.

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

Arts Focus: Moving Words 2022 — Arlington Transit and Arlington Arts collaboration

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
Moving Words Poetry Art Bus (courtesy Arlington Arts)

This column is sponsored by Arlington Arts/Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

The collaboration between Arlington Transit and Arlington Arts has placed poetry in motion for 23 years.

Making poetry a part of daily life for commuters by displaying the work of local poets aboard Arlington’s ART buses, submissions are now being accepted for the Moving Words Poetry Competition 2022.

Moving Words was launched in 1999 during National Poetry Month and is sponsored by Arlington Transit and Arlington Arts.

Originally held in partnership with Metrobus/WMATA, Moving Words launched a new partnership with Arlington Transit for its 16th year. A parallel Student Competition is held in the fall as the culmination of the Pick a Poet project, a partnership between Arlington Cultural Affairs and the Arlington Public Schools Humanities Project, which places professional poets in APS classrooms.

Moving Words Call for Poems (courtesy Arlington Arts)

Call for Submissions 

Poems of up to 10 lines may be submitted for consideration (submission deadline: January 15, 2022). The winning poems will be displayed inside ART buses between March and October, 2022. Last year, 211 poems were submitted for consideration by 85 poets. This year’s competition will be judged by Arlington poet Courtney LeBlanc.

Seven poems will be selected to be printed on colorful placards and displayed prominently on area buses, enlivening the ride for thousands of commuters. Each winner will also receive a $250 honorarium. Winning poems will be posted on www.ArlingtonArts.org and will be archived on the Arlington County CommuterPage.com website.

Poets who live within the D.C. Metro transit area (the Northern Virginia counties Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun and the cities Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church; the District of Columbia; and the Maryland counties Montgomery and Prince George’s) and are over 18-years old are eligible. There is no fee to enter.

Moving Words 2021 May Mei Lee Panel (courtesy Arlington Arts)

About the Judge

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the full length collections Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart (Riot in Your Throat, 2021), Beautiful & Full of Monsters (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2020), The Violence Within (Flutter Press, 2018), and All in the Family (Bottlecap Press, 2016), and a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She has an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She loves nail polish, tattoos and a soy latte each morning. She lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Submission Form

To enter, please complete the submission form by January 15, 2022. Access the firm directly at this link.

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.

Remember all of the pre-pandemic Amazon HQ2 hype?

Well, it’s still very much in motion. According to a recent WUSA-TV report, the first phase of the Pentagon City project is slated to be completed in 2023, including two office buildings, 50,000 square feet of retail space and a two-acre park for the public to enjoy.

In addition to a beautiful new complex, Amazon’s new HQ2 will bring approximately 25,000 jobs to Arlington.

Certainly as the project was announced, our area enjoyed a wonderful real estate bump. And, there is certainly more related excitement just over the horizon.

With so many factors affecting Arlington County real estate here in 2021 and well beyond, it has never been more important to have a trusted and experienced team advocating on your behalf. When that time comes, Arlington Realty, Inc. has your back. Until then, here are this week’s Just Reduced numbers.

As of December 6,  there are 94 detached homes, 43 townhouses and 240 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 21 homes experienced a price reduction in the past week:

935 S. Rolfe Street #2

Please note 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.

The future of car repair is here in time for the holidays

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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You don’t rent movies from Blockbuster anymore. You don’t do your taxes by hand. So why are you wasting hours driving, shuttling, or drinking bad coffee in stuffy waiting rooms to take care of your car?

CarCare To Go is the new car repair service that delivers trust and transparency, plus free valet pick-up and delivery from your home or office. Maintenance, repair and detailing for all makes is now as easy as ordering groceries online.

Don’t just take our word for how life-changing this service is. You can see all our reviews here. Here’s a recent favorite:”Great service — It’s like the easy button. This is just what you want these days.” –Alan, Bethesda

It’s as easy as these three steps:

  1. Book an appointment online
  2. Valets bring your vehicle to our Bethesda service center
  3. After a complimentary light clean, your vehicle is delivered right back to you

You’ll wonder why you ever took care of your car any other way.

Ask Eli: Interest rate forecasts and new loan limits

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: What do you expect from mortgage interest rates in 2022?

Answer:

Historically Low Rates

The first thing to understand about mortgage interest rates is that they are market-driven and forecasting comes with the same amount of unpredictability as any other economic/market-based forecasting (GDP, Unemployment, Stocks, etc). So take predictions/forecasts with a grain of salt.

Higher Prices Still “Manageable”

For perspective, the chart above shows the average 30yr fixed rated mortgage in the US since 1971. Historically low interest rates have been one of the main drivers of the rapid housing price appreciation we’ve witnessed over the last 12-18 months.

The charts below, courtesy of the National Association of Realtors, show that low interest rates have kept affordability, based on mortgage payments vs income, lower than the ’05-’07 housing bubble despite housing prices soaring relative to income; even higher than ’05-’06 peaks.

Forecasting Future Rates

For years, we’ve been reading/hearing pundits say that it’s hard to imagine mortgage rates getting lower, often coupled with overly salesy messaging from the real estate industry that you must buy now because rates have never been so low and likely will not remain this low much longer. The problem with those claims is that mortgage rates have been dropping for about 40 years now (with relatively minor fluctuations along the way)…

With that said, even small fluctuations in rates in the near/mid-term impact affordability and buying decisions, making forecasts for the upcoming 12-24 months relevant to those currently, or soon-to-be, active in the buyer/seller market. The chart below shows the latest 30yr fixed mortgage rate forecasts from four leading housing research sources:

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Listing of the Day: 2200 19th Court N.

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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Address: 2200 19th Court N.
Neighborhood: Lyon Village
Listed: $1,295,000

Sun streams into this pristine brick and stone end townhouse, just blocks to the Courthouse Metro and — Clarendon. The townhouse was built to Energy Star standards, ensuring comfort and energy efficiency.

Expansive living room features walk in bay window, gas fireplace flanked by built in cabinets and an office niche opening to a Juliet balcony. Wood floors continue into the dining room, separated from the kitchen by a breakfast bar. A triple arched window over the kitchen sink enhances the ample wood cabinets with pull out shelves, generous granite countertops, pro gas range and tile backsplash. A powder room completes this level.

Upstairs, the primary bedroom offers double closets, a private bathroom with long double sink vanity, oversized shower and toilet area with window. Two more bedrooms share the hall bathroom.

The entry level of the home has a foyer that leads to a den with sliding doors to the fenced yard with patio. With a full bathroom, the den can also be a guest space as well as an office. A foyer closet with Elfa organizers provides storage for outerwear and household items, and deep under-the-stair storage is available. The laundry room has cabinets and space for drying racks.

In the two car garage, there is a bump out for storing bikes, gardening, and sports equipment and a window for ventilating during hobby or craft projects.

Walk to restaurants, shops, parks, playgrounds, bike path and Innovation Elementary School — the middle school is Dorothy Hamm and the high school is Washington-Liberty.

A well loved home ready for the next buyer who values quality, style and location.

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

Neighborhood Spotlight: Let’s talk about Clarendon

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
Woman in park

What makes Clarendon a Special Neighborhood in Arlington?

Tucked in between Courthouse and Virginia Square, Clarendon is the perfect neighborhood that blends urban walkability with the suburban areas near it. Clarendon has a strong retail corridor with The Crossing Clarendon, Whole Foods Market, numerous shops and restaurants and a great mix of office tenants and residential homes — truly a special urban environment. 

Although well known for its nightlife, Clarendon also has a lively day life that includes great shopping, dining, parks and many events, such as Clarendon Day which features food vendors, arts and crafts and kids activities; the Armed Forces Cycling Classic; Music by the Metro; and the Arlington Festival of the Arts. A hidden neighborhood gem, Rocky Run Park, covers two-acres, with a multi-use oval field, a basketball court and playgrounds. 

Clarendon offers many different housing options, including apartments, condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes. “Some weekends, I literally don’t step foot into my car… I will do my grocery shopping, meet friends for dinner, pick up a last minute gift and go to a park with my dog, Spencer — all within walking distance. Living in Clarendon is truly a special thing,” says Alyssa Cannon.  

Connect with neighborhood expert Alyssa Cannon to learn more about Clarendon and other surrounding areas!  

Alyssa Cannon | 703-585-8167 | [email protected] | www.alyssacannon.com | www.McEnearney.com

Clarendon (and Nearby) Neighborhood 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.

Your Beermonger: Hardywood Gingerbread Stout

By ARLnow.com Sponsor
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This sponsored column is written by Todd Himes, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway). Sign up for the email newsletter and receive exclusive discounts and offers. Order from Arrowine’s expanding online store for curbside pickup.

I’m going to skip all of the after repeated mass marketed retail propaganda about this being the most wonderful time of the year, but I will say this is definitely something I look forward to every year, and has quickly become a really important tradition in my house.

Somewhere each year between late November and December 25, I am personally on the hunt for a bottle of a very special barrel-age stout. There are many that come out this time of year, and many people have their personal favorites.

In fact there was one quite large release last Friday that you may or may not have noticed was absent from the shelves here at Arrowine, Goose Island’s Bourbon County stout. I was pretty surprised to see quite a few articles and reactions coming out about the allocations of Goose Island’s Bourbon County stouts. It’s long been something talked about among many of my industry colleagues, but rarely do the details of such come out in such plain view.

What seemed to kick off most of the discussion was this article from the Chicago Tribune which interviews a number of Chicago area stores, some of whom had longer relationships with Goose Island than others, and it made for a pretty interesting read covering quite a few perspectives.

I can now say with a bit of pride that I’ve never professionally spent money on any of the Bourbon County stouts. Sure for myself I’ve bought a bottle or two here and there when it’s not been a hunt to find it. But truthfully for the times that I would have really wanted it, it was not available here on the east coast. Then by the time it was more widely available, many of the demands for big barrel-aged stouts were being met by its many imitators.

Then of course 2015 happened. If you followed along with Bourbon County stout for a while, you may remember 2015 as the year of the infected bottle that made it out, the subsequent recall/buyback programs and the forever altering decision to begin pasteurizing the bottles before they left, which would increase the stability of the beer, but take away some of its aging potential as a living product. Some of you may remember from my little love letter to Orval that a bottle with the ability to completely change over time and become unpredictable is certainly not the worst thing in this beermonger’s book.

However, 2015 was the first time I got my hands on a bottle of Hardywood’s Kentucky Christmas morning, and I tell you the morning of December 25 has never been the same.

Hardywood’s Gingerbread Stout first was released in 2011, and shortly thereafter began collecting many well-deserved accolades (100 points from Beer Advocate Magazine for instance), and spun off a number of different gingerbread variants (Bourbon GBS came first in 2012). There continue to be new variants added each year with varying degrees of availability. (more…)

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