Welcome to New Homes, a biweekly column highlighting the new construction real estate market, written by Conor Sullivan and Dave Moya of Three Stones Residential at Keller Williams Realty. We are here to share our experience and expertise in lot acquisition, financing and construction of custom homes. 

First, we need to understand who the top builders and influencers are that are reshaping our communities…

Deciding to build your own custom home does not need to be scary, nor does it have to be stressful. However, it does mean you will have to make a ton of decisions from insulation type to lighting fixtures, door trim, and dozens of other areas. That is why finding the 3 “R” are critical to success and happiness when building a new home.

Right Builder, Right Time, Right Lot.

Here are five reasons to build, not buy, your next home:

  1. Get What You Want — When you build your own home, you are involved from the ground up, choosing the style, colors, size of your home, the number of bedrooms, etc. to create the home you have been dreaming of.
  2. Walk Into Equity — When you are able to find your own lot and hire a custom home builder with an average profit margin, you typically walk into immediate equity in the home once it’s completed.
  3. New Home Smell And Warranties — Nothing beats the feeling of driving a car nobody else but you have owned, with that new car smell. The same applies for a house: building a new home typically means less repairs and maintenance which can save both time and money.
  4. Green Features — Homes that are more than 10-15 years old did not always have features that took the environment into mind. When you build your own home, green features could be added easily, and with some builders come standard.
  5. Location, Location, Location — The most important term in real estate! When looking to build your own home, it is generally easier to find the location or neighborhood you want to live in, and build the home you want.

Without further ado, here are some current options for buying new homes in Arlington:

Three Stones Residential specializes in matching home owners with the right builder and lot location. If you have any questions about new homes or builders that you’d like us to highlight please email us at [email protected].


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:

3818 Stafford Street N.
5 BD/4 BA, 1 half bath single-family home
Agent: Washington Fine Properties, Llc
Listed: $2,250,000
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

 

5260 25th Road N.
5 BD/4 BA, 1 half bath single-family home
Agent: Redfin Corporation
Listed: $1,044,900
Open: Saturday 1-4 p.m.

 

4500 41St Street N.
3 BD/3 BA single-family home
Agent: Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc
Listed: $940,000
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

2702 Lee Highway 3B
2 BD/2 BA, 1 half bath condo
Agent: Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc
Listed: $789,000
Open: Sunday 12-2 p.m.

 

658 15th Street S. #A
3 BD/2 BA, 1 half bath condo
Agent: Century 21 Redwood Realty
Listed: $640,000
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

4132 36th Street S.
1 BD/2 BA condo
Agent: Ttr Sotheby’s International Realty
Listed: $424,900
Open: Saturday 12-2 p.m.

 

1121 Arlington Boulevard #808
1 BD/1 BA condo
Agent: Fairfax Realty Select
Listed: $174,000
Open: Saturday 2-4 p.m.


Ribbon Cutting for Revamped Rosslyn Safeway — “Safeway will unveil renovations to its Rosslyn store at 1525 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, VA, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for 10 am on Friday, July 12.” [Press Release]

More on Real Estate Boom Forecast — “Real estate agents and local economists said inventories are so sparse that some popular Zip codes in Arlington and Alexandria show no homes for sale at all. They added that investors are pouring into the market, looking to turn homes into rental properties.” [Washington Post, InsideNova]

Acosta Signs Books in Clarendon — CNN correspondent Jim Acosta showed up to an sparsely-populated Barnes and Noble store in Clarendon for a “surprise signing” of his book “The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America.” [Twitter]

Workers Vote for Strike at DCA — “On June 12, airline food workers who prepare, pack, and deliver food and beverages served onboard American Airlines flights departing from Reagan National Airport voted 100% to strike when released by the National Mediation Board.” [Press Release]

New Local Store at DCA — “The District of Columbia Department of Small & Local Business Development (DSLBD) and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) today celebrated the grand opening of the Made in DC retail pop-up at Reagan National Airport, providing a new national and international presence for local makers and small business owners.” [Press Release]

ARLnow’s Press Release Section — For the next week, we’re experimenting with posting press releases directly on a special section of our site. Let us know what you think. [ARLnow]

Photo by Vernon Miles


Just Listed highlights Arlington properties that just came on the market within the past week. This feature is written and sponsored by Team Cathell, “Your Orange Line Specialists.”

Arlington’s real estate market continues at a strong summer pace and more good news landed on Arlington’s doorstep this week.

Sellers listed 72 homes this week, and buyers ratified 64 contracts. Some 34 of those homes sold within a week. This pushed the average days on market down to just 14. With only 241 homes actively for sale, and at this pace of absorption, Arlington’s inventory rate has again dropped below one month’s supply.

The exciting news is that Virginia Tech announced this week that it is opening a new “Innovation Campus” for graduate students near Amazon’s HQ2 locations. The VA Tech campus will be just over Arlington’s border by the Regal Theatres in Potomac Yards in Alexandria.

When completed in 10 years, it will accommodate over 1,000 masters and doctoral students. Like HQ2, this will undoubtedly have a major impact on the local area’s economy, demand on housing and new business growth.

This week saw a surge in new mortgage applications both for purchase and refinance. Refinance applications were up 97% from a year ago, and purchase applications were up 27%. Mortgage professionals recommend locking in your interest rate right away as rates could start to go back up.

The Federal Reserve has hinted its concern about disappointing jobs reports and the effects of trade wars on economic growth. It has indicated it may reduce its short-term bank rate later this year to invigorate growth. A slowing economy may push mortgage rates higher.

The 30-yr fixed rate remains at 3.82% according to Freddie Mac but could start inching upward as soon as close of business today. So, check with your lender and considering locking in before rates change.

Click to see all the fresh new inventory in MRIS and call Team Cathell (703-975-2500) when you find a home you like.


More Arlington Real Estate Optimism — “According to a report released Wednesday by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors and the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis, the median home price in Arlington County is on track to spike 17.2 percent by the end of 2019.” [Washingtonian]

‘Rock the Row’ Starts Tonight — The United States Navy Band Country Current will perform tonight at Pentagon Row for the shopping center’s annual Rock the Row outdoor concert series. Concerts will be held every Thursday from 7-9 p.m. at the Pentagon Row plaza, through Aug. 1. [Pentagon Row]

Yorktown Girls Cap Off Stellar Soccer Season — “The Yorktown Patriots completed an unbeaten girls soccer season on June 8 at Hermitage High School near Richmond by winning the Virginia High School League’s Class 6 state-tournament championship.” [InsideNova, InsideNova]


Amazon Driving Commercial Property Sales — “An office building and an apartment building near the future Amazon HQ2 campus in Northern Virginia have recently hit the market, the latest in a wave of property owners looking to cash in on rising values from the tech giant’s arrival.” [Bisnow]

Continued Amazon Boost for Residential Real Estate — “The Amazon HQ2 effect continues to drive the Arlington County market. The median price of the 289 sales in Arlington in May was $615,000, up 9.8 percent from a year ago.” [WTOP]

Activists to Continue Resistance to Amazon — “Amazon is apparently here to stay. But so are the local activists who fought incentives for the tech giant in the first place. Monday evening, organizers from the coalition For Us Not Amazon held a forum at Clarendon Presbyterian Church in which they laid out next steps in their resistance efforts against Amazon.” [WAMU]

Community to Celebrate Resident’s 100th Birthday — “Four generations of family and a host of admirers descended on Calloway United Methodist Church the afternoon oj June 8 for a 100th-birthday salute to Birdie Alston, an icon of the Halls Hill-High View Park community.” [InsideNova]

Closures for 5K Race in Pentagon City — “The Zero Prostate Cancer 5K Race will take place on Saturday, June 15th, 2019. The Arlington County Police Department will conduct the following road closures from approximately 7:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M. to accommodate the event: South Joyce Street, between South 15th Street and Army Navy Drive [and] Army Navy Drive, between South Joyce Street and South 25th Street.” [Arlington County]

Photo courtesy Mashalette/Instagram


Each week, “Just Reduced” spotlights properties in Arlington County whose price have been cut over the previous week. The market summary is crafted by licensed broker Aaron Seekford of Arlington Realty, Inc. GET MORE out of your real estate investment with Aaron and his team by visiting www.arlingtonrealtyinc.com or calling 703-836-6116 today!

Please note: While Aaron Seekford provides this information for the community, he may not be the listing agent of these homes.

For all of the Arlingtonians with kiddos, summer is upon us!

The Arlington County Public Schools calendar has big circles around June 19 (the last day for high schoolers) and June 21 (the last day for elementary and middle schoolers). And, of course, if your kids are enrolled in another school system or private school, those dates may be slightly different.

So, what are you going to do with your summer?

On the real estate front, this can absolutely be one of the busiest times of the year. Many families take the summer to sell their existing home and, ideally, find a new home to move into before the new school year starts. If you fall within that category of buyer, or simply want to explore your options, there’s no time like the present and let’s get moving.

When you’re ready to get rolling on your summer home search, our team is ready to help you GET MORE out of your transaction.

As of June 10, there are 161 detached homes, 16 townhouses and 105 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 22 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 Aaron Seekford.


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: Are you seeing a sharp increase in the asking prices of homes in Arlington, as reported by Realtor.com, since Amazon announced HQ2?

Answer: You guessed it, the national media is wrong about Arlington’s housing market (sort of). I don’t mean to jump on the Fake News bandwagon, but a few weeks ago Realtor.com ran a misleading article, that got a ton of coverage here, stating that the median asking price of homes in Arlington were up $110,000 or 17.3% from November 2018 to April 2019.

I was suspicious of their report because I’m not seeing that type of increase in the asking prices of homes across Arlington, so I dug into the numbers a bit more to understand why the data looks that way.

Technically, they weren’t wrong/lying but like most reports about local markets, they chose the version of the data with the biggest numbers to generate the most clicks and reposts without regard to whether it’s an accurate representation of our market.

The Truth Is In The Details

The reason the median price is up so much isn’t because owners are actually asking that much more for homes, it’s because the number of homes listed from January-May 2019 vs January-May 2018 for under $700k is down nearly 27% compared to a decrease of just over 9% for homes over $700k.

This has shifted the middle/median up substantially, but doesn’t actually indicate owners are asking more for their homes rather that there’s just less availability of homes under $700k.

For reference, the average listing price is up just 5.6%, to $782,156, in the first five months of 2019, a more accurate representation of the actual increase to asking prices.

The main reason for the drop-off in housing supply below $700k is the decrease in 1-2 BR condos, as detailed in the chart below:

To highlight how easy it is to manipulate housing data to show the opposite of what Realtor.com claims to be happening in our market, I looked at three sub-markets to compare how median price is changing within similar housing stock.

Looking at cross-sections of a local market with similar housing stock allows us to draw a more accurate picture of what’s actually happening, but even the chart below is misleading because it suggests asking prices are dropping this year, which isn’t true.

So What’s Actually Happening?

Over the last few months I have started to see asking prices increase. Occasionally I’ll see an asking price 15-20%+ higher than where it would’ve been last year, but mostly it seems asking prices for similar types of homes are up by 3-5% which is why you’re still seeing so many homes sell for above ask because most market values have increased by more than that (I’ve teed this one up perfectly for famed ARLnow commenter $4 Million to Heirs Annually).

Next month I’ll be working closely with Jeannette Chapman of George Mason University’s Fuller Institute to provide a detailed look at the Arlington housing market through the first half of 2019. I’m looking forward to collaborating with Jeannette on multiple columns to bring you more advanced market studies and opinions.

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 Real Living At Home, 2420 Wilson Blvd #101 Arlington, VA 22201, (202) 518-8781.


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:

4036 24th Road N.
5 BR/4 BA, 1 half bath single-family home
Agent: Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.
Listed: $1,479,000
Open: Sunday 1-3 p.m.

 

111 N. Highland Street
4 BR/2 BA, 1 half bath single-family home
Agent: Keller Williams Realty
Listed: $1,049,900
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

1709 S. Quincy Street
4 BR/3 BA single-family home
Agent: Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.
Listed: $839,999
Open: Sunday 2-4 p.m.

 

3625 10th Street N. #608
2 BR/2 BA, 1 half bath condo
Agent: Mcenearney Associates, Inc.
Listed: $749,000
Open: Saturday 1-4 p.m.

 

851 N. Glebe Road #1304
2 BR/2 BA condo
Agent: Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.
Listed: $649,000
Open: Sunday 1-4 p.m.

 

4227 35th Street S.
1 BR/2 BA condo
Agent: Kw Metro Center
Listed: $459,900
Open: Saturday 1-4 p.m.

 

989 Buchanan Street S. #205
1 BR/1 BA condo
Agent: Mcwilliams/Ballard, Inc.
Listed: $309,9016
Open: Saturday 12-4 p.m.


Just Listed highlights Arlington properties that just came on the market within the past week. This feature is written and sponsored by Team Cathell, “Your Orange Line Specialists.”

Arlington has blasted into the summer real estate market with a vengeance, setting a record for the year.

Sellers listed a whopping 91 homes for sale this week, the most so far this year. And buyers ratified a remarkable 78 contracts with 36 of those homes selling within a week. This could be a harbinger of what to expect for the summer: a sizzling hot market.

Certainly the demand has been there all year. The shortage of homes for sale has held back the number of transactions. Sellers should be getting the memo that NOW is a great time to list their home.

Buyers were handed some great news this week as interest rates dropped again to the lowest level since December 2017. The 30-yr fixed rate dropped to 3.85%. A year ago the rate was 4.54%.

The bad news for buyers: the cost of a new home will be going up as 5% tariffs will be imposed on Mexican products starting on Monday. The U.S. imports many home building products from Mexico such as steel and concrete.

Tight inventories are now effecting the rental market as well. Concessions to renters to entice them to sign up have dropped 30% since a year ago, and landlords are raising rent prices 3.1% on average.

Click to see all the fresh new inventory in MRIS and call Team Cathell (703-975-2500) when you find a home you like.


Each week, “Just Reduced” spotlights properties in Arlington County whose price have been cut over the previous week. The market summary is crafted by licensed broker Aaron Seekford of Arlington Realty, Inc. GET MORE out of your real estate investment with Aaron and his team by visiting www.arlingtonrealtyinc.com or calling 703-836-6116 today!

Please note: While Aaron Seekford provides this information for the community, he may not be the listing agent of these homes.

Today is World Environment Day.

In honor of our blue and green planet, there are a few simple things you can do around your home to protect/preserve our environment (and save a few bucks while you’re at it).

First, before we enter the dog days of summer here, check out your insulation. This may include your door sealings, windows, ducts and more. If they are not properly sealed, you are literally letting money (and precious cool air!) slip away.

Another quick tip, thinking about donating your unwanted items and not trashing them. There are plenty of folks in our community that would consider your trash to be treasure and there’s an environmental component to recycling goods, too.

Just think, by donating and having your items re-used, those items aren’t immediately going to a local landfill.

And, finally, think about how your water is being utilized. Is that showerhead efficient? Are you leaving your faucets running when you’re on the other side of your residence? Is that water heater still functional? In addition to preserving resources, your wallet will thank you.

When you’re ready to find the home of your dreams in Arlington, our team is ready to help you GET MORE out of your transaction.

As of June 3, there are 158 detached homes, 18 townhouses and 96 condos for sale throughout Arlington County. In total, 10 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 Aaron Seekford.


View More Stories