Oak Trees in Oakton, VA

“Doug, these trees are wonderful!” exclaimed a client last fall as we drove along Miller Heights Road in Oakton, VA looking for a home to buy.

For those of you from San Diego or Colorado, we have very large Oaks (hence “Oakton”), Maples, Sycamores, and Sweetgums that can give the impression we have forests amongst our manicured suburban landscaping. Many of these trees have grown unchecked for 50 years as Northern Virginia transformed from farmlands to residential subdivisions. And the fall season can be a wonderful site with the trees blazing yellow, red, and orange from late September into November.

Arborists will agree that your trees grow and need maintenance

This brings up the situation of what happens when you need to cut back or trim your neighbor’s trees overhanging your yard?  It is okay to do this as long as you don’t kill the tree and know that any work is at your expense. Just to keep on good terms, it is best to tell your neighbor that your tree guys are going to prune it back. Never assume that your neighbor knows a tree is overgrown or is a nuisance  since they are only seeing it from their yard, and will probably agree that the tree needs attention when they see it from your yard.

Virginia home owners should know that they can still trim back those branches or cut those nasty roots, but if your neighbor’s tree has started to cause more serious structural problems to your house, like aggressive roots that have broken through your foundation or water pipes, then you can take them to court. Yes, lawyers!

Virginia rules for tree trimming

The Virginia Supreme Court’s  ruling in Fancher v. Fagella (9/2007) dealt with a big old Sweetgum tree in a new townhouse development in Fairfax County, VA. These trees grow big, look fantastic, provide shade, are our “breathing buddies”, but also need lots of water. To find that water, they send sturdy roots everywhere. In this specific case, this nice old Sweetgum tree was a holdover from the old farm and was now stuck in between some townhouses.

As it turned out, that old tree continued to grow and impacted the neighbor’s house in search of water. One neighbor asked the other to remove the tree (which probably would have cost $3,000 to $5,000) because of the structural damage being caused by the roots. Well, things didn’t work out as planned and it wound up in the Virginia Supreme Court… and eventually the tree was cut down.

A perfect Virginia shade tree… just in the wrong place

Let me be upfront that I am not a lawyer, but I am a licensed Virginia real estate agent and a home owner who has large Oak trees on my own property. There really isn’t any change here when dealing with the above ground issues of pruning a tree or trimming your neighbor’s tree that crosses your property line. The only emphasis is that you have the ability to go to court if your neighbor’s tree is causing damage to your house such as root damage to your foundation.

If you live in Reston, VA where the Reston Association has guidelines for tree removal, you should know that they require Association approval before work can be performed.

When I was President of the Vienna Commons Association, I would get an occasional phone call from a neighbor complaining about another neighbor’s tree that hung over their yard, was hitting the roof, or dropping fruit in their yard. Back then I would respond that they had the right (in Virginia) to cut back the encroaching portion of their neighbor’s tree that overhangs the property line.

And that policy is still true today, but remember to be a good neighbor and tell your neighbor before the cutting begins. Leave a comment to share your experience trimming a neighbor’s tree.

Read More…

If you are interested in tree issues and want to learn more about the Massachusetts Rule, the Hawaii Rule, the Virginia Rule, Smith v. Holt or Fancher v. Fagella, you can read more in an article by Victor  D. Merullo.

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If you live in the Town of Vienna, VA or anywhere in Fairfax County, then you will be paying a $33 per vehicle license tax in 2010. Motorcycles will be $18.

Sorry, you won’t get a vehicle decal…

Residents used to pay an annual “decal fee” until 2008 when it was abolished. The reinstatement of this tax in 2010, due to the economic downturn, is to generate revenue for Fairfax County. But, since Vienna is a town, the tax proceeds that Fairfax County has imposed are allowed to be collected by the Town of Vienna and applied to its own budget shortfall.

The 2011 Real Estate tax rate was announced in June.

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This home has  a finished, walk-up basement with a full bath, hardwood floors on the main and bedroom levels, and the sought after finished attic space reached by a secret staircase in the master bedroom.  This is not a short sale, but is being sold “as-is” and will be part of a 1031 Starker Exchange for tax purposes (no cost to the buyer). Priced at $475,000. AR7389085

Yes, there are more photos of this home…

To see more of the photos, they are available on the Google Picassa page for this home… some are duplicates but, I feel, the more the better. Please note in the photos that the parcel behind the shed and chain-link fence  (tax ID 37-005-028) conveys so your new back yard will be 400 square feet bigger!

Now that’s cool…

The home has a (SentriLock)  lockbox for REALTORS, or you can call Doug Francis, REALTOR, for a private showing @ 703-304-6827.

See more of 1110 16TH ST S, ARLINGTON, VA 22202 on HomesDatabase

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It was finally obvious to me since I was assuming (like most people) that those folks with the ads in those glossy magazines must be the experienced ones since they were advertising those nice properties.

But, since this wasn’t my first time in Lewes, I knew that Nick or Jack had tried to sell the place (we rented) for three years and that Skip had not yet sold the other house we had rented last year. In fact, there were signs in front of a number of homes that had been there for a couple of years. Jeepers, was I the only one noticing that this market was totally different than mine?

This got me thinking about my area where I live and the perception home buyers coming to work with me  looking at real estate in Vienna, VA must come with. From the looks of it based on MRIS statistics, there really isn’t any one agent who stands-out commanding 5% of the market here but there are some agents who work with local builders who get there signs up longer than 90 days because, on average, the typical real estate sign is up far less time than 90 days in 2010. (That’s because our homes sell.)

So I arrived in Lewes applying the same Northern Virginia perspective, but, after a few days of R&R, the true picture of their local real estate market surfaced. What I am driving at is that I learned something about how I need to educate my buyer clients who are relocating from California, Florida or New York so they have a clear perspective of my our real estate market. And a key part for me is understanding what they see back home… for me to understand their perspective!

Real Estate in Northern Virginia is in high demand because there are well paying jobs here with businesses that are expanding or moving here from other parts of the country. Yes, Washington DC is 12 minutes away, Dulles International Airport is a major international airport, and Virginia is a pro-business state. Plus there are exceptional hospitals, a big tourist industry and more. These are key factors that power our local Northern Virginia real estate market.

So, to understand any real estate market, it is essential the home buyers get a clear perspective of what impacts local real estate values. Let’s since down and talk about your plans, goals and perceptions of Northern Virginia real estate.

Image by bulldog1 via Flickr

One of the hardest parts of buying a home is making an offer. Really, it isn’t easy to come up with the right offer, and I always tell my Northern Virginia real estate clients that their initial offer should be their “ideal scenario” from the start.

• Offer price, determined after looking at recent sales and condition of the home
• Closing or Settlement date, when do you really need to be in the home?

No, that isn’t everything to factor into your offer strategy but they are two essential elements because they are key starting points. Either of these can become major stumbling blocks that may stop a home seller from wanting to negotiate with you at all.

Home Seller motivations are important to understand  because sellers will typically have a bottom line number and an ideal time-frame too (an ideal scenario). I look at this information as part of a “pre-negotiation” for both seller and buyer.

Incompatible time-frames can be a real estate deal breaker

Having worked both sides of the fence here, I know it is important to communicate a home seller client’s ideal scenario to a prospective home buyer or REALTOR who has indicated that they are putting together an offer. For a recent seller client, he was very specific and wanted to settle June 23rd which was information that I shared with all interested parties. There were three competing  offers all with different offer amounts but with June 23rd as the settlement date.

One of my buyer clients submitted an aggressive offer recently on a Vienna home and, although that neighborhood has had no sales in the past two months, the seller is holding firm on the price. Unfortunately, the seller’s REALTOR shared no “ideal scenario” information that could get things moving. In fact, that home seller really isn’t negotiating at all which makes me wonder why they are listing the property in the first place? Yes, the offer is still out there and has even been improved over two weeks… yet it remains a mystery.

So, understand your “ideal scenario” before you list your home or make an offer on a home because it is essential to making sure a negotiation is even going to happen.

There are many Northern Virginia homes that have septic fields on the property designed to allow wastewater to be absorbed into the ground. Terminology is tricky here as a septic field is a septic system, and are also known as Wastewater Systems as defined in 2010 by the Virginia Department of Health.

So, this year the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation requiring that the Virginia Residential Disclosure Statement (which must be given to home buyers) include a notice to the effect that it is the buyers responsibility to be satisfied that a septic wastewater system exists on the property. Then, the buyer must determine that it is the proper size, know what type of system it is, and how to maintain it.

Here is the new language from VARBuzz.com:

WASTEWATER SYSTEM: The undersigned owner(s) makes no representations with respect to the presence of any wastewater system, including the type or size thereof or associated maintenance responsibilities related thereto, located on the property and the purchaser(s) is advised to exercise whatever due diligence the purchaser(s) deems necessary to determine the presence of any wastewater system on the property, in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event, prior to settlement pursuant to that contract.

Virginia Home Buyers should plan to hire a Septic Guy

#1 in the #2 Business!

To me, this means it will be important to get a septic guy in to evaluate a system when you have a home inspection. I’ll have to ask my plumber pal Bob Beckwith (RLB Plumbing) what he thinks about this and if he is willing to put his name on the line. Giving a septic system an evaluation is going to be a challenge since they are underground and made of sand. They literally flood the system, stab it with a stick and watch for water to emerge.

Home buyers, keep in mind that septic wastewater systems exist in McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Oakton, Fairfax and Clifton homes. My suggestion will be to budget $500 to $1,000 for a septic system inspection.

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Town of Vienna Real Estate 2011 fiscal year tax rate shall be $0.2448 per every $100 of assessed value.

The town’s real estate tax rate will be 24.48 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Town of Vienna homeowners also pay Fairfax County real estate tax of $1.09 per $100 of assessed valuation and homeowners will also pay a stormwater fee of 0.015 cents per $100 of assessed value.

In total, the tax rate is $1.3498 for Town of Vienna home owners.

The Town of Vienna provides additional information on a web site, http://www.viennava.gov/

A Dual Zone AC System

We just survived our first super-hot summer weekend in Northern Virginia and it is only mid-June! With temperatures in the 90°’s and humidity running at 70%+, this is the time of year that home owners start to see their central AC units crash.

I always recommend to my clients after they buy a home to look into service contracts with local Heating and Cooling contractors because problems always happen when temperatures are extreme. For example, a client living in Vienna once called me when it was 12° and her furnace had quit, and another called when it was 95° to say that there was a block of ice on her AC unit and her house was boiling!

Luckily I had provided them with one-year Home Buyer Warranties when they bought their homes so they had someone to call. From personal and professional real estate agent experience, I know that clients will typically call me when there isn’t heat or AC, so providing a little extra “peace of mind” for them at closing with an action plan is like putting money in the bank!

A Home Buyer Warranty plan only lasts one year… but it’s good to have.

Here are some ideas for keeping your home cool:

• keep shades drawn on extra hot days or when you are at work
• adjust plantation shutters so the slats are deflecting the sunlight
• install ceiling fans
• keep your AC set at a manageable temperature during the day
• make sure your windows are locked tight
• turn off recessed lights
• consider getting a professional “energy audit” of your home
• Switch the thermostat fan to “on” from “auto” to circulate inside air

If your AC fails on a weekend, here are a few ideas:

• check your thermostat to make sure it is on AC (move the darn switches)
• make sure the service shut-off switch (looks like a light switch) on the air handler hasn’t been accidentally switched off.
• check your circuit breaker box and make sure it hasn’t tripped the switch
• if there is a block of ice outside, let it melt and call an AC guy
• check the overflow drain pan for water

I always have home buyer clients get home inspections but problems with any HVAC system are impossible to predict. Your inspector probably gave you a report that describes your HVAC system so go back and take a look because it will refresh you memory.

If you can’t get your AC purring, then it is time to call a professional to tune up and repair the system. If it is old then be prepared to buy a new one since most older systems can not be repaired any more… read more.

Okay, I’m open to learn about your worst AC or furnace problem, anyone?

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UPDATE: OFF THE MARKET

A nice corner unit Fairfax condo (2005) that gets plenty of sun and backs to trees so it has plenty of privacy. The “Oliver” model. A new listing on June 11, 2010 has two bedrooms, two baths, a granite and stainless steel kitchen, and lots of storage space. It also features and oversize garage, and two deeded parking spaces.

The total square footage according to Fairfax County Tax records is 1,192 and has a balcony that has 145 square feet. Priced at $299,999.

Not a short sale or foreclosure

Minutes to restaurants, shopping and the movies at Fairfax Corner… and a two minute drive to Wegmans!

The community also features a pool with plenty of tables, umbrellas and chaise lounges. There is also a separate baby pool baby pool. In the club house, there is a up to date work out room that has Life Fitness treadmills, universal gym, TV and more. The club house has a nice function room.

The home is on lockbox for REALTORS, or you can call Doug Francis, REALTOR, for a private showing @ 703-304-6827.

This VDOT map of a detour plan looks like a nightmare to me, so here is where my local Vienna and McLean driving experience can help you.

Two Tysons Corner Detour Options

• Take International Drive in Tyson’s Corner which turns into Spring Hill Road, then turn right on Lewinsville Road.
• Take Route 7 and turn on Magarity Road to Great Falls Street.

When I am with some real estate clients this weekend, I think we will avoid the whole Tysons Corner area or at least give it a wide berth.

Like I have said, living in Northern Virginia requires you to have a driving strategy.

Any thoughts on this project? Leave a comment!

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