This little exercise helped me see that my blog is unique, and not like the other 99,000 real estate web sites that simply give you a gateway to the MLS home-search info. Yes, you can search for homes here (see the Search Real Estate page) using two excellent home search tools if you want, but, I was doing something more. Much more.

dougfrancis.com covers my day-to-day real estate business

I discovered a subtle theme here that I really liked. This little blog covered the day-to-day, street level, gritty local Vienna VA real estate action that I have experienced in a rather challenging market. And the goal of most posts is to give readers insight into what my real estate clients were going through getting a mortgage, understanding their home inspection, comparing Zestimates with reality or negotiating traffic.

I didn’t start this post just to toot my own horn, but to encourage readers or other bloggers to take a minute and read a little. Writing about the real estate business is easy because there is virtually an endless supply of material that other home sellers or home buyers can appreciate when they are faced by similar situations. It challenging, but there is a lot of fun in it!

What do you think?

Vote for DougFrancis.com right now

Now, this might just add a little sunshine to my day if you take a minute and give me the “thumbs-up”. Thanks for your vote.

By the way… my primary purpose is still selling real estate in Northern Virginia!

The consequences may cost you your Earnest Money Deposit and more.

Really, the main purpose of writing my blog is to inform my real estate clients in Northern Virginia about issues that will impact them selling a home, buying a home, getting a mortgage, having a home inspection or removing an oil tank. Yes, getting mentioned on a big-time web site like MSN.com is a thrill, but also indicates to me that I am on the right track giving advice that is informative. What do you think?

If you are planning to buy or sell a home in Northern Virginia, please read through the buyer or seller tip sections and then give me a ring so we can discuss your plans.

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• Saw this on MSN Money today (mytotalmoneymakeover.com)

Next to INOVA Fairfax Hospital

As I get prepared for my annual summer vacation trek up to Maine and Rhode Island, one of my things-to-do is to stop by the INOVA Blood Donor Center on Woodburn Road in Annandale, VA. For the past few years, planning to go away has been a good reminder that I should walk in and spend an hour with some of the most dedicated people in the medical field.

Have you donated blood this year?

This year, I want to encourage everyone to spend an hour donating a pint of blood. Did you know that more than half the population is excluded from donating blood? Read through this article from INOVA.

To make an appointment with INOVA Blood Donor Services read more here and make an appointment for sometime this week. Someone is going to be needing it very soon!

Now you can go on vacation…

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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• Man fatally falls from ladder while trimming tree (mysanantonio.com)
• The value of trees (mysanantonio.com)
• Earth Day in Vienna, VA 2010 (dougfrancis.com)

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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• Town of Vienna Real Estate Tax Rate 2010-2011 (dougfrancis.com)
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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 via Wikipedia

If you are planning to watch the fireworks in Vienna, VA on July 4th, 2010, then you should know that they will be set off at a new location for the second year. Yup, it’s a change-up this year blasting off at 9:15 at Southside Park.

Although I have been living in Vienna almost 20 years, this hidden location in Vienna Woods is off the beaten path even for this Vienna real estate guy!

Vienna’s fireworks display has moved?

View Larger Map
The Town of Vienna has posted an events schedule for the day’s events at the Vienna Community Center, and a map showing the fireworks site and areas to sit and watch the fireworks on July 4th, 2010.

Have a safe and fun 4th, and hope to see you there.

Let me know, here in the blog with a comment, what you thought of the show and new venue!

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• Town of Vienna Real Estate Tax Rate 2010-2011 (dougfrancis.com)
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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.