Doug's Southern Hawthorne Tree

The 40th Earth Day arrived today and the weather is truly spectacular in Northern Virginia. This year the focus across the board is on energy efficiency and replacing older appliances with Energy Star qualified appliances like A/C or heating systems, hot water heaters or refrigerators. Like I wrote last week, the Commonwealth of Virginia has started a rebate program and there may also be tax credits available to you.

Invasive Plants | Vienna’s Northside Park

This Sunday morning I will be helping the Northeast Vienna Citizens Association’s (NEVCA) project in Northside Park removing invasive plant species and replacing them with native plants. NEVCA received a grant from Fairfax County and volunteers are encourage to participate as this is the second phase of the project.

When I have selected plantings for my home, I have selected native species that would thrive in our climate plus show their natural beauty. I selected the Southern Hawthorne Trees in my front yard and have always had compliments. Their foliage is dense so they create privacy, they bloom with wonderful white flowers in the spring, turn wonderful colors in the fall, and display bright red berries until January or until the birds pick the trees clean. Overall a nice selection as mature trees add value to real estate resale values.

Town of Vienna VA Green Expo is tonight

The Town of Vienna, VA is a member of the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree City USA program and is celebrating Earth Day and Arbor Day with an evening activity at the Vienna Community Center on Park Street. There will be a tree planting at 6:00 p.m.

Hope to see you there, and please say hi!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Vienna home is a deal close to the W&OD Bike Trail! (dougfrancis.com)
• 10 Places to Volunteer Around the U.S. During Earth Week (blisstree.com)

The kids in Fairfax County, VA didn’t have school for almost two weeks and were stuck at home building snow forts, sledding down typically busy streets, and developing cases of cabin-fever.

Here is a window showing me, Doug Francis, at home dodging the snow.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Your house has an ice dam? (dougfrancis.com)

Image by Rob Ireton via Flickr

Considering buying a home with a central air conditioning or a heat pump system now that another Northern Virginia summer is approaching? Well it is essential that you know that as of January 1, 2010, manufacturers aren’t going to build any new systems using R-22 refrigerant or any new spare parts for those existing systems using R-22. And, virtually all those old HVAC systems use R-22 to work their magic.

Eliminating a Greenhouse Gas at home

The 1992 Montreal Protocol was amended to phase out HCFCs (Hydro chlorofluorocarbons), commonly referred to as a Greenhouse Gas, which have been identified as causing damage to the ozone layer. The refrigerant known as R-22 is HCFC-22. The U.S. EPA implements Title VI of the Clean Air Act, and the 1st of January was an important phase-out date under the amended Montreal Protocol.

This situation came to light recently when a RE/MAX Presidential colleague was called out of town and his buyer client’s had a home inspection on a cute little Vienna, Virginia home. The home inspector must have pointed out that the Lennox system was from 1992 (yes, there is a manufacture date on the label) and that it would need replacement when it pooped out.

In the meantime, there are home buyer warranty programs that have coverage for existing R-22 systems in the first year which addressed the buyer’s concerns. This specific R-22 coverage is new, but like all types of insurance they have limits and fine print for pre-existing conditions. It is best for home sellers to provide this coverage (costs about $450 at closing) to the buyer in case service is needed in the first year.

Home Owners should budget now to replace R-22 heat pump systems

If you are a current home owner like me who has an R-22 heat pump system, then it may be time to start budgeting for a replacement heat pump or A/C system. Most systems now meet EPA Energy Star standards and qualifications using a replacement refrigerant like Puron® or SUVA 410A®. New Energy Star units use considerably less electricity and the savings are significant and almost pay for themselves over five years.

Only a licensed HVAC contractor can calculate what type of system you will need to install to properly heat or cool your home. Using the square footage of your home and other factors, they will determine the proper “tonnage” of your compressor unit. Too big and it won’t work properly. Today’s systems are quieter outside and have multi-speed air handlers for better air flow inside.  But remember, gget a few estimates and the highest SEER rating that fits your needs.

Make sure to get a few estimates of replacement systems, and make sure that your system qualifies for the $1,500.00 Energy Star Tax Credit.

The EPA has published consumer guidelines that may be helpful if you are concerned about this issue or are planning to replace your R-22 Air Conditioner or Heat Pump system this year.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 5 Home Improvements To Do In 2010 (huffingtonpost.com)
• Can Closing the Ozone Hole Also Help Combat Climate Change? (scientificamerican.com)
• That’s One Hot House! (dougfrancis.com)

Well here is this week’s tip from Roto-Rooter Plumbing and Drain Service:

~ watch the pumpkin pulp and seeds ~

It seems that while we are enjoying pumpkin pies upstairs in the dining room with the family,  the pulp that we shoved down the garbage disposal is coating our sewer laterals waiting for more debris to catch. And then, typically on a weekend, clogging up and causing a dreaded back up in the basement. Yes, a plumbing nightmare!

Here are Roto-Rooter’s tips:

	Never put pumpkin pulp or seeds down the toilet, sink drain or in the garbage disposer. The stringy, sticky gunk hardens and clogs drains and disposers. Carve pumpkins on a thick bed of newspaper. Wrap up pumpkin-related materials and throw away in the garbage can or compost pile. Separate the seeds, then roast for a tasty treat. Or grow your own pumpkins by planting this year’s seeds early next spring.

The Northside Park Invasive Management Team Training is set to meet from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Glyndon Street side of the park. From Route 123, turn at the TD Bank and continue up Glyndon Street NE until it dead-ends at the Park and Vienna Property Yard.

Volunteers should bring gloves and wear comfortable, protective clothing such as long sleeve shirts and long pants. You may want to wear water proof shoes or boots.

For more information, contact Vienna Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Salgado at 703-255-6356 or via e-mail @ csalgado@viennava.gov

One of the cases involved a town house with three offers, all below the asking price, and the seller was holding firm.

Hey, people seemed to be lining up so why not hold out for more money? They were already selling at a loss and the press seems to be reporting a “pick-up” in the real estate market. And isn’t this a real estate negotiation strategy?

Well, not really.

When I took over, the offers were already about ten days old and the buyers were losing interest, fast… and the buyer agents were getting impatient. The story is more involved but I’ll just get to the meat.

The sellers had tried to wheel and deal verbally, but agents know that they need to see counter-offers in writing. And then, one of the buyers withdrew their offer. The two remaining were also threatening to walk. [side note: most real estate offers in Virginia do not have written deadlines unless specified by the buyer or seller]

When the seller decided to take action, I scanned in the paperwork and uploaded it to DocuSign, my digital signature service. The seller was impressed with the ease of the technology, clicked where instructed and the counter was ready. Sent! And promptly REJECTED!

So they countered the second offer, and it was accepted with a minor change and “clean-up”.

“We want it back by 5:30 or it is withdrawn,” said the buyer agent.

Since Mrs. Seller works in Washington D.C. and Mr. Seller works in Fairfax, Virginia, getting the “cleaned-up”, accepted contract quickly signed using digital signatures helped save the best contract of the three. Waiting was a gamble that almost back-fired, and if the technology had not been in place then they would have been back to square one.

As a result, my older concepts get back-logged as I try to produce relevant, topical new posts. But I’m sticking with the game plan and filling in some pages as I go… heavily anticipating my next review coming in mid October with “the team” over a few cups at Starbucks.

I have completed two new pages in the “Insider’s Section” that I hope you will check out and give me some feedback. Think like you are planning to move to Northern Virginia and your best friend from college, Jimbo, suggested Vienna because he lived here in the 1990′s.

The first new page is: Vienna Town Green

The other new page is: Meadowlark Botanical Garden in Vienna 

So take a look for now, and I hope to keep on filling in the blanks (and I’m open to ideas).

Cheers!

My motivation to add this technology came when a client faxed back a counter-offer to my office in June and it was unreadable. People just aren’t faxing as much, and when they find a fax machine it is probably more than five years old, and as you know, real estate agreements need to be in writing to be enforceable.

So, I needed to find a good solution.

Over the years, clients have faxed things to me from almost every office building in Tyson’s Corner, McLean, Reston, and many in DC. But I have also received them from cruise ships in the South Pacific, the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Barbados, Ireland, England, India, Russia, Germany, El Salvador and Canada.

Then, in July, an agent e-mailed a counter-offer to me with a digital signature and digital initials where necessary. Clean, professional, and with documentation that it was genuine, I knew that I needed to investigate.

Maybe I had just found my solution?

So starting today, July 31, 2009, my clients will be able to sign documents electronically saving them time, image quality, and the hassle of finding a fax machine. When I send a document for initials or signatures, I will clearly identify each spot with an electronic post-it note where you will need to take action. In most cases, you need to click on the post-it note and DocuSign will place your signature or initials.

Once you have done your electronic signing, you will save the page(s) as a PDF file for your records, then e-mail me the document as an attachment. Simple and easy!

Land Development next to Vienna Metro Station

That means taking down trees, and then grade the land… so there wasn’t any visible sewer or road work from my vantage point at the Vienna Metro. I will try and keep this post updated when I know more. Thanks!

(Original Post)

Town of Vienna officials, Vienna and Fairfax youth sports organizations, and residents have expressed their concerns for years over the impact that MetroWest, a mixed-use development project, will have on the lifestyle of the surrounding communities due to the high number of new residents seeking services such as playing-time on athletic fields.

MetroWest will be located on 55 acres located just south of the Vienna – Fairfax – GMU  Metro Rail Station. This project is part of a Smart Growth or Green initiative with a more urban design concept to promote use of public transit with a stated goal of reducing the number of car “trips” per day.

But just recently, on July 13th, 2009, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to allow the developers to substitute 700,000 square feet of residential space with an equal amount of office space.

And the big adjustment…

What caught my eye was the sharp reduction in housing units. According to the developer’s web site (circa 2004), there were 2,248 residential units planned and approved, but this change has reduced that number to 1,174 residential housing units. Since the plan was created in the midpoint of the decade there has been a major correction in the housing market.

About 3/4 of a mile from the Vienna Town Green at the Town line of the W&OD bike trail there is a well marked turn into Northside Park and about a year ago the final phase of the connector was completed. The result is that it’s now incredibly easy to get into the north east side of town, where I live! In my opinion this is a new selling point…

If you like to bike for fun, bike to work, or want a place to walk for exercise then you may have found a new place to live… contact me for other good insider ideas.

There is a gravel trail for horseback riding, walking or running.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bike and Hiking Trails in the Metro DC Region (dougfrancis.com)