relocation

Home Buyers on Google overload?

If you are looking to buy or sell a home, I’m sure you have used  Google to do most of your research. In a recent conversation with a REALTOR colleague in Falls Church, Virginia, she shared how home buyers walking into her Sunday open-house already knowing the tax assessment, local school scores, neighborhood comparables and much more. They were well versed in the subject matter (buying a home in that neighborhood) and had brought their A-game. Agents love buyers who are willing to make decisions quickly because our real estate market remains one of the most active in the country.

Home sellers have always reviewed recent comps…

now home buyers are getting well prepped

This change is good and going to get better. But there is something all the Google-ing can’t answer, and that is where a talented agent is going to shine. Knowing the Walkability Score, the school test scores, the Zestimate or the impact the power lines may have will not help understand the true motivations of the decision makers.

Here are some of my musings as I drive through the Wendover Community in Vienna, VA along Lawyers Road between Vienna and Reston.

Please contact me if you are interested in confidentially discussing your home buying options. Many of my clients are senior level technology people, established professionals, and transferees from around the country.

My e-mail address is doug@dougfrancis.com

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relocation

Filling in the Vienna Insider’s Guide… slowly

Most of the time putting together this blog is so exciting that I can’t wait to get rolling every day. But often it seems like it may never get done since every new idea breeds another, and yet another brilliant idea.  And the actual selling of real estate gets heavy too.

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!

relocation

Relocations and the restaurants dilemma

A quarter of my clients relocate from another part of the world, and they are typically eager to get out of the McLean Hilton to explore their new life in the D.C. suburbs. And a key part of that search for meaning is finding a new favorite restaurant. Not necessarily a place like Cheers, but I imagine restaurants with local personality, charm, a decent menu or wine list. It’s all part of the experience of establishing yourself any where you might be moving to, no?

Well, a few months ago when picking a client up at the hotel, I asked where she and her husband had eaten dinner. She promptly replied that they had been craving Italian food and went to the Olive Garden. Yes, my eyes rolled without her seeing me. She had been stuck in the hotel waiting hours for him to finish work, and then they went to an Italian restaurant in Vienna that is virtually indistinguishable from one in Atlanta or Phoenix.

Where is the exciting sense of adventure in that?

Relocating is fun with the excitement of starting a new life. There are always special spots that may take years to find and careful insider tips are always appreciated. So I gave them a suggestion that is a little more authentic Italian food for next time, Da Domenico located close to his office off Greensboro Drive. As it turns out, he had been there before and loved it but did not realize where it was located

It was time to get specific so I suggested they go out on a limb that night and try a special restaurant in Vienna called Bazin’s on Church Street. The next day I heard only raves about the cooking, wine list, service and the nice couple who run the place (thank you Patrick) who introduced themselves and made the evening special. Even making a special desert just for them.

Getting to know your new home town,  just a little deeper, gives extra excitement to the relocation and what the future may hold for you. And knowing some good local restaurants is a good start.

relocation

Home Buying Course 409 (Spring Semester)

Prereq: loan pre-approval 305, buyer consultation 206, cost estimate review 108, time frame 201

Okay, this isn’t a real college level class but it is at the level a home buyer needs to be if they want to take advantage of today’s real estate market. There is an “on-sale” mentality that has taken hold in our area, and home buyers who have been on the sideline are eager to buy low and finance even lower. And for those who qualify as first-time buyers, the $8,000 tax credit is stoking their burning desire to be homeowners.

The market statistics aren’t out for March ‘09 yet and not every market or agent’s results are the same, but here are some observations on my March business:

• A listing had an offer close to list price in 48 hours.
• A buyer client competed with 2 other offers on a foreclosure (we won).
• Another listing had an offer within 96% of asking within a week.
• When showing homes to relocating clients, we had agents following us with clients at almost every home we saw in Oakton and Vienna.

And an associate in my office had six transactions come together in March which is exceptional.

I recognize that trends in our marketplace run with the season and spring has sprung. There is still a healthy inventory of available homes to choose from that did not exist in the 2005 era, but more than ever you need to be prepared because there are unique factors that exist here. The primary unique factor is jobs.

The monthly job-loss numbers popped up this morning with grim national news, 663,000 jobs lost and an unemployment rate at 8.5%. The Virginia Employment Commission reported in March that Fairfax County unemployment was at 4.7%, not to mention that the average income ranks high in national statistics. So we have 95.3% of the population working with well paying jobs.

Welcome to the big leagues home buyers! When you get e-mails on those “hot, new listings”, we are going into a potential fire-fight so let’s be prepared to take action.