Arlington County, Virginia Among the Smartest Places in the World

We are so smart!  Arlington County Virginia that is.

Arlington County has been named one of 21 “Smart Communities” by the Intelligent Community Forum, a think tank that studies the economic and social development of the 21st Century community.

Wow!  Arlington County Virginia was selected to qualify for being a Smart21 community, from about 400 jurisdictions across the world that submitted applications for the designation.  The group that looks at this — the Intelligent Community Forum — looks at planning, transit, education and civic involvement to determine which communities make the list.

Take a look at this list of communities that made the cut:

The Smart21 of 2010

• Arlington County, Virginia USA; population: 210,000
• Ballarat, Australia; population: 88,000
• Besancon, France; population: 122,000
• Bristol, Virginia, USA; population: 17,590
• Dakota County, Minnesota, USA; population: 398,500
• Danville, Virginia, USA; population: 42,000
• Dublin, Ohio, USA; population: 40,000
• Dundee, Scotland; population: 142,000
• Eindhoven, The Netherlands; population: 733,000
• Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia; population: 500,000
• Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada; population: 65,000
• Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; population: 1,148,000
• Porto Alegre, Brazil; population: 1,416,000
• Riverside, California, USA; population: 296,800
• Suwon, Korea; population: 52,000
• Tallinn, Estonia; population: 404,000
• Taoyuan County, Taiwan; population: 1,970,000
• Tel Aviv, Israel; population: 391,300
• Tianjin Binhai, China; population: 2,020,000
• Trikala, Greece; population 51,900
• Windsor-Essex, Ontario, Canada; population: 393,400

I haven’t seen a lot of media hype about this, but to me it’s pretty big news.  And three of the five U.S. locations are in Virginia.  I’m so proud

Arlington VA “Abbie” results are in

More than 5,000 Arlingtonians voted for their favorite local businesses and venues in the 2009 People’s Choice Arlington Best Business “ABBIE” Awards, Arlington County officials announced today. Among the winners:

Whitlow’s on Wilson Bar & Grill won Best Neighborhood Bar and Best Happy Hour
Lost Dog Café won for both Best Family Friendly Restaurant and Best “Bargain” Restaurant
Lost Dog Cafe’s south Arlington location on Columbia Pike won Best New Business

I’ve been to both of these restaurants more than once over the years, and I can personally vouch that they’ve consistently served great food in a casual atmosphere.

New category winners:

• ShoeFly for Best Boutique
• Carlyle for Best Brunch
• The Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) for Best Community-Based Nonprofit
• Tony-award winning Signature Theatre for Best Performing Arts Organization

I always say it — Arlington County has a lot to offer in a small (make that convenient) package.  If you haven’t visited these places, you should try them.  You’ll like them.

ssshhhhh … listen

Something most people definitely do NOT do enough of.

Cool real estate stuff

 

Sometimes it’s just so easy to justify spending time surfing the internet, telling yourself you’re doing work.  For everyone, I know, but especially as a realtor.  There is a lot of “work related” information on the web.

Yesterday I was investigating dining room chairs (for myself, not for staging, sshhh!), when I found a photo of the house on the left.  I fell in love.  Why doesn’t Arlington VA have more of this sort of home available? Why oh why?  Check here for more info and photos, but then come back… because … I also found a really nice source for table legs.  Wasn’t looking for it, but found it anyway.  Let’s add a new dining room table to the project list.  And finally, I’m thinking about pairing these Herman Miller chairs with a mid-century table.  Whatcha think?

Ok, now, back to work …

‘Tis the season

As we all start to feel more generous around these Holiday times, what better thing to give than your time.  Arlington County has recently posted a good number of volunteer opportunities for people to get involved in their community.  I haven’t decided which of these I’ll do, but I’m already committed to making my monthly Wheels-on-Meals run so that some of the elderly in our community can enjoy a nice meal alongside the knock on the door and friendly hello that means even more.

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Without a doubt, buying or selling a home creates stress.  Just the move alone is enough to stop many people from taking the plunge and changing their home address.  But sometimes you just have to make the move. (Many times you want to, and then it can be a lot more fun, though still stressful.)

Here are some of the main stressors:

- not feeling fully informed

- uncertainty

- finances (of course, probably the biggest stress of them all!)

- logistics involved in the transaction

In the end, it all boils down to the agent you have on your side.  Are they competent?  know what their doing? focused on you? able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?  mix their metaphors?

I was out this weekend looking at townhouses with a client who – like many of us – seeks perfection.  And honestly, what he’s looking for just doesn’t exist.  An all-brick townhouse within walking distance of the orange line for about $500,000 — oh and completely renovated with large windows and not on a main road.   If you have something like that for sale please let me know about it!

I’ve been working with this client for a few months now, showing him properties so that he can see for himself what is out there.  When I’m working with someone to find them a home, I spend a good deal of my energy getting a read on what THEY like, what suits THEM, and I listen to THEM.  My goal is not to get the sale, but to make sure my client is satisfied, because I have trouble sleeping at night if I think I’ve cared more about the deal than the person.  And of course in the end the road to a successful real estate career is forged by caring for your clients and doing right by them.

Anyway, I do digress.  After many hours this client asked me whether or not I thought a home he was considering was a good candidate.  Now I didn’t want to interfere in him making his own decision on the house, but I also told him what I thought.  No.  No. No.  Not good.  Don’t buy it.  Rent instead.  What he seeks may be impossible to find, so he’s either got to give on something or just rent.  He doesn’t want to give, so just rent.  I can’t change the market, but I can help you figure it out.

He’s stressing big time because he can’t find perfection.  Just say “ohm” and accept the market. You can’t change it, but you can decide how you will react to it.  I don’t just want to sell you something, I’d like you to be happy with me, not resentful.  And I’m pretty good at knowing a good house purchase when I see one.

Help to help with all of your real estate needs in Arlington, Virginia.

— Christine Rich, 703-362-7764

And now a refreshing change from data …

Despite the recent focus in this blog on numbers, I’m actually a pretty visual person.  I like to look at things, and remember them better if I see them – which I why I preview a lot of homes because nothing is quite the same as seeing them in person.

I especially appreciate symmetry and color and pattern.

So today I’d like to pass along my recent interest in designer David Hicks. The reason this designer came to my awareness was his wallpaper.  I was looking around for mid-century design elements when I stumbled on these patterns.  I especially like the geometric design.

Now other than some of his designs I don’t know a lot about this designer, so maybe I should read the newly published book by his son.  That book has caused renewed attention to his father, something it seems David Hicks enjoyed while in the prime of his career during the 1960s – 1970s.

Thank goodness I’m not a reporter

because I’m sure I’ve already been out-scooped with the news about the extension of the home buyers tax credit.

The Homebuyer Tax Credit has not only been extended, but it has also been expanded to include current homeowners.

The following are features of the new bill:

• Deadline for current credit is November 30, 2009.
• Deadline for new and improved credit is April 30, 2010, as long as the home is under contract by that date; the deal must close within 60 days.

The eligibility for and amount of new credit is as follows:

• $8,000 for first-time homebuyers (those who have not owned a home in the last three years).
• Up to $6,500 credit for homeowners who have lived in the home they are selling, or have sold, as a principal residence for five consecutive years in the past eight.
• Buyers with income exceeding $125,000 for single and $225,000 for married couples are not eligible.
• Homes valued at more than $800,000 are also ineligible.

I’m often a skeptic about such things, but hey, in Arlington Virginia you CAN actually find a home priced under $800,000, so that’s a decent cut-off for us here, and the income levels are also pretty good.

This could really be something people use, how about that!

Formatting Issues Explained

Ok, ok, I admit it, I’ve been messing around with the formatting of this blog.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I do like change, but this format adjustment was driven by my desire to integrate my blog and website into a more cohesive unit.

But (as you may noticed) many of the new formats I tested just were not very readable.  And if I’m going to spend time writing and posting entries to this blog – admittedly some entries being shorter than others — I’d to at least try to make it readable from a font perspective, if not from a  literary perspective.

I also wanted this blog to be easy to read when it appears framed in my more traditional website.  Other formats worked better than this one does, but they were not as appealing in the stand-alone format.  So when this blog loads into the framed page of my website you can read it, but not the widgets on the sidebar.  Oh well.  Something has to give.  Close to perfect is better than nothing at all.

Oops, but now I’ll have to test this all on a PC, instead of my lovely Mac.

All of which is to say, I prefer working on real estate to website issues any day.

Thanks for your patience!

 

Calling all data geeks

Honestly, most people should take Zillow estimates with a grain of salt – they can often be inaccurate and incomplete, and really don’t reflect what’s happening at a very local level.  BUT, sometimes Zillow has some interesting data. This chart (via link) from Zillow, for instance, is actually pretty good at providing home buyers and sellers with an idea of the value of their real estate depending on Arlington Virginia neighborhood.  And neighborhood is oh so important.  When they say all real estate is local, they mean it.  Whoever “they” are, they are right about that.

Zillow Home Value Index

More Arlington Home Values

If the chart doesn’t work, just scroll down to the table below it.  That’s actually better data to use anyway.