A Way To Find Others With Similar Interests

Curious as to who has the same interests as you? Wondering what people are saying about and doing in Loudoun County? Want to make friends and communicate with others near you? One way to do so is through Twitter and TwitterLocal.

Twitter brings people together that have the same interests whether it be due to geographical area, work, organization or some other common thread. Twitter is a "micro-blogging" platform that allows you to post 140 character snippets (aka "Tweets") of what you’re doing, your thoughts, comments to other Twitters, etc.

Twitter is a good way to post about stuff that is not necessarily worth a phone call, blog post or email. Your friends and associates can "follow" you and get your updates sent to them directly on their computer or their cell phone. You can see who else has the same interests or likes to go to the same places as you do. The common interest brings you and them together online and eventually, offline/in person (if you choose to do so).

TwitterLocal is basically a search/reader for Twitter. Just put in a keyword such as "Ashburn" or "Loudoun County" and it will search through Twitter and send you all the "Tweets" that have those keywords in them. You can get real specific with the keywords such as "Ashburn Ice Rink" or "Spartan Football". You can see who’s talking about what’s of interest to you and see what they’re saying. Same goes for others - they can see that you’re talking about the same things of interest to them and get your take on it.

Twitter and TwitterLocal are an integral part of social media and social networking, a movement that is gaining tremendous momentum and will not be going away any time soon. It’s amazing how it can bring people and information together that may never have been brought together otherwise.

For a great and simple explanation of Twitter and how/why it works, check out these two short videos:

Twitter in Plain English

Twitter is Like Cheers

***If you’re on Twitter, feel free to share your handle here in a comment. And please stop by and say hello on Twitter - my handle is DaniloB. You can also check out my "Tweets" on the Twitter widget located near the top of the right hand column of the page.

Loudoun County FHA Conforming Loan Limits To Be $625K

As part at the $300 billion mortgage rescue plan, the House and Senate will approve a new, more permanent FHA conforming limit amount of $625,000. This is in an effort to help home buyers who need jumbo loans to borrow money at more affordable rates.

The originial limit for the Washington, DC area (including Loudoun County) and other high-cost areas was raised from $417,000 to $729,750 in March, but that was only through the end of the year. The new bill will make the limit of $625,000 more permanent.

The legislation has been approved by the House, President Bush said he would sign it and the Senate is likely to approve it. But the Senate has not released an exact time frame for their final approval.

New Dulles Association of REALTORS® Web Site Up and Running

After months of meetings and work by the Dulles Area Association of REALTORS® (DAAR) Technology and Communications Committees and various other DAAR staff including Ben Lizik (programmer), the new DAAR web site is up and running.

The overall focus of the new site was to create greater engagement and communication amongst Realtor® members, the public and the media. Much like any blog, you are able (and encouraged) to leave comments and opinions on the site regardless of whether you’re a Realtor® or not.

The new site’s layout and design incorporates some of the latest RE 2.0 and Web 2.0 technologies and functionality.

Providing the latest and most relevant information, data and statistics regarding Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince Williams counties will be the content-focus moving forward.

The site will be undergoing additional tweaks and we will be adding functionality to the site over the next few months. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let us know - we’d love to hear your take on things.

Washington Post’s “Local Explorer” Good Source For Local Information

Looking for general information on Loudoun County, Virginia? Need data and statistics on Loudoun County schools, crime rates, etc? Then check out The Washington Post’s Local Explorer. Type in a specific address such as "43330 Junction Plaza Ashburn, VA" or just "Ashburn, VA" and you can find information on places in the area, schools, recent home sales and crime, all on a map.

"Local Explorer" also has facts and figures, local news, classifieds and upcoming events that will help take you further inside Loudoun’s communities. It’s a good tool for anyone moving to or new to Loudoun County, as well as those already in the area looking for information.

Related Articles

Links To Loudoun County Communities And Home Owner’s Associations

Resources (Other Than Real Estate) For Loudoun County, Virginia

Moving To Loudoun County, Virginia? How Far Will Your Salary Go?

Sorry, I Can’t Tell You That

10 Days Until The Loudoun County Fair

The Loudoun County Fair is only 10 days away! The Fair will be here July 28 to August 2 and is being held at the Loudoun County fairgrounds off of Dry Mill Rd.

This year’s Loudoun County Fair includes:

• Demolition Derby
• KYDA Professional Wrestling
• Professional Rodeo
• Hansen’s Spectacular Circus Thrill Show
• Performance by Scott Hisey
• Various eating contests
• Carnival rides
• and much more…

One of the fundraising events being held at the Loudoun County Fair is the "Kiss-A-Pig" contest. My friend, fellow Realtor and blogger, Heather Elias is in the contest. Please check out Heather’s post on LoCo Musings and donate to help keep the fairgrounds around and help her win.

Links To Loudoun County Communities, Neighborhoods and Home Owner Associations

Perhaps you’re new to Loudoun County, Virginia and would like to know more about the various communities, neighborhoods and Home Owner Associations in the county. Or maybe you’re moving within the county and aren’t too familiar with your future community or HOA. Whatever the reason may be, here are links to resources on all the HOAs and communities in Loudoun County (if they have a web site):

• Ashburn
• Ashburn Farm
• Ashburn Manor
• Ashburn Village
• Belmont Country Club
• Belmont Greene
• Brambleton
• Broad Run Farms
• Broadlands
• Cabin Branch Forest
• Cardinal Glen
• Cascades
• Countryside
• Courts and Ridges at Ashburn
• Edwards Landing
• Exeter
• Falls Ridge
• Farmwell Hunt (site under construction)
• Kincaid Forest
• Lansdowne on the Potomac
• Lucketts
• Potomac Crossing
• Potomac Station
• Richland Forest
• River Creek
• Rivercrest
• Spring Lakes
• South Riding
• Tavistock Farms
• Waterford

If you would like information on areas not listed above, feel free to email or call me - 703.582.6900 - and I’ll get the information over to you right away.

New Site Shows Loudoun County Development

The Piedmont Environmental Council launched a new web site today, LocalDecisions.org, which allows users to see approved and proposed development and projects in Loudoun County. Just enter an address, city or zip code within Loudoun County and choose what type of development you’re looking for. The map will show you where that type of development is going on and whether it’s already been approved or proposed.

You can also click on the icon for more information such as where an un-built development stands in the approval process, how many units are planned, a structure’s square footage and the parcel’s identification number(s).

“Providing residents with the opportunity to see what is happening in their neighborhoods is critical to an informed citizenry,” said PEC president Christopher G. Miller in a released statement. “This innovative tool will give folks basic information and help link citizens to their elected officials so they can quickly ask questions and/or express concerns.”

This site could definitely come in handy in the decision making process for those moving to or within Loudoun County as well as current residents. Along with LocalDecisions.org, you want to check out ZipSkinny and WalkScore, which give you demographics by zip code and proximity to amenities.

Source: Living In LoCo - LoudounExtra.com

Increase In Virginia Grantor’s Tax Shot Down

Governor Kaine’s proposal to raise the statewide Grantor’s Tax was shot down last week. Here’s the press release from the Virginia Association of Realtors®:

"Virginians still awaiting a realistic solution to transportation woes

Virginia legislators’ latest effort at a fiscal fix for transportation collapsed early last Thursday morning…at 1:39 a.m. to be exact.

After first defeating two statewide transportation bills, including one proposed by Governor Kaine (which included a statewide grantor tax), the House approved legislation financing projects in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia only.

In the House, Kaine’s proposal was defeated 98-0. House members used a sagging real estate market as a reason to vote against the proposed statewide grantor tax.

Read more

Have More Than $100K In The Bank? Better CYA

What would happen to your cash in the bank if the bank went belly-up? If the bulk of your over-$100K down payment was in your checking or savings account, what would happen to you come settlement day if your bank was belly-up and you couldn’t recover more than the $100K covered by the FDIC?

That’s what a client of mine and I were just talking about after hearing of National City and Wachovia’s problems. They were concerned that if their bank temporarily halted operations or went belly-up, they would lose out on any amount over $100K, not be able to buy the home and be in default because of it.

You have several options depending on how much money and time you have as well as other factors. Here are two:

1) One of your options is to open up accounts at multiple banks none of which have more than $100K in them. You may actually want to limit yourself to $95K to leave room for interest. This option is time consuming, requires additional paperwork, etc. But it may not a bad idea for those who have to only open up one or two additional accounts.

2) Another option you may want to consider is called the Certificate of Deposit Account Registry or CDARS. It allows you to keep up to $50 million invested in CDs in one bank, all covered by FDIC insurance. This is definitely the easiest of the two options and great for those with a lot of cash on their hands. BankRate.com has a great explanation of how it works. Here’s an excerpt:

Sally Jones has $130,000 she wants put in CDs in bank A. Bank A gives her CDs worth $95,000 — leaving a little room for interest — and sends Sally’s remaining $35,000 to a company that knows bank B will issue Sally a CD for the remaining $35,000. In return, bank B buys $35,000 in CDs for its customers from bank A.

The company in the middle is Promontory Interfinancial Network. It acts as a sort of clearinghouse, matching deposits from one institution with another so funds that a bank places with CDARS essentially remain on the bank’s balance sheet.

"Prior to CDARS, if you wanted to insure more than $100,000, you had to do it through (different categories of legal ownership.) Now you can title it any way you want and we can cover it through the CDARS program," says Russell Pemberton, vice president at Pulaski Bank.

Your bank sets the interest rate for the CDs bought through other banks. If Sally wants her excess money to buy a two-year CD and her bank, bank A, is paying 2 percent on that maturity, then bank B will issue the CD at 2 percent even if they’re paying more or less.

One drawback to the convenience of CDARS is that you can miss out on higher CD rates offered by banks other than your own. If you’re willing to do a little extra legwork, you could get around that by finding a bank in the CDARS network that you believe consistently offers higher rates and open an account with them specifically for CDs.

The morale of the story is to protect your cash and yourself because you never know what may happen to your bank. Recent years have proved that no one is immune to the housing and credit turmoil so always be prepared.

Related Articles

What If Your Bank Fails? - MSNBC.com

What If My Bank Fails? Some Questions and Answers -CNNMoney.com

Stocks End Down After Mortgage-Aid Plan/Traders Aren’t Convinced That Fed Intervention Will Save Markets - MSNBC.com

Washington, DC - Top 10 Worst Cities For Commuters

Did you dread your commute to work this morning? Feel like you wasted valuable time sitting in traffic? Notice your commute is getting longer and longer? Forbes feels the same way… Forbes named Washington, DC as the number 7 worst city for commuters. That’s even worst than Los Angeles who came in at number 9.

Forbes says that the reason for the ranking is mainly because most of the workers in Washington, DC commute from the Virginia and Maryland suburbs. Forbes reports that 15 percent of commuters take over an hour to get to work, the second highest rate in the country. Forbes also reports that drivers in this area spend 60 hours a year stuck in traffic and only 26 percent get to work in under 20 minutes - the worst rate in the country.

Though we’re "out here" in Loudoun County, VA, don’t think that we’re immune to the growing traffic problem. If you were around Loudoun County just 5 years ago, you’d know that traffic has gotten much worse despite the expansion of roads and building of overpasses and exchanges.

Despite the worsening traffic problem, public sentiment, rising gas prices and the fact that mass transit would help this problem, we’re still having a hard time getting the Dulles Metro Rail Project approved and funded.

Why is that? Maybe it’s because those in Richmond don’t care because they don’t have the same problem.

Photo credit

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