Thanks!

There’s a lot for me to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. One of those things is you – those of you reading this post and my blog in general and past, current and future clients.

You have taken time out of your day to read my blogs, make comments, provide feedback and contact me both online and offline.

You have and continue to trust me to represent you and guide you through the process of buying and selling your home.

You connect me with friends, family and co-workers who are thinking of buying or selling their home because you trust I can help them.

For this and many other reasons, I am grateful to you.

To sum it up in one word…

“Thanks!”

 

Sincerely,

Danilo

 

Loudoun County News Affecting Home Buyers, Sellers

It’s been a pretty busy past week or so when it comes to news affecting Loudoun County home buyers and sellers.  In case you missed it, here’s a summary…

Loudoun Board approves new metro rail deal – But the metro rail is still not set in stone…Loudoun County still has until late next year to fully commit or back out. Whether the metro rail comes to Loudoun has huge implications on local real estate.

Loudoun supervisors must decide on Raspberry Falls pipeline by May 2012 – The fate of  Raspberry Falls (and home owners within the community) is now in the hands of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

Loudoun County Public Schools’ Planning and Legislative Services Department proposes new attendance zones for Leesburg area schools – This is a “lively” debate to say the least for a variety of reasons some of which are real estate related.

Loudoun County physics teacher charged with being drunk in public at J. Michael Lunsford Middle School in South Riding – School quality/reputation plays a big part in the decision making process for many Loudoun home buyers so you can see why this can affect real estate in South Riding.

And I’m sorry to bring this up… Don’t forget that property taxes are due December 5.

New Construction Homes vs Existing Homes

Many home buyers have questions about new construction homes versus existing homes. One such question was posted by David on Trulia’s Q&A section…

New and used prices on comparable homes, in my area, are the same (Northern VA). Are there advantages of buying an older home, besides immediate possession?

Here is my $0.02 on the subject (which is also the answer I posted on Trulia)…

The prices may be the same, but what you get for your money is not the same. You will pay a premium for having a new construction home over an existing home. Why? Because it’s new.

It’s similar to buying a car – you can pay about $45K for a brand new fully loaded Mercedes C350 or you can pay the same for an excellent condition, 4 year old, decent mileage S550. Some people will go for C350 while others will go the S550 – it’s personal preference.

Regardless of which you may think you would rather go for, you should check out all your options. Have your Buyer’s Agent get you all of the info on all new construction builders/communities in your price point in the areas you’re interested in. Have them take you to see the model homes (some builders have models located in communities other than the ones you’re interested in). Have your Buyer’s Agent give you a list of all the current builder incentives, lot releases, etc. And have your Buyer’s Agent give you the inside scoop on their and their clients’ experiences with each builder in the area whether it be a local or nation builder with local presence.

As far as advantages of one versus the other…new homes are just that, new. The new smell, the lack of wear and tear, you getting to choose where everything goes (i.e. outlets, ceiling fans, HDMI points), you getting somewhat of a choice of the look and color of cabinets, etc. You also get the builder’s warranty.

The disadvantages are that you have to deal with all of the construction around you until they finish the community, the switch of the HOA from the builder to the future HOA management, the settling of the house (i.e. nail pops, dry wall tape, etc) and what some say to be lesser construction and attention to detail than “how they used to build them”.

As for existing homes, the house has already settled and the previous owner(s) have more than likely addressed those issues. You may also find than an existing older home has been renovated with higher quality materials and looks better than a new home for the same price.

For example…your new home has builders’ “level 1″ granite, decent cherry cabinets, their standard hardwood floors and the typical builder secondary bathrooms choice of materials. But the resale home has really expensive and awesome looking granite, top of the line cherry cabinets and high-end, wide plank hardwood floors and the secondary bathrooms have been renovated with top of the line contemporary vanities including granite and cabinets, awesome and expensive tile work (floor and walls), top of the line fixtures/faucet, etc.

There’s more to it than just this, but this gives you an idea of some of the differences and just how much there really is to consider. If you would like to chat in more detail about the rest of the differences and what to consider, give me a call or email me anytime. I have worked with many new construction homes in Loudoun County and stay in constant contact with sales reps at all of the new (and future) new home communities and developments in the area.

P.S. This is David’s reply to my answer: “I really appreciate your comprehensive reply to the question I posted on trulia. I would like to talk with you more. I have been prequalified for a VA loan and am looking for a home in Western Loudoun County. Can we talk? 571-XXX-XXXX”

If those of you reading this would also like to speak in more detail about this, don’t hesitate to contact me.

-Danilo

Halloween Means Leftover Candy, Time to Winterize Your Home

It’s that dreaded day of the year…the day after Halloween when all of the leftover candy is saying, “Eat me!”, but your waist line is telling you to throw all of the candy away. I feel your pain. But it’s also the day when you should winterize your home.

Much like your waist line is telling you to throw away the candy, your pocket book is telling you to follow these steps in order to avoid thousands of dollars of unwanted (and unnecessary) repair bills in the near future…

1. Winterize your hose bibs. It takes about 5 minutes (literally). Turn the water off to all of your exterior hose bibs by turning the valves inside of your home to the off position. Go outside and turn the valves to the on position on all of your exterior hose bibs so the water drains out of them. And don’t forget to disconnect your garden hoses from the hose bibs and put them in your garage. This helps guard against pipes bursting which can lead to thousands of dollars in repair bills.
2. Have your heating system inspected to make sure it’s working correctly. Better to find out you need something repaired now than in the middle of winter.
3. Clean your gutters. As soon as the all of the trees around your house are without leaves, get it done. Gutter with leaves still in them in the winter can lead to poor drainage, basement leaks and gutters falling off your roof thanks to water which has been trapped by the leaves turning into much heavier ice.
4. Adjust your ducts. In the summer, you want the vents in the upper parts of your home wide open and the ducts in the lower parts of your home slightly open or even closed because cold air falls. In the winter, you want the ducts in the lower parts of your home wide open and the ducts in the upper parts of your home slightly open or even closed because hot air rises.
5. Reverse your fans. In the summer, you want your fans “pulling” the cold air up. In the winter, you want your fans “pushing” the hot air down.
6. Check your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Make sure they work. If your alarms use batteries, now may be a good time to change out the batteries for a set of new ones. Better safe than sorry.
7. Have your chimney inspected especially if you use your fireplace. You’d be surprised to find out what made it into your chimney since the last time you had it checked. I’ve heard of birds, squirrels, tennis balls…and the list goes on. Anything in your chimney that shouldn’t be there is a fire risk.
8. Think about getting a humidifier especially if you have hardwood floors. Hardwood expands and contracts as the temperature and level of humidity rises and drops. After several years of the hardwood expanding and contracting, you will start to see gaps and possibly even cracks in your hardwood. The winter months and your heating system lead to low humidity levels which is not good for your hardwood. If you have lots of hardwood, think about getting a complete house system which is installed directly into your heating system. If you have hardwood in only one or just a few rooms, think about getting a small, stand-alone humidifier for those areas.
9. Get a battery back up for your sump pump. Nothing worse than having your power go out due to a bad snow or ice storm and them watching your basement flood as the snow/ice melts because your sump pump isn’t working. You can either get a separate sump pump with a built in battery back-up or just a battery back up which goes in between your existing sump pump and the wall outlet. If you’re not the electronics/handyman type, don’t worry…there is plenty of info on the subject (click here for an example).
10. Get your shovel and salt ready now. Don’t be like most people who run to Home Depot or Lowe’s after the snow has already started to fall. By having both ready now, you’ll avoid the day-of-the-snow full parking lots, long check-out lines and then hearing, “sorry, we don’t have any more shovels or salt in stock”.