Real Estate and Reston, VA: January 2010

I am always on the look out for new tools that can make the search for a new home, or information about pricing an existing home, easier for my clients. I have had great luck with automatic emails sent from MRIS.  I work with my clients to determine their exact specifications, set up the search, run it, save it, and set up the automatic email. Whenever there is a new listing meeting their criteria, they get a new email.

There is a new product that makes this process more consumer-driven.  Listingbook is an invitation only product. You must receive an opt-in email from your Realtor. Once you have opted-in, you have the power to set up your own searches--and change them at will.  Even better, a couple can both be part of the same search.  You  decide that you want a  4th bedroom and your spouse sees those new properties  pop up...and so does your  Realtor. 

Here is some of the value I see in this for my clients.

1. Home Search: Obviously, this allows a client to define and refine the search as they learn more about their needs, wants and preferences
2. Home Sale: There is both a science and an art to setting a sales price. The core set of information, however, is recently sold properties, currently active properties and those that have gone under contract.  As a ListingBook user, you have all of the information that you need to understand what your Realtor is telling you about the current value of your property.
3. Long Term Planning: Many of us just like to know what is going on with the real estate values in our area and neighborhood. Maybe you are considering a refinance? You don't want to tell the bank that your home is worth 500K if it is worth 300K. You may be thinking of selling a couple of years down the road; it is never too early to begin the process of educating yourself.
4. Information: The information you see in ListingBook is the same information that we, as Realtors, see in the MRIS MLS system. It is current and it is accurate. That is not true for all of the information you can see on line. I saw yesterday that one of my listings, one that was sold 2 years ago, is still up on Trulia. It is marked correctly, as sold, but it is still showing up when people do searches--I doubt someone who is searching for a new house wants to see one that sold 2 years ago!
5. Just for Fun: Who doesn't want to be 'in the know' about what is going on with real estate in their neighborhood...just think how much more informed you will be at the next neighborhood Pizza night!

I will be looking for your feedback on this product.  I see it as an important new tool for my clients (and friends).  If you have had a chance to use it and have some feedback, I would love to hear it.

If you would like an opportunity to give it a try, please let me know and I will send you and Opt-in email.

(to the right of this post, you should see an opt-in button--you can click on that, as well).

Saturday night I received an email from a good friend.  He said they wanted to talk to me on Sunday about downsizing. This was no surprise...we had talked in the fall about that possibility and he had told me that they would propbably want to do something in the Spring.

After a morning meeting, I stopped by their house.  He told me they had found a townhouse.  I started asking questions to find out what he meant by 'found.' It turns out that they were driving around looking at areas and neighborhoods. They saw something that piqued their interest and called the Realtor on the sign.  She sent over one of her team members to show them the property--thus avoiding Dual Agency if they liked the property. Of course, this would set up a Designated Agency situation (this is based on Virginia State definitions of Agency--your state may handle this differently). They saw the house, took the information and called me.

My first question for him was, 'What services are looking for from me? Do you plan to use the Realtor who showed the property to you as your Buyer Agent?' After all, he could be looking for my help only with listing their current property.

He was adamant that they would not use her. He went on to explain that in the past they had a very bad experience with Dual Agency and were determined that they wanted their own representation--representation that they trusted and that they hired.

I try to be a good colleague to other Realtors--I return calls, provide feedback, and respect relationships. This situation kind of caught me by surprise. I know the team on the other side was a little frustrated, and with good reason. Unfortunately, in this business, we all spin our wheels and waste our time on occasion.  It is kind of the nature of the beast.

As Realtors, we all know the process and the procedures that should be followed in a transaction, but we can't always control the actions of our clients. Certainly, if we had sat down and they had told me they were beginning to look for property, I would have reviewed procedures with them and explained Agency.  In this particular situation, they went out for a drive and, rather than calling me immediately, they called the agent on the sign. It has happened to all of us.

Thank you to the team on the Seller's side for their understanding and efforts. Hopefully, your efforts will result in a contract that will make your sellers happy!

In the meantime, rest assured that I have talked to my clients about how to handle this situation if it should happen again...

Martin Luther King Day is not  day off for busy Realtors! On my way home from an appointment this morning, I heard a snippet of the great speech given by the late Martin Luther King, Jr..  It occurred to me that if I have  seen or read the whole thing it has been a very long time. There are certain parts of  it that I can recite from memory, but I was curious about the rest of it.

I went on line and found the Martin Luther King website and was able to read the entire speech. I thought it would be worth sharing with ActiveRain; like me, I am sure that many of you accept his accomplishments as history and have never taken the time to read it. Click on the title to read the text of the speech, 'I Have a Dream.'

Knowing that words can not always capture emotion, I checked to see if the video is on YouTube. It is--here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

I was thrilled to see that there are multiple versions and the version that  I selected has had over 8,340,948 views!

Growing up in Reston, VA, an early adopter of integration, I don't remember segregation. It is amazing to me,  that Martin Luther King was able to accomplish so much in such a brief life. He stands as example to us all of what can be accomplished with a vision, a plan and unwavering commitment to a cause.

The Fairfax County Library Foundation has created a program to help bolster its stock of bestselling and popular books and at the same time, let you be the first in the library system to enjoy the book.  And all for the cost of the book itself! Oh, and did I mention you can write off the cost of the book as a gift on your taxes?

How does this work?  The Fairfax County Library specialists have assembled a list of books that are in high demand in the library system.  These are posted to a special Amazon.com Wish List. By purchasing one of these books through Amazon.com, you can make a tax deductible donation to the Fairfax Library Foundation and simultaneously put yourself to the top of the reserve list for that book.

How does it work?

1. Go to www.fairfaxlibraryfoundation.org
2. Click on 'Donate Books through the Amazon.com Wishlist'
3. Find the book you want to read (and others that you may want to donate), add them to your cart and proceed to checkout
4. Check the box that it is a gift
5. Include the following note on your 'gift': 'First Loan,' the branch where you want to pick up the book and your email address
6. Complete the purchase.

The book will shipped to the library and once it hits the catalog, you will receive notice that the book is available for you as a hold at your local branch.

As an avid reader, and one who is constantly scanning the bestseller and award lists, this sounds like a fantastic program; I get to read the books I want to read, the library increases the number of books and bestsellers on hand, I get a tax deduction AND I am not stuck with an extra copy that I must either find somewhere to keep it or give it away to a friend.

This is a Win-win for everyone!  Great idea, Fairfax Library Foundation!!!!!

My husband and I once went in to a car dealership to buy a new SUV. The new car was intended for me. The entire time we were there, the salesperson spoke only to my husband--despite the fact that we made it very clear that this was to be my car. We walked out of that dealership and bought a different car from a different salesperson. Last week when we drove by the dealer my husband turned to me and said, 'we'll never buy a car there.' What makes that significant is that it has been 15 years since this happened. Obviously, it was not just me who felt slighted.

I have, on occasion, signed contracts with clients who were previously working with other Realtors. In one case, I was told by my new clients that the reason they did not continue their relationship is because the wife felt slighted and ignored by the previous Realtor. As an American Citizen who grew up in another country, she had been told that their former Realtor did not understand her accent. Instead of working through the problem, he opted to talk only to the husband and ignored her during the entire listing period. If the parties had agreed that it made sense to have the husband be the sole contact that would have been a different situation; in this case the decision was made by the Realtor without discussion between the parties. In fact, I find the wife's English to be very good and she has offered to repeat anything that I have difficulty understanding--I need only ask.

I think that we all have people that we 'click' with.  As Realtors, and others dealing with the public, our job is to communicate with everyone--not just those with whom we are most comfortable. Not doing so can cost you money. In extreme cases, not doing so can cost you your license--I would contend that

ignoring a party to a  transaction because you find them hard to understand could, in extreme circumstances, be construed as discrimination.

On occasion I will sign a couple to either to a Buyer's Agency or Listing agreement where I have a strong rapport with only one of them.  I have found that when this is the case, it is my job--and obligation--to make sure that I include both parties in all discussions and prove to the wary party that I know my business. In every case, I have won over the doubter and we end up having a very strong and  trusting relationship.

At the end of the day, the work that we do is a service business.  Serving the needs of not just one, but all parties in the transaction is the key to our continued success and future business.

This morning the Princeton Review announced The University of Virginia as the best value in the nation for Public Universities. As the parent of a 'second year' (they do not use the usual labels to denote status at UVA as the school's founder, Thomas Jefferson, believed that learning never ends), I can attest to what a great experience this university is providing for my daughter and what a relative value it is for me as a parent.

The location of the school, Charlottesville, Virginia, with its proximity to the Northern Virginia area and the Richmond metro area make it a favorite for high achieving Virginians, as well as excellent students from around the country and around the world.

Virginia Tech also made the top ten, ranking at number 8.

If you are considering a move to the D.C. metropolitan area, I would encourage you to do your research on the Virginia Public University system. The Princeton Review of Public Universities has 7 Virginia schools on its list of the 100 'best value colleges' ; 5 of these are Public Universities.

The Virginia schools making the list:

1. College of William and Mary (public)
2. James Madison University (public)
3. Sweet Briar College (private)
4. University of Mary Washington (public)
5. University of Richmond (private)
6. Univeristy of Virginia (public
7. Virginia Tech

Congratulations to all of these fantastic schools and to University of Virginia for its top ranking!

For more information on the list, follow this link: Princeton Review Best Value Colleges 

As part of the project to extend the Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, there is an explosion scheduled for 1:00pm. This explosion is designed to test the 'structural integrity of a caisson near the interchange between Dolley Madison Boulevard and the Dulles Connector Road.'

Understandably, we folks who live outside of Washington D.C. are somewhat sensitive to out-of-the-ordinary occurrences, so I thought I would try to get this information out to as many people as I could.

For more information, read the article published today in the Washington Post.

Under the tree this year, Santa left me a Kindle.  I received this gift just in the nick of time as we were heading out of the country between Christmas and New Years (yeah, okay, I knew about it ahead of time--and even pre-loaded it with some pre-selected books). Fellow book-worms will understand that a weeks worth of travel, particularly if it involves Plane/Airport time, generally demands a significant number of books.  This year I was able to travel with one paperback (just in case of technical difficulties) and my Kindle--loaded with 10 books I wanted to read. I never opened the paperback.

So how did I like the Kindle?

It was great! Much easier to get used to than I expected. Since we were headed to a beach destination, I found the ease of laying on a lounge chair with the Kindle to be much better than a bulky book.  Changing pages required a quick swipe of the finger. There was little glare to speak of...these gadgets have technology that is designed to make the reading experience pretty comparable to that of reading a book. I could lay on my stomach with the Kindle flat on the ground and it stayed put--no flipping pages or awkwardly placed objects to hold it in place.

I liked that if I didn't like the book I was reading, I could quickly switch with a couple of presses of a button.

I liked the built-in dictionary. One book I started immediately used 3 words I had never seen before and I was able to quickly look them up...normally, I would just skim over them and analyze the context. This time I knew exactly what the author meant without having to guess.

I liked the fact that I never felt like I was reading from a computer. Despite the variations in look and feel, I mostly felt like I was reading a book. It took a little getting used to that the '% complete' of the book was displayed instead of the visual of how much of the book remains.  I also never realized how much I look at the cover and author information. That is all stored on-line, not on the Kindle, so without Internet access, I did not have access to that while we were overseas. Not a big deal, but it was a little bit of an adjustment. Since I could not go on line from overseas, I kept the Internet feature turned off. I have been told that helps to keep the battery charged for a very long time. Speaking of which, I have only charged it a couple of times in the past week...and I have used it a lot!

My favorite thing (very geeky, I will admit in advance) was that when I found what I thought was a typo, I was able to quickly confirm this by searching on all instances of the word and seeing that the author had, in fact, spelled it differently in every other instance! Editors, you are going to have to step up your game!

I selected to go with the larger screened Kindle (9.7" screen).  There is a smaller, and less expensive, version, too.  With either size, however, you can change the font size to a comfortable reading size.  There is also an International Version, which allows you to download books (and daily newspapers!) from overseas, but you have to get the smaller size for that functionality.  While we do travel overseas, it is not often enough to make that a necessity.

Would I recommend a Kindle? Absolutely!  I have actually suggested that my college daughter look in to whether or not she could get some of her text books on a Kindle (If you have ever sent  a kid to college you know that they cost almost as much as the tuition and you get pennies on the dollar when selling them back). There is a function that allows you to make notes and set bookmarks. It is not the same as running a highlighter over the page, but it is close enough.

I don't expect to give up my books entirely; going in to a library or bookstore almost always feels a little like the first day of school to me. I love the possibility that a new book may open a new world.  There is something about standing there flipping through books and deciding what to buy that I doubt I will ever completely give up.

I always enjoy new technology, but it doesn't always make it past the 'honeymoon period.' Based on my 1st week with my new toy, the Kindle is a keeper!

Check out the Kindle at Amazon.