Real Estate and Reston, VA: Virginia

Forbes Magazine has come out with its list of the 25 Richest Counties. Loudoun County in Virginia tops the list. Fairfax County is 2nd.

You are probably wondering why this would be a good thing--after all, don't higher incomes result in higher housing prices? Yes, undoubtedly they do, but they also result in a more stable economy, more services and better public schools.  Our real estate bubble was later than many other areas and our recovery is reported to have begun sooner.

Our unemployment rate has consistently been lower than that of many other major metropolitan areas. The Bureau of Labor Statistic reported in February 2010 that, 'The large areas with the lowest jobless rates in December were Oklahoma City, Okla., and Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 6.0 and 6.2 percent, respectively.' This is due in large part to the stable employment offered by the government and the network of companies and organizations that work to support the government.

Understanding the cost of living concerns,  Washington area jobs often come with a cost of living  income differential to make the move more attractive.

If you have children who are moving up the education ladder toward college, you would be hard pressed to find better college values than those offered by the Virginia  higher education system. Look at the costs for in-state tuition and then look at how highly regarded the public universities in the state are compared to other state schools.

The public school systems in and around the D.C. Metro area consistently rank in the highest in the Nation. I think if you look you will find, too, that many of the local high schools are among the best in the country.

Beyond the financial and educational considerations, we have access to some of the best cultural opportunities in the country. A non-rush hour trip in to the District of Columbia is a 20 minute drive. My family has a White House Tour scheduled in a couple of weeks, my husband and I went to a book launch party last week at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Women in the Arts. Yesterday I took my son in to Georgetown for some lacrosse coaching. We love to get downtown to either the Kennedy Center, The National Theater, The Warner Theater or one of the other numerous venues for theater troops or musical organizations. How could I have left off my favorite venue of all? Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts which is in Virginia and literally 10 minutes from my house. It offers a wide variety of shows, musical acts and performances.

For those who have more of a sports leaning, we have The NFL Redskins,The NHL Capitals, and The Nationals baseball team. In close-by Baltimore, you can add The Orioles Baseball team and The NFL Ravens to the list. Nearby college level sports teams inlude: George Mason, Georgetown, University of Maryland, George Washington, Howard, Catholic and within 2 hours you can add University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and James Madison University.  Just 4 hours away, you can cheer for the Virginia Tech Hokies or the Penn State Nittney Lions (forgive me if I left out someones favorite team...feel free to add it in the comments).

If you are considering a new job or a relocation, give the Washington D.C. metro area a close look. I think you will find that the stable economy, wide variety of housing choices ,  the public education system and the wide variety of arts and activities, will make it worth your extra attention.

Please give me a call, or drop me an email,  if I can help you begin your home search process. I would be happy to set you up with some tools that will allow you to begin your new home search from the comfort of your living room.

If you have been considering private school placement for your Pre-Kindergarten through 8th Grade student, plan to attend the Loudoun Country Day School in Leesburg, Virginia,  open house today, March 7, 2010, from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

Loudoun Country Day School (fondly called LCDS) has been educating young Virginians for over 50 years. As its Mission Statement states, 'The purpose of Loudoun Country Day School is to educate and develop each student academically, physically, artistically, socially, and emotionally.'

The school has moved to a beautiful new campus off of Evergreen Mill Road in Leesburg.  The facilities are amazing and we have enjoyed seeing the students thrive in the new location. This school year, 2009-10, is the first year in the new campus.

This open house is a great opportunity to explore the beautiful new campus and hear about the wonderful programs offered in both the Lower School and the Middle School. There will be  faculty, parents and students available to answer your questions about curriculum and programs.

My children have attended LCDS and I have had first hand experience with both the Lower and Upper Schools. The school has been a special part of our family through the education of our 3 children. As Fairfax County residents, we have made the reverse commute, using the wonderful Bus Service for our daily transportation needs from Reston. The small classes and individualized attention have been wonderful for all three of my kids!

We have particularly enjoyed the competitive Middle School sports program. Boys and girls in grades 6-8 compete in a variety of sports against other private schools. Sports include Soccer, Field Hockey, Basketball and Lacrosse. There is also an intramural program for young athletes that prefer individual sports, such as Cross Country and Tennis. There is also a swim team and a tennis team.

If you would like more information about Loudoun Country Day School, and the wonderful learning environment it offers, the phone number is: 703-777-3841

The address for LCDS is: 20600 Red Cedar Drive, Leesburg, VA 20175

I hope you can make it  today, March 7 from 1 to 2:30 pm for the LCDS Open House! It should be a beautiful day and perfect weather to see the stunning new campus!

What is left a month after Snowmaggedon?

The sun is shinning, the temperature is creeping up and slowly but surely, I am finally able to believe that this winter will end.

It has been nearly a month since our back-to-back Washington D.C. metro area blizzards. I still have huge banks of snow in my front yard where we moved snow from the driveway and sidewalks. It has thawed and frozen so many times since that I expect these snow banks will be with us until May!

Each day, a little bit more snow melts away. We can now see traffic on the main road as we leave the neighborhood (all but the highest set vehicles have been unable to see around the snow banks without creeping in to the intersection) and most of the neighborhood street is visible again.

Everywhere I walk, however, I witness the devastation that these storms left behind. Not a yard is left intact--they are all soggy and most are missing large swaths of grass where shovels hit frozen grass instead of pavement. My hedges, trees and bushes are mangled and broken from weeks buried under heavy snow. My 12 foot pine tree lies across one of my planting beds. We will attempt to stake it and save it, but I suspect that it has been out of the ground for too long.

Municipalities are left with bills that far exceed budgets for annual snow removal.  Of course with real estate sales down, so are local revenues.  Even those areas who were really on top of 'spend as you go' had no way of anticipating how this winter would devastate the area. We broke a snow fall record which had been in place since the winter of 1898-1899!! The Federal Government remained closed for 4 DAYS!

As you drive around, street signs, street lamps and tree branches are all found lying on their sides waiting for crews to come along and remove or repair them.

In one of my earlier blogs, "What You Can Do To Prevent Snowstorms"  I very facetiously stated that the sheer number of people who will stock up on snow blowers and other snow removal supplies will buy us some insurance against another winter of devastating snow storms.  If the number of friends and neighbors who are actively purchasing snow blowers is truly insurance against heavy snows, we should be in for a mild winter next year!

I think the only folks who will end up with happy news from the storms of 2009-2010 will be the landscaping companies and tree removal companies who will overwhelmed with contracts and waiting lists for their services. At least someone will benefit!

I am moving on and eagerly anticipating the joy of Spring--eager to put this record breaking winter behind!

If you have been considering private school placement for your Pre-Kindergarten through 8th Grade student, plan to attend the Loudoun Country Day School in Leesburg, Virginia,  open house this Sunday, March 7, 2010, from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

Loudoun Country Day School (fondly called LCDS) has been educating young Virginians for over 50 years. As its Mission Statement states, 'The purpose of Loudoun Country Day School is to educate and develop each student academically, physically, artistically, socially, and emotionally.'

The school has moved to a beautiful new campus off of Evergreen Mill Road in Leesburg.  The facilities are amazing and we have enjoyed seeing the students thrive in the new location. This school year, 2009-10, is the first year in the new campus.

This open house is a great opportunity to explore the beautiful new campus and hear about the wonderful programs offered in both the Lower School and the Middle School. There will be  faculty, parents and students available to answer your questions about curriculum and programs.

My children have attended LCDS and I have had first hand experience with both the Lower and Upper Schools. The school has been a special part of our family through the education of our 3 children. As Fairfax County residents, we have made the reverse commute, using the wonderful Bus Service for our daily transportation needs from Reston. The small classes and individualized attention have been wonderful for all three of my kids!

We have particularly enjoyed the competitive Middle School sports program. Boys and girls in grades 6-8 compete in a variety of sports against other private schools. Sports include Soccer, Field Hockey, Basketball and Lacrosse. There is also an intramural program for young athletes that prefer individual sports, such as Cross Country and Tennis. There is also a swim team and a tennis team.

If you would like more information about Loudoun Country Day School, and the wonderful learning environment it offers, the phone number is: 703-777-3841

The address for LCDS is: 20600 Red Cedar Drive, Leesburg, VA 20175

I hope you can make it on Sunday, March 7 from 1 to 2:30 pm for the LCDS Open House!

On Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. plan to be at the Herndon High School Auditorium in Herndon, VA for the 1st annual 'Funny Mind Games.' 

'Funny Mind Games'  is a family-oriented comedy show which will feature James Munsey, a comedic hypnotist, and the first-ever Herndon High School 'Family Feud'--featuring competition between different school organizations.  Some of the groups scheduled to compete include: Seniors vs. Faculty, Softball vs. Baseball, Football vs. Band.

All Night Grad Party is celebrating its 23rd year of keeping Graduates and the local community safe by providing an all night party free of drugs and alcohol.   It is a community effort to throw a party that is 'good enough' to get a majority of the kids to attend. Fund raisers like this one allow us to throw a party honoring all that our graduates have accomplished and that the kids will remember for years to come.

Families with Students at HHS can purchase tickets this week during lunch. Tickets purchased in advance are $5 for students and faculty. All other adults and all tickets purchased at the door will be $10.

If you cannot attend 'Funny Mind Games,' but would like to support the All Night Grad Party, donations are gratefully accepted. More information about donating and purchasing tickets to the event can be found at our website: http://www.herndonang.org/

You can also get more information about Herndon High School and the many opportunities and events available through the school at: http://www.fcps.edu/HerndonHS

Today at 5:00pm is the last day that the winner of a $250,000 Virginia Lottery can claim their winnings!  Are you holding the lucky ticket? By State law, the winner has 180 days to come forward.

The prizewinning Ticket was purchased on August 21, 2009, in the Mega Millions drawing at Giant Food, located at 61 Catoctin Circle NE in Leesburg.

If you have a ticket lying around that you purchased late in the summer, run and grab it. The numbers that you need to claim the prize are: 9-38-44-48-49 and the Mega Ball was 13.

Unclaimed prize money goes to the Virginia Literary Fund which is used for education in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

For more information on claiming the prize, or on the Virginia Lottery, go to their website and check out the page announcing this local Mega Millions winner.

If you have been considering private school placement for your Pre-Kindergarten through 8th Grade student, plan to attend the Loudoun Country Day School open house this Sunday, February 21, 2010, from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Loudoun Country Day School (fondly called LCDS) has been educating young Virginians for over 50 years. As its Mission Statement states, 'The purpose of Loudoun Country Day School is to educate and develop each student academically, physically, artistically, socially, and emotionally.'

This open house is a great opportunity to explore the beautiful new campus and hear about the wonderful programs offered in both the Lower School and the Middle School. There will be  faculty, parents and students available to answer your questions about curriculum and programs.

My children have attended LCDS and I have had first hand experience with both the Lower and Upper Schools. The school has been a special part of our family through the education of our 3 children. As Fairfax County residents, we have made the reverse commute, using the wonderful Bus Service for our daily transportation needs from Reston. The small classes and individualized attention have been wonderful for all three of my kids!

We have particularly enjoyed the competitive Middle School sports program. Boys and girls in grades 6-8 compete in a variety of sports against other private schools. Sports include Soccer, Field Hockey, Basketball and Lacrosse. There is also an intramural program for young athletes that prefer individual sports, such as Cross Country and Tennis. There is also a swim team and a tennis team.

If you would like more information about Loudoun Country Day School, and the wonderful learning environment it offers, the phone number is: 703-777-3841

The address for LCDS is: 20600 Red Cedar Drive, Leesburg, VA 20175

I hope you can make it on Sunday, February 21 from 4 to 5:30 pm for the LCDS Open House!

As I sit here at my computer, we are going through our second Blizzard in a week here in the Washington D.C. Metro area. If you live out of the area, I apologize in advance if it seems like those of us who are living through this series of snow storms seem obsessed. We don't usually get  a lot of snow in our area and certainly this many serious storms so close together is unprecedented!

We all know the obvious cancellations; our children are home from school for the indefinite future, the Federal Government is closed for the third day in a row and the powers that be are rescheduling both professional and college sports events.

Today, to add insult to injury, the Washington Post is reporting that the local public high school winter sports regular season is over. The teams will be going directly in to the tournaments. The article, 'Snowstorms force Northern Region to cancel basketball regular season' detail the current plans for finishing the Basketball, Wrestling, Gymnastics, Swimming and Indoor Track Seasons.  It is a tough blow for the student athletes, especially the Seniors, who will not have a chance to play all of their regular season games.

My daughter is a spring athlete. Tryouts begin the week of February 22. Since many of the Winter athletes also play Spring sports--and facilities will be in great demand--there is really no alternative but to find the most fair way to wind up this winter season.

I appreciate what a difficult decision this has been for the local Athletic Directors, but I am sure that most of us agree that they really have very little choice. With such severe weather, there is really very little option but to make the hard decisions and move on.

My sympathy goes out to all of the Senior athletes for the loss of the remainder of their senior season and I wish them all great success as they move in to the post-season tournaments!

I am at the point where I just have to laugh with all the snow that we have had this year in Virginia--otherwise I would cry! The Washington D.C. metro area, which includes suburban Virginia and Maryland, usually gets a couple of light snows, but rarely anything like what we have gotten this year.

The evidence is anecdotal, but it seems to me that the years that we  purchased or upgraded our snow blower were years that we got little or no snow

So here is a list of things that you should do to prepare for NEXT winter. I can almost (but not completely) guarantee that if you do all these things, you will notice a significant reduction in  the amount of snow we see next season:

1. Buy the biggest, strongest snow blower that you can find
   
2. Buy extra engine oil for the super strong snow blower
   
3. Keep the gas can stocked and  in a safe place
   
4. Stock up on snow shovels; all types. Replace any shovel that looks at all decrepit or prone to breaking.
   
5. Buy one of those plow-style snow movers (they look like a big, square plastic sled with wheels at one end).
6. Find one of those nifty ice-choppers (I just used  one to break up the 2 inches of ice that had settled on my driveway). A friend from Buffalo told me about it and it has been a god-send!
   
7. Keep plenty of pet-safe ice melt around
8. Always keep plenty of hot chocolate available
9. Get that emergency generator that you have been coveting (and see #3)
   
10. Make sure you have a battery operated radio (and spare batteries)
11. Have flashlights on hand with batteries to put in them
    
12. Keep extra windshield wiper fluid on hand to restock after a storm
13. Check the pet food and make sure you have enough on hand
14. Don't let prescription medications get below one weeks worth of medication
15. Make sure all family members are outfitted with warm, well-fitting coats, snow pants, boots, scarves, mittens/gloves and hats. Check them in October and buy them then for best selection in both color and fit.
16. Buy a variety of sleds and saucers so that you can have fun in the snow, too!
    
17. Get your cars in for service, check tires and battery, and make sure they always have gas before a possible snow storm.
    

Most years in the D.C. Metro area will not require any of these items...except maybe the warm coat, hat and gloves. This winter we have used them all and gone out for restocking once or twice. I am sure I have left things off of the list, but those were the items that came to mind this morning as we prepared for our latest snow storm.

All kidding aside, next fall when supplies are plentiful, consider purchasing the items on my list. If you stock up early, besides being well-prepared for any snow emergency, you will almost ensure that the rest of us don't have to deal with a snow storm next year. And we will all thank you!

Stay safe and warm!

The sun is shining today, but the snow remains. I am trying to rally the troops to get out and continue the effort to move the very heavy snow off of our driveway and shovel out the car that did not fit in to the garage.

In the meantime, here are some photos from yesterday. I am not sure I will be able to add any for today since we don't have a single AA battery in our house (and that is what my camera needs).

Today we begin the 'big dig.' Superbowl parties are limited to neighbors only...but at least the snow has stopped!