Northern Virginia Real Estate Podcast with Janet Gresh and the Gresh Group

Looking to buy or sell a home in Northern Virginia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (703) 636-3588 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. Today we are excited to be joined by our preferred lender, Jim Evans of Potomac Trust Mortgage. He is here to give you some valuable information on current mortgage interest rates and what you can expect if you are thinking of either buying or refinancing today.  Right now in Northern Virginia, we are at an 18-month low for mortgage rates. This is excellent, and means we haven't seen mortgage rates this low since early 2013.  Here is an article about these extremely low rates, which are being seen on a national scale. If you want to save thousands over the life of your home loan, Jim suggests locking in a rate now. When rates are this low, they will get worse before they get better and chances are they will rise instead of falling. If you have any questions at all for Jim, you can reach him at (703)-282-9692. One thing we love about Jim is his honesty. If you want the facts and someone who will be a straight shooter with you, Jim is your guy. Thanks again for joining us today. For all your real estate needs, whether you are buying or selling, give us a call. We'd be glad to go over your situation with you and figure out how we can make your next home transaction a breeze. 

Looking to buy or sell a home in Northern Virginia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (703) 636-3588 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. Today I have invited a full service, real estate attorney, Susan Pesner with Pesner Kawamoto Law Firm, to speak with you about the difference between a settlement company with a lawyer available and a settlement company without a lawyer available. Overall, it is always a better option to hire a settlement company with at least a lawyer available or a law firm like Susan's with settlement options. The main advantage with a law firm is that they can provide you with personal legal counsel and can interpret many different contracts for you. Many other companies have lawyers on staff while others simply outsource as needed but will remain neutral should a legal dispute arise. At the Gresh Group, we highly recommended those companies with at least 1 full time, employed lawyer on staff that we can connect directly with should an issue arise. (delete - Susan's office will work to make your settlement much easier and less painful, and they will fill you in on what is happening throughout the entire process.) Susan has been handling settlements and settling real estate disputes for over 35 years. Her goal is to give you a smooth transition from purchase to sale. Susan's office is just 10 minutes away from ours, and she is always able to help buyer and sellers in Northern Virginia. If you would like to know more about Susan or how she might be able to help you, then please feel free to contact her at 703-506-9440 or [email protected]. As always, contact me at 703-636-3588 or [email protected] with any questions or concerns about real estate in Northern Virginia.

Looking to buy or sell a home in Northern Virginia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (703) 636-3588 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. Explaining County Tax Assessments I'm certainly glad that spring is here in Fairfax County, but that also means that tax season is here. While it's not fun paying taxes, you should know that these payments go towards funding all of the community services that we love and need most like schools, street maintenance, and having firefighters and policemen. So, what are Tax Assessments? These are assessments carried out on your home by a county assessor to gauge what you should be paying in property taxes. The value of your home will be used to determine your property taxes owed on it, which is calculated by the tax rate. Here in Fairfax, these tax assessments have been:    - 5.8% higher for single family homes    - 8.4% higher for town homes.    - 10.5% higher for condos.    - Tax rates are only allowed to rise a certain amount over a certain period of time, so don't worry if you think your taxes are high this year, they should be around the same amount in coming years. Click here to find out more information regarding tax assessments in the Virginia area! What does this mean for you? This means that you may be paying more in taxes, or it means that you might not be experiencing any increase in taxes, it all depends on your tax base. Also, keep in mind that a tax assessment does not correlate to a true market value for your home. Sometimes assessments are only carried out every few years, so do not rely on a value from a tax assessment to determine the market value of your home. Whether you're buying or selling a home in Fairfax county, please contact me because I am your #1 resource for real estate. The spring market is here and things are certainly warming up, so don't miss out on all the action!

Selling your home? Get a free home value reportBuying a home? Search all homes for sale      Spring is right around the corner, and you know what that means: Tax Season. If you haven't gotten it already, the county will be sending out a property tax assessment for the property you own. They will tell you how much they think the property is worth, so they can tax you accordingly. Is this the same thing as an appraisal? No. An appraisal is done by the bank, and is a detailed single property valuation. Assessments are based on large numbers of sales that are analyzed to determine values for large groups of similar properties. With an appraisal, you want to get the highest figure possible to increase the sale price of your home. For a property tax assessment, you want the number to be as low as possible, so you don't have to pay as much in taxes. The reality is that these assessments could be inaccurate, and you might be getting taxed more than you should be. If you think your property tax assessment is wrong, whether it's too high or too low, give us a call. We can help you go through your options, which can include filing an appeal against the county's assessment. Any appeal has to be done in a timely manner.  We look forward to hearing from you soon! *Check Out These Related Links!  - https://nvar.com/real-estate-tax-rates/nvar-law-ethics-portal/legal-knowledgebase/real-estate-laws/real-estate-property-tax-rates - http://otr.cfo.dc.gov/page/real-property-tax-rates - https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/realpropertytax/default.aspx 

Selling your home? Get a free home value reportBuying a home? Search all homes for sale  A question I am often asked by buyers and sellers is, “Should I wait until next year to buy or sell my home?” It’s a difficult question to answer, and if I knew the future, I’d be the first one to tell you exactly what to do. What I do know, however, is that there is a cost to waiting to buy a property. We have no idea where interest rates are going to go, but we do know that right now they are the lowest they’ve been in a long time. We are currently on the back-end of an 8-year increase in home prices, but we’ve never seen a 9- or 10-year period of increases in history. At some point, the market is going to flatten out, and so are home prices. Another sign of an impending market slowdown is the fact that our average days on market is up. More units are being sold, but they are taking longer to sell. If you’re thinking about buying, you’ve got to do so before rates go up and if you’ve been thinking about selling, now is the time to get your home on the market. Prices are going to flatten out and rates are going to go up. You want to be ahead of that curve. If you’re thinking about making a move, I would be happy to have a conversation with you where we can talk about the options you have right now, and why they are only going to get worse in the future. Just give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

Selling your home? Get a free home value reportBuying a home? Search all homes for sale  Whether you're buying or selling a home, we are always looking at market trends -- what homes are being sold and what homes are failing to sell. We are working constantly behind the scenes in order to help you get the real estate results you desire.We prospect every day. We call buyers and sellers constantly to see if we can find the perfect match for you. If you're a seller, I'm calling buyers to tell them about your property and to see if there is anyone looking for a place like yours. If you're buying, I call sellers to see if there is anyone selling a home that fits your wants and needs.We also talk to a lot of other agents. We do something called brokers opens, which allows us to see a lot of different homes very quickly. During these opens, we talk to other agents to see what homes they have coming onto the market and to promote our own listings to them. It's a great exchange of information among professionals in the field, and it all benefits you, the client!We also spend our money on marketing. Before we get paid, we are putting our time and money on the line to get our clients' homes bought or sold. We have professional stagers and photographers we employ for your benefit, all before getting paid! We help the transaction go through as smooth as possible. There are a lot of potential road bumps that could derail a transaction, but we have the experience and the strategies to ensure a successful closing. To find out more of what we do behind the scenes, read this article.If you have any questions about the other things we do behind your back to ensure the process is as stress-free as possible, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to help you soon!

Selling your home? Get a free home value reportBuying a home? Search all homes for sale  The first thing a buyer is going to see when they drive up to your house is the outside. Are the shrubs crisp and trim? Do you have fresh mulch and colorful flowers? Make sure you have done these things and that the door is clean and in good condition. Once you've made a good first impression on the exterior of your home, you need to focus on the inside. Have you decluttered and depersonalized your home? Make sure your home is clear and clean! Another thing you need to do is neutralize paint and carpet colors. Loud colors will scare many buyers away, and neutral colors will appeal to the widest number of buyers. Also, be sure to open up your window shades to let in light and to make your home feel airy and fresh. Let the sun shine through your windows! Finally, a high impact and inexpensive thing you can do is replace faucets, fixtures, and switches. Light switches get very dirty and worn over the years, so think about replacing them. Updating faucets is another way to make your home pop and really draw buyers in. When selling this spring, remember that first impressions matter. If you would like additional help getting your home in tip-top shape for the spring selling season, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to hear from you!

Selling your home? Get a free home value reportBuying a home? Search all homes for sale  One of the most common questions I am asked is “what do I need to do to get my home ready to go on the market?” Today I'm going to show you the things you should do to prepare your home before putting it for sale! 1. Tally the age of various itemsMake a list of what you have in your house and the age of the systems, roof, etc. How long items last depends on a lot of factors such as the model and how well it's been maintained, but you can get a general idea of average life span from the National Association of Home Builders. For example:Wood shingle and shake roof: 15 to 30 yearsCentral air-conditioning unit: 15 yearsElectric water heater: 14 yearsGutters: 30 years 2. Do your own walk-throughLook for common problem spots:Wood rot around outside door frames, window ledges, and garage doors. Condensation and rain can cause these areas to weaken and rot.Water stains on the ceiling or near doors and windows. This can indicate a leaky roof or rain seeping in from outside.Leaks under sinks or around toilets.Bulges under carpet or discoloration on hardwood floors, which can indicate flooding problems or an uneven foundation. Next, test what's called the "functionality" in every room. Things like visible cracks in the walls and tile or hardwood floors, doors that don’t shut correctly, broken cabinet handles, etc. Essentially, anything that doesn’t function well should be fixed. Don’t forget to inspect the outside! 3. Bring in the prosOnce you've done your own walk-through, you may want to have a pro take a second look. These people can spot flaws you overlooked, because either you're used to them or you didn't realize they could cause trouble. We can help you to hire a home inspector to do a pre-inspection and find out what potential buyers might find when they do their home inspection. 4. Decide what needs renovatingFor example, a recent study by the National Association of Realtors found that upgrading hardwood floors reaps an estimated 100% return on investment, essentially paying for itself. Upgrading your insulation can net you a 95% ROI, a new roof a whopping 105%! Because what buyers don't like to know they've got a solid roof over their heads? Most importantly, you should work with a professional Realtor like me to help you go through the process of preparing your home to go on the market. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Selling your home? Get a free home value reportBuying a home? Search all homes for sale  From my family to yours, Happy Holidays! Thank you for your support this past year. To hear the full holiday message from Emma and Adam, watch this short video!

Looking to buy or sell a home in Northern Virginia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (703) 636-3588 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions. The National Association of Realtors says that 90% of home buyers begin their home search online. The same is true for sellers, who try to determine an accurate price for their home by searching for similar homes online. There are a lot of advantages in doing this, but there are also huge disadvantages with using these websites. The most commonly used websites are Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com. Have you ever wondered why these websites exist? They exist to make money, and they are making money off of you and your data. When you register for these websites, they take your information, compile it, and then sell it to Realtors who are looking for leads. They sell zip codes to real estate agents all across the country just from the information that you freely provide them. The major disadvantage of these websites to you is that their information is simply inaccurate. Their goal is to show as many homes as possible, and that means that they will post homes that are listed, under contract, and also properties that have already been sold. These websites also estimate the value of homes, and these estimates are wildly inaccurate. Zillow will actually tell you how accurate their home prices are if you scroll down to the bottom of the page. When I did this, Zillow actually told me that their home prices for the Washington DC area were 90% wrong! That is huge. The only way to ensure that you're getting accurate information is to pick up the phone and call a real estate agent such as myself. We have access to accurate and updated listings that websites cannot offer you. As soon as a property comes onto the market, we can send it to you so that you have the best chance of getting the home that you want. If you're interested in purchasing a home in Northern Virginia, Maryland, or Washington DC, then please call me at 703-636-3588. I would be more than happy to sit down and discuss your individual needs.