Today I’m going to take you on a tour of the Potomac House in Georgetown. The Potomac House is a great place to live and there are a lot of things to cover, so here is a quick rundown of everything you need to know: 

The Potomac House is a great place to live.

 

That is just a brief overview of all this amazing building has to offer. To get the full experience, make sure you check out the above video. 

If you are interested in living at the Potomac House or if you have any other real estate questions for me, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

I’m pleased to be able to show you one of my new listings located at 2006 10th Street, right on the corner of 10th and U and less than a block from the Metro. Check out the video above for an in-depth, guided video tour of the entire interior. 

This listing is ready for investors.

This property is a three-unit apartment building listed for $1.3 million. The three units consist of a 2-bedroom, 2-bath penthouse with a spectacular rooftop, a main-level 1-bedroom, 1.5-bath multi-use unit that you can convert into commercial space based on zoning, and a lower-level 1-bedroom studio. 

The building was built in 2015, so it’s turnkey and ready for investors. If you’re interested in investing in multi-family properties or have any questions regarding this listing, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to speak with you.

Today I’m in front of a great listing that just sold in Ledroit Park. It’s a two-unit property with three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms on the upper level and two bedrooms and two bathrooms on the lower level. This type of unit is fantastic for an investor or someone who wanted to live in one unit and rent out the other. 

I’ve got a three-unit property that will hit the market in U Street Corridor that would be perfect for an investor as well. 

Right now there’s a great opportunity to get rental income.

Right now there’s a great opportunity to get rental income. We’re in an inflationary market and rent prices tend to correspond with that inflation. Picking up something in that two- to four-unit range for a great 30-year fixed rate will create a really nice long-term wealth building opportunity.

If you would like to talk more about opportunities in the marketplace or you would like some information on our three-unit listing that will hit the market soon, feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you! 

Owning a home comes with many benefits, especially when it comes to your taxes. It’s especially true for anyone thinking about buying their first home. 

Let me start by saying that I’m not a tax professional, but I’ve sold my fair share of homes, and I’m pretty proficient in this area.

The biggest tax advantage of homeownership is tax and interest deductions.

For starters, when you sell your principal residence, you can claim up to $250,000 tax-free as a single person. Married couples can claim up to $500,000 tax-free. This is a huge bonus that allows you to take advantage of appreciation over time. 

However, the biggest advantage is mortgage interest and real estate tax deductions. Say you owned a $600,000 property that you put down 20% on with a 4.25% interest rate. You’d pay $20,244 in interest the first year, which you can write off against your income. If you’re in the 33% tax bracket, the actual savings amounts to $6,680, or $556 a month. That’s an advantage you don’t get as a renter.

If you’re an investor interested in taking advantage of the 1031 exchange before it’s gone, I’d love to sit down and speak with you about the potential tax benefits you could utilize. 

If you have any other questions about the tax benefits of owning a home or you’re thinking about buying your first home here in the D.C. area, give me call or send me an email. I’m here to help.

We’re definitely in a seller’s market in the Washington D.C. area right now, making writing a competitive offer more important than ever when buying a home.

Price is obviously very important in an offer, but you can only go so high and still have the price make sense. There are a few other ways to make your offer compelling outside of price alone.

You can only go so high on offer price and have it make sense.

These are all successful techniques that I’m currently implementing to help buyers get into the home they want. If you have any questions or you’re looking to sell a home in the Washington D.C. market, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help.

I wanted to bring you an update on the Washington D.C. market as we transition from the winter market to the spring market.

We've got a lot of pent-up demand from people looking to buy a home who held off on their purchase since the election. Whether it was for economic or political reasons, people wanted to know what would happen. We're seeing this segment of buyers hitting the market, which already had low inventory.

From 2016 to 2017, the average sale price in D.C. has increased 11.1%.

This has had an impact on the market in that the average days on market here in D.C. is down nearly 5%. In Montgomery County, the average number of days on market is down 15% and in Arlington County, it's down 19.7%. This has an immediate impact on the price of these properties because they're ending up in multiple offer situations.

From 2016 to 2017, the average sale price in D.C. has increased 11.1% year over year. That number is up 6.8% in Montgomery County and up 3.4% in Arlington County. This means that if you're looking to buy a home, you need to work with a competent real estate agent and be prepared to write a competitive offer. If you're looking to sell your home, now is a terrific time to maximize your return by working with a professional who will stage your property the right way, market it efficiently, and negotiate on your behalf. Make sure your agent knows your area well.

If you have any questions about the D.C. market or you're looking to buy or sell a home at this time, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help!

Many people don’t understand how important it is to prepare before entering the market. Most of them end up playing catch-up. Using these tips will help ensure a successful market experience whether you are a buyer or seller.

The spring market is going to be very busy. Low inventory combined with rising interest rates are pushing both buyers and sellers onto the market.

As a buyer, follow these tips to ensure a successful purchas

Don’t make the mistake of rushing onto the market.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to me with a phone call or an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

We've seen that a lot of people have a New Year's resolution to finally make an investment in real estate.

Adding a property as an investment only is a great way to diversify your portfolio, whether it's a small condo, a townhouse, a single-family home, a multi-family property, or anything else. If it's something you've considered, I encourage you to reach out to me. It can be a scary process.

I'm here to tell you that you can, in fact, find the right property and you can go through the process pain-free. I do it myself, and I constantly work with investors to find really great deals that they can use as long-term builders of wealth. Just recently, a client of mine closed on a six-unit apartment building. The property yielded a 17% IRR (internal rate of return), an 8.9% year one cash-on-cash return, and a 7.69% cap rate.

I do it myself, and I constantly work with investors to find really great deals.

Now, you might not yet understand what some of those terms mean, and that's what I'm here for. This example is a very solid investment, particularly in the Washington D.C. market.

This is something most people should look for, especially if you're primarily invested in stocks or bonds. I know this market extremely well and I know which neighborhoods that are transitioning that present an appreciation potential, and most importantly, what rents are doing in and around the city.

At the very least, ask a real estate professional like myself about it. I'd be more than happy to give you a free real estate investment consultation.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about what’s going to happen to real estate values now that we have a new president. The short answer is there is going to be little impact, but here’s why.

There are roughly 32,000 jobs tied to the political arena. Additionally, 24,000 of them are located on Capitol Hill. Of those 24,000, 9,000 are considered nonpartisan jobs. They are there year round, no matter who is in place as leader. The remaining jobs are staffers who are not in a position to buy something. In the end, you have about 2,250 people who are qualified buyers that will be looking in the area.

Even though people are leaving with the old administration, there are people coming in with the new one. In this type of turnover in the past, we haven’t seen an exceedingly high supply. There is a net gain and a net loss. The policies put forth by the new president are what will have a large and lasting impact

We are going to see more increases in interest rates.

Based on indicators in the marketplace, we are going to see an interest rate increase this month and maybe another one soon after. You need to be prepared for those higher rates if you’re thinking about buying. A rise in rates will affect your buying power and the type of home you can afford.

Keep in mind that right now, interest rates are historically low; under 4%. Don’t be concerned about them going up, as this is a normal part of what looks like an improving economy. It’s just something to be aware of moving forward.

If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

If you're buying or selling a property, do you know about TOPA rights? It's an important thing to understand to protect yourself in a real estate transaction.

TOPA is the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. In Washington DC, landlord laws are very stringent, so you have to be careful when dealing with properties that have tenants. You must understand timelines of when you serve notice to tenants and what their rights are as tenants under those notices, as well as the assignability of those rights. You want to work with a real estate professional who can properly maintain a transaction and be a consultant for you in these situations.

Keep in mind the recent change in TOPA regulations as well, because it is important relative to the companies that underwrite your title insurance. Just recently on the jurisdictional addendum in Washington DC, there was a change to add a clause titled 'Tenancy.' Under this clause, it states specifically that 'seller represents the property that is or is not subject to an existing residential lease or tenancy at the time seller decided to sell.'

New TOPA changes could affect anyone selling a property with a tenant.

It's very subjective, but the new regulation essentially says that you can't sign listing paperwork with an agent until 1) the lease on the property has expired and 2) the security deposit has been returned to the tenant in order for you not to be subjected to TOPA rights.

This means having to go back to that tenant—even if they moved out three months ago—if you signed listing paperwork before returning the security deposit to that tenant. You'll then be subject to TOPA rights, and will have to track them down, serve them the proper notices, and go through those various processes. This change is because underwriters of the policy now see it as a liability if you had a tenant in that property within three to four months of signing listing paperwork. They want to know that the tenant isn't coming back to you and making any claims for the security deposit or monetary reasons, like rent that wasn't returned.

This is especially important with a lot of people selling units right now in the Washington DC area. More specifically, we're seeing people who owned condos and were using them as investment properties with tenants and are now going to sell them. Be sure to talk to your real estate professional to make sure they’re aware of these new changes to help ensure you have a smooth transaction.

If you have any questions for me about these changes, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to offer my expertise.