Real Estate in Today’s Coronavirus Climate

The Northern Virginia market started off hot from right after New Years Day. With historically low interest rates, the market in January and February was aptly described as “tight inventory has continued to coincide with higher sales price to original list prices and fewer days on market” (source).

In March, as people started staying home, and schools and businesses closed, the real estate industry immediately started adapting so that we could continue to help people with the essential need of housing while keeping everyone safe.

Buyers: we can do everything remotely other than settlement: most mortgage lenders require wet signatures with in-person notarization (but settlement has been changed to maintain social distancing and limit exposure as much as possible). Most buyers (if not all!) would like to see a home in person prior to submitting an offer, and we can do that, too.

Process Overview:

  • Virtual Buying Consultation
  • Personalized Online Home Search Portal
  • Recommendations for Lenders Who Can Work Virtually
  • Video Home Tours, Virtual Open Houses, 3D Home Tours
  • In-Person Home Showings with Safety Precautions
  • Mobile Deposit of Earnest Money Deposit
  • Virtual Home Inspections (home inspector goes to house, communicates results to you)
  • Virtual Final Walk-Through
  • Settlements with Limited Contact (Options Include Drive-By Closings Where Buyers Never Leave Their Car)

Sellers: we can do many tasks remotely, limiting your need to meet others in-person, and limiting the number of people who access your home.

Process Overview:

  • Virtual Listing Consultation
  • Professional Photography, 3D Virtual Matterport House Tour so Buyers Can See House Virtually
  • Virtual Showings & Open Houses, Allowing Virtual “Visits”
  • Limit In-Person Showings to Pre-Qualified Serious Buyers with Safety Precautions
  • Virtual Home Inspections (only home inspector & agent in house)
  • Virtual Final Walk-Through (only agent in house)
  • Settlements with Limited Contact (Options Include Drive-By Closings Where Buyers Never Leave Their Car)

Everyone in real estate is working hard to facilitate the essential task of buying and selling real estate while keeping all involved safe.

Reach out to learn more, or to start the process of buying or selling your home.

YouTube Channel Will Have Weekly Content

Looking for the latest in real estate news? Want to learn more about buying, selling, or owning a home? How about investing in real estate or managing tenants?

I post weekly videos on these topics on my YouTube channel, check it out to learn more! (While you’re there click the red SUBSCRIBE button to get notified when I release new videos!)

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEhdJpYlp1kXlfuJOUaO8XA

Interior Design Versus Home Staging

People love their homes, and many customize their homes to their personal tastes with interior design. Perhaps you have sentimental items or family photos on display. Maybe a prized family heirloom is featured in your living room. Is your favorite color highlighted in accessories, or maybe even painted on the walls?  Your home has been a haven for you and your family, and that is reflected in the interior design.

When it’s time to sell your house and find a new place to call home, it is important to stage your home to sell, which has some differences compared to interior design. Interior design’s goal is to make your house beautiful and functional for you, while home staging is focused on making your house appeal to everyone else.

While it is work to stage your home to sell, it is well worth it as staged homes sell faster and for more money.  Home staging recommendations (even for homes with great interior design) are to depersonalize, minimize, and create space.

Depersonalizing is making your house more neutral and generic so buyers could see themselves living in that space. Family photos, diplomas, and any accessories or furniture that may be sentimental but aren’t on-trend should be removed. Strong colors should also be replaced: bed linens, throw pillows, and wall paint are easy switches to make a home more neutral. Anything related to pets or politics should be packed up: both can alienate a potential buyer.

Minimizing is getting rid of the stuff on the horizontal surfaces of your home. These items may be great interior design elements that add beauty or utility to your day, but remember that your house, not the stuff in it, is the focus when you are selling. You want buyers to look at the house, and not your possessions. Common items that need to be removed are collections or collectibles, magazines, and small kitchen appliances.

Every buyer wants a house that seems spacious, not cramped. Therefore, a goal of home staging is to create the sense of space. That may mean rearranging (or removing) furniture so that a Realtor and buyer(s) can easily flow into and out of rooms without feeling cramped while touring the home. An interior designer may not have to consider if you have dozens of people in the house for an open house, but a stager certainly does!

Creating a sense of space also means getting rid of any extra storage: you want buyers to think the house has ample storage, not that you’ve needed to create more. An interior designer may come up with beautiful ways to have extra storage, but for home staging purposes all of that extra storage needs to be gone. While an interior designer may not focus on your closets, a stager will. Closets should appear spacious, so excess items need to be removed, and the closets need to be organized.

A house with great interior design is a joy to inhabit, but it may not be optimized to sell. Using the staging strategies of depersonalizing, minimizing, and creating space will help even the most beautiful house sell faster for the most amount of money.

Open House: Your Dream House in South Riding, Sunday 10/28, 1-4pm

This Sunday I’m hosting an open house at a beautiful house in South Riding!

This 5 bedroom, 4.5 house is your suburban dream come true, white picket fence and all. Whatever’s on your wish list: wood floors, gourmet kitchen, outdoor entertaining space, fenced-in yard, this house has it and more!

Come see it this Sunday 10/28 from 1-4pm.

Full details here:
https://matrix.brightmls.com/DE.asp?ID=713676309

Open House: Single Family Home in Leesburg with Great Location, Sunday 10/21 from 1-4pm

I’m excited for another open house this weekend! This is a single family home ideally located right off Route 7. Enjoy a 5 minute drive to the Village at Leesburg shopping center with Wegmans, restaurants, and more! Plus commuting to work would be a breeze!

The house has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, and comes with plenty of community amenities. Plus the pool table conveys! Come visit this Sunday, 1-4pm.

Full details here:
http://mrislistings.mris.com/DE.asp?ID=81621012800

Open House This Sunday, Sept. 9, in Round Hill

This Sunday I’ll be holding an open house at a single family home in the Villages at Round Hill.

This 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house stands out from the rest with its prime location: at the end of the neighborhood, with a quarter acre lot that backs to trees. Built in 2016, it has many nice touches that are nearly brand new! The basement is unfinished, so you have the opportunity to finish it to your tastes.

Imagine enjoying iced tea on the front porch during the summer, and cozying up by the fireplace in the family room during the winter. This house would be a joy year round!

The open house is Sunday, September 9th from 1-4pm. The address is 16811 Evening Star Drive, Round Hill VA 20141. Full details of the house are here. Please share with anyone you know in the market for a house!