Month: September 2022

Moving to Arlington Virginia? Reasons You Will Love Living Here!

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Welcome to my Real Estate Website! For anyone moving to Arlington, Virginia or considering the move, you’ll want to be sure to read this article first.

And make sure to check out HOMES FOR SALE IN ARLINGTON VA – all properties come directly from my professional MLS account with most Up-to-Date information.

contact Natasha Lingle

Arlington, Virginia

With nationally recognized schools, historical landmarks, urban villages, low crime rates, an abundance of natural scenery, and many other amenities, living in Arlington, Virginia is highly desired. In fact, it was rated America’s third best city to live in by Niche in 2017. Arlington revels in its diversity and the variety of cultures manifest in a wide selection of ethnic restaurants and cultural events. Its housing options are just as diverse as its residents are. From beautifully renovated turn of the century properties to modern high-rise condominiums, single-family detached homes to townhomes – you will find the perfect property to suit you and your lifestyle.

With a climate that offers the best of every season, you will bask in hot, humid summers, delight in the cool crispness of autumn, enjoy mild winters, and marvel at the cherry blossoms in spring. Home to the Pentagon, Arlington Virginia is situated directly across the Potomac River from Washington DC and a quick and easy commute. Due to the many government agencies located in the city, employment rates are high, the housing market is prospering, and the standard of living is exceptional. Whether you are a millennial starting out, a growing family, or retiring – buying a home in Arlington Virginia is an excellent investment that will certainly increase over time.

National Landing

National Landing in Arlington VA spans the neighborhoods of Crystal City and Pentagon City, and is in an extremely central location—right across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. And it’s quickly becoming home-sweet-home for the new Amazon Inc. HQ2 project.

The Amazon Inc. HQ2 project is the plan (now currently underway) that Amazon (the online retailer and tech company) has for their new headquarters. With its headquarters currently residing in Seattle, WA, HQ2 is intended to be a sister headquarters, not replace the current Seattle headquarters.

In addition to the Amazon Inc. HQ2 project, plans have been announced to bring a graduate satellite division of Virginia Tech to the area.

The tech growth in the area has also led to a need for upgraded public transportation. The plans for transportation growth include the new pedestrian bridge that will connect National Landing to Reagan National Airport, the new Potomac Yard Station, and upgrades to the current metro lines.

Recreational Activities

With nearly 200 parks, 86 miles of trails, and 14 community recreation centers, it is easy to see why residents of Arlington are outdoor enthusiasts. Potomac Overlook Regional Park, Lady Bird Johnson Park, and Bon Air Park are three well-known parks and there are many off-leash dog parks with water features to keep your furry friends hydrated and happy. Arlington loves its trails and much effort is put into maintaining them, the Arlington Loop and Mount Vernon Trail are two that are popular. There are numerous community events for the residents of Arlington to meet neighbors and foster community spirit. One of the most popular summertime venues is the Lubber Run Amphitheater featuring free arts and musical performances in the Arlington Forest.

Shopping Opportunities

Arlington, Virginia offers a multitude of options to satisfy every shopping desire; here are a few of them. Anchored by Macy’s and Nordstrom, the Fashion Center at Pentagon City contains 170 mid to high-end shops, eateries, and services.  The Market Common Clarendon features a combination of local boutiques, brand-name stores, and restaurants located in an outdoor mixed-use development. The shops surround a relaxing green space with gazebos where special events and performances are hosted throughout the year. At the Village of Shirlington, you will find a variety of al fresco restaurants, boutique shops, a movie theater, spas and beauty salons, and much more, located in an outdoor mall with lovely year-round lighting adding to its charm.

Dining Options

With hundreds of restaurants, Arlington, Virginia is foodie’s paradise featuring a variety of ethnic and local cuisines for every budget and taste. You can find many of them here, and I would like to suggest some the local favorites. Head to Pupatella pizzeria for hand-tossed pizza cooked in a traditional brick oven with fresh toppings, cheese that oozes, and a crust that could be eaten by itself. Carlyle – serves classic American food. Ambar features classic Balkan fare with a modern twist. Whether you sample the small plate tapas or larger portions, you will appreciate the delicious flavors, superb presentation, and the restaurant’s beautiful décor. For a fast and casual authentic Vietnamese dining experience, Four Sisters Grill will hit the spot with generous portions and affordable prices. If you like bao, you will adore Bao Bao’s signature meals in a bun and bulgogi fries, along with designer cocktails, and a funky-chic atmosphere.

Real Estate in Arlington, Virginia

Real estate in Arlington, VA is currently booming as the plans for the new Amazon building in National Landing finalize. Prices vary greatly based on the neighborhood you want to buy in. Here are a few of the neighborhood averages you can expect in the second quarter of 2019 (according to Trulia).

Currently, the lowest property is located in Rosslyn with homes listed as low as $125,000. Rent in this area is also between $1,495 and $5,950.

The most expensive single family home is located in Country Club Hills priced at $3,875,000. View all County Club Hills homes for sale HERE.

Looking to make Arlington, VA your home? This is a list of all homes for sale:

Single Family Homes for Sale in Arlington, VA >

Condos for Sale in Arlington, VA >

New Homes for Sale in Arlington, VA >

contact Natasha Lingle

Moving to Alexandria VA? Reasons You Will Love Living Here!

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For anyone moving to Alexandria, VA or considering the move, you’ll want to be sure to read this article first! You should jump in and join the conversation on Facebook, or check out the Homes for Sale in Alexandria. Listings updated every 15 minutes!

HOMES FOR SALE IN ALEXANDRIA, VA >>>

All Alexandria, VA homes come directly from my professional MLS account

with most Up-to-Date information.

contact Natasha Lingle

Alexandria, Virginia

Nestled on the western banks of the Potomac River, only 7 miles south of downtown Washington D.C. is the charming and historic city of Alexandria, Virginia. Crowned the most romantic city in America by Amazon.com in 2016, it is also the hometown of George Washington. Cobblestone lined streets, classic architecture, historical landmarks, year-round cultural events, great weather, and beautiful natural scenery are just a few of the many benefits of living in Alexandria.

Real Estate in Alexandria

Homes in Alexandria are diverse and there is something to suit every budget and lifestyle, from 200-year-old townhouses to luxury high-rise condominiums, master-planned communities to single-family detached homes, waterfront properties and many others. With some of the region’s top schools, robust employment and real estate market, and an easy commute to the Capitol, it comes as no surprise that Alexandria, Virginia is a flourishing, highly coveted city and the perfect location for your next home.

Featured Neighborhoods

Old Town Alexandria

Founded in 1749 and located on the vibrant waterfront, Old Town is the heart of Alexandria. Named one of the 10 Most Walkable cities in our nation by AAA, its collection of over 200 boutiques, art galleries, eclectic bistros, vintage shops, and a variety of exceptional businesses are situated along quaint cobblestone streets and red brick sidewalks. Homes in Old Town range from modern condominiums to single-family dwellings and historic row houses from the 18th century on tree-lined streets. The Potomac River provides residents with scenic pathways and waterside parks to walk, bike or jog, or simply relax on a bench and watch the boats. Festivals, live performance theater and musical shows, and annual events keep the community busy and entertained.

View Old Town Alexandria Homes for Sale HERE >>>>.

Del Ray

Idyllic Del Ray is a picturesque and family-centric community northwest of Old Town where you will find lovely homes on tree-canopied streets with white picket fences and residents on their front porches while children play in the yards. From beautifully renovated classics in Tudor and Colonial styles to arts and crafts bungalows, stylish cottages, townhouses, and modern condominiums – a wide variety of homes await you in Del Ray. Mount Vernon Avenue is the hub of the neighborhood with a diverse mix of eateries, coffee shops, one-of-a-kind boutiques, health and wellness shops, and much more. The local art and music scene in Del Ray allows residents to enjoy year-round festivals, parades, and events that foster a close-knit community spirit.

View Del Ray Homes for Sale HERE >>>.

Recreational Activities

With almost 950 acres of natural landscapes spread across 70 parks and 30 recreational centers, Alexandria, Virginia is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts. Bikers and joggers will appreciate the multitude of pathways along the connecting parks bordering the Potomac River and enjoy the portion of the Mount Vernon Trail that runs through the Old Town. For family fun, Cameron Run Regional Park features a water park with wave pool and water slides, mini golf, and much more. Alexandria also features several golf courses, country clubs, and water-based activities on the Potomac River, as well as a wide range of festivals, events, and celebrations, providing enjoyment for every age and lifestyle.

Shopping Opportunities

Alexandria, Virginia has a balance of locally owned specialty boutiques, big-box outlets, and national chain stores for your shopping desires. The Old Town is entirely walkable and when you finish, you can hop on the free trolley and head to King Street, featuring a mile of unique shopping experiences. From high-end fashion retailers to antiques, home décor, jewelry, gifts, children’s stores, and more – King Street has been designated as one of the Great Streets of America. In addition, the nation’s oldest running farmers market in Old Town and the year-round farmers market in Del Ray keeps residents of Alexandria supplied with locally-sourced produce, artisan wares, cheeses, homemade baked goods, freshly squeezed juices, and much more.

Dining Options

A variety of restaurants from family-friendly to upscale establishments await you in Alexandria, Virginia, here are some of the local favorites. For melt-in-your-mouth BBQ, head to Sweet Fire Donna’s and savor their finger-licking sauces, soft cornbread, and fiery mac-n-cheese. Sunday in Saigon offers authentic Vietnamese cuisine in a modern and upscale setting. The cozy hidden gem, Balkan Grill, features simple Balkan dishes that explode into a medley of flavors in your mouth and at Aldo’s Italian Kitchen you will be treated like family while enjoying generously portioned Italian comfort food. Tasty, fresh ingredients, an excellent selection of vegetarian and non-veg options, and superb service make Namaste the go-to spot for Indian and Nepalese dining. For flavorful, colorful, and aromatically appealing Ethiopian fare, head to Enat Restaurant where you will enjoy ample portions and traditional decor.

Looking to make Alexandria, VA your home? This is a list of all homes for sale:

 

The Truth About Zillow Zestimates

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Homeowners and buyers across the country often answer this question by turning to a figure known as a Zestimate, produced by Zillow.com. Zillow’s intention is to create an accurate value estimate for the over 100 million homes indexed by the site. Although it won’t give you a figure that’s right on the nose, it can provide a price range to start with during your real estate negotiation.

Wait, What’s a Zestimate?

A Zestimate is Zillow’s attempt to use algorithms and publicly available data points that influence housing prices to estimate a home’s value at any given time. While this is a good idea, in concept, it’s important for buyers and sellers to realize that there’s a bit more to predicting prices than the cold, hard facts.

Often, real estate becomes a very personal and emotional buy. Two houses with the same floor plan, but different shades of brick or different trees in the front yard can have different values to the person doing the buying. That’s really what matters. Ultimately, a home is only worth what the market will bear and what a buyer will give.

The Perception Versus the Reality of Zestimates

Zestimates became popular because outside of an appraisal or comparative market analysis generated by an experienced Realtor, it can be really hard to judge whether your home is gaining or losing value. After all, no one wants to bet on a losing horse, even if they live inside that horse and it provides them with shelter from the elements and a place to make memories (must be a Trojan horse).

Unfortunately, the Zestimate has been responsible for a great deal of confusion since Zillow started using the original algorithm in 2006. Even though the algorithm has been upgraded several times since its inception, it’s not perfect. Unfortunately, people deeply enveloped in the stressful process that is buying a house sometimes become ultra focused on the numbers that Zestimates provide, treating them more as an absolute than a flexible guide.

Because most people don’t really know what goes into valuing a home, this issue of getting married to a valuation that’s not quite on the dot isn’t new. Even before Zillow, many homeowners believed that their home was worth so many dollars due to tax assessments that were often based on outdated information, collected during the initial construction of their home and updated based on average inflation.

In order to determine the most accurate sales price of your home, I will create a Comparative Market Analysis Report that will include a list of similar homes sold in your neighborhood in the last 6 months. This report will allow you to evaluate how your home will fare against the competition.

Also read: “Even the CEO of Zillow Thinks You Should Ask a Real Estate Agent What Your Home is Worth”.

Why Have a Zestimate, Then?

Zestimates aren’t the most accurate way to assess the value of a home because they aren’t able to pick up on the harder to quantify items that go into determining the value of a home. They can’t tell a freshly remodeled 1960’s ranch home from one that’s still got the original shag carpet, for example. They aren’t appraisals. For many homes, though, a Zestimate will get you in the ballpark.

Zestimates work best in areas of high turnover, in neighborhoods with fairly similar homes. Because a Zestimate relies on public data like tax assessments and homeowner corrections of the basics, including the number of bathrooms and bedrooms, it can make a fine starting point for the potential home buyer or seller.

Since you don’t buy and sell real estate constantly, having an overview of the neighborhood’s stats is helpful when you do–but you have to allow for wiggle room. Just because a listed house on Maple Drive has a Zestimate of $203,000 and it’s almost identical to your house next door, it doesn’t mean you won’t get more (or less) when you go to sell.

Taking Your Zestimate to the Next Level

Zestimates can give you a very general idea about the value of your home or a home you’re considering buying, but they aren’t appraisals. The only way to know what a home’s actual value is in the moment (because this can change rapidly in some markets) is to reach out to a home pro for their formal opinion.

If you’ve reached that point where you’re ready to buy or sell a home and want a highly accurate price point to start from, contact your Realtor for a comparative market analysis. Once you have a contract in hand, a professional appraiser will take it from there and give you an exact dollar figure based on hundreds of factors that are a bit too nebulous for the technology we currently have available to reliably assess.

Would you like to know how much your home could sell for today? Click HERE to request my Free comprehensive Home Valuation Report.

 

Navigating the Competitive Real Estate Market: The Importance of Pre-Approval Letter in the Washington DC Metro Area

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In many markets across the country,  the amount of buyers searching for their dream homes greatly outnumbers the amount of homes for sale. This has led to a competitive marketplace where buyers often need to stand out. Washington DC Metropolitan area is not an exception – the market for desirable properties in Vienna VA, McLean VA, Arlington VA, Alexandria VA and Falls Church VA is very competitive, and often, buyers end up in a bidding war.

If you are competing with other buyers, one way to show that you are serious about buying home is to get a pre-approval letter for a mortgage and include it with the offer. In fact, majority of sellers in Northern Virginia, will not take buyers’ offer seriously if the pre-approval letter is not enclosed in the offer package.

 

 

Is Your Real Estate Agent Using Latest State-of-the-Art Technologies to Sell Your Home Fast?

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If not, you may need to find someone who is

Much of your potential success when selling your home quickly and for the most money lies is in the hands of your real estate agent. And your agent’s success largely depends upon the marketing tactics they use to promote your house and attract potential buyers. So, how can you evaluate if their strategy for marketing your home is sound, effective, and more advanced than what everyone else is doing?

You can look at their years of experience, testimonials, or the number of homes they’ve sold in the past as an indicator of the potential value they offer to you as your home’s listing agent. Or you can evaluate the way today’s home buyers are searching for their next homes and see how your potential new agent measures up.

Times are changing…

Just because a marketing strategy worked a decade ago, doesn’t mean it is going to work today. Evaluating your potential agent on years of experience alone may cause you to overlook the fact that marketing has gone digital, and your next buyer is just a click away.

According to National Association of Realtors latest Buyers Profile report, over 95 percent of contemporary home buyers use the Internet to search for homes – not signs in the front yard, classified ads, local magazines, an agent’s physical office, or TV ads.

Just look at the graph below! It shows the influence of the Internet on Home Search Process from 1995 to 2016.

Need more prove? The table below demonstrates that only 3% of home buyers are using TV and 16% are using print advertisement as sources used during their home search.

How would your real estate agent showcase your home online, since that’s exactly where your target buyers will be looking for their next home? By hiring an agent that is well versed in the demands of digitally savvy consumers, you’ll reach an audience that you wouldn’t with a traditional agent, and you’ll sell your home faster.

Posting the listing with MLS is only the beginning

If you question your potential real estate agent about listing your home online, and he or she responds that the MLS should cover all online marketing, it may be time to rethink your choice in agent.

Every agent will list your property on the MLS, from where your listing will be pushed to such websites as Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow, but that is far from enough to take advantage of the huge opportunities that exist online today.

Real estate agents that have their fingers on the pulse of the fast-moving real estate market, in addition to using traditional marketing tools such as: installing front yard sign, printing flyers and holding Open Houses, will incorporate many or all of the more advanced methods of marketing, to include:

• Creating a separate website to market your property.
• Developing a Facebook and/or Twitter ad campaign strategy.
• Sharing professional property photos on Pinterest and Instagram.
• Uploading home tour to YouTube.
• Reaching out to international buyers.
• Promoting your property on Adwerx.
• Showcasing your home in the best light through fusion photography, 3D home video tours, aerial photography and other cutting-edge technologies.

Unique Value through Digital Advertising

Think about how real estate agents have advertised your property in the past. It usually meant a classified ad in the local newspaper or a spread in one of the real estate publications. The problem with this approach is that your agent’s marketing dollars would be quickly depleted by exposing ads to an audience that may or may not be interested in your property.

Facebook Advertising

Digital channels, such as Facebook, have given technologically savvy agents more options than ever to sell your home fast. Using specifically targeted Facebook ads, real estate agents can not only target your area, but they can reach a pool of home buyers who are actively searching to buy a home just like yours, at the specific price point, at the specific proximity to their office, and so on and so on.

The level of targeting digital marketing focused agents can reach with Facebook ads is almost eerie! Can your agent offer that?

Adwerx

You may not have heard of Adwerx, because it’s a tool built specifically for real estate agents. Adwerx is an advanced online technology for retargeting ads that allows agents to advertise your home to buyers online.

How do Adwerx Ads work? Do you remember that time you searched for shoes on your favorite department store’s website, and then you saw those same shoes on the ad bar while you were online banking or looking for a recipe? This is the power of retargeting ads! After the buyers look at your property online,  they’ll be reminded about your property over and over again when they aren’t even thinking about it.

Also Read:

Selling Your Home with me: Step-by Step process.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of those extremely important elements of digital marketing that happens behind the scenes. What does your agent know about SEO? Do they have an expert SEO strategist on staff?

SEO is the process of creating content on the web and through social media that will increase the likelihood of buyers finding your home through a simple web search. It often includes complicated algorithms, a keyword strategy and technical skills required to optimize a website or listing for it to be pushed to the front of the line on a Google search. And no buyer will find your home on your agent’s website, if it is hidden on the 29th page of search results on Google.

How does your potential real estate agent measures up against technologically savvy agents that use these important tactics to reach the buyers who are looking for your home on the Internet? If you mention SEO, and his or her head spin, it may be important to keep searching for your next agent!

What kind of marketing team does your agent employ to support the marketing efforts?

Agents running full-scale marketing campaigns for each and every one of their listings usually can’t do it alone, and they know how important it is to get it just right to sell your home fast and at the highest price point the market can handle.

Providing a state-of-the-art marketing strategy takes a team of: in-house professional writer for persuasive and clear content, an SEO specialist to drive traffic to your listing, and a web developer and graphic designer to give your online presence just the right look. Have you asked your potential real estate agent what kind of team they have in place?

Working with Natasha Lingle

I understand the role a flawlessly executed marketing strategy plays in selling a home fast. I also know exactly what it takes to compete in today’s digital marketplace. I’m not afraid to invest the money needed to have access to the latest technologies that will increase the probability of in-person showings and, consequently, persuading the buyers to bring an offer and buy your home.

I’ll happily talk to you about the power of Facebook and Adwerx ads, SEO, and why high quality photography is one of the most important aspects of real estate on-line marketing.

I will work tirelessly with my team of marketing experts to showcase your property on-line in order to attract quality buyers.

And please don’t forget to download my Seller’s Guide!

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