I commonly hear realtors and homeowners use price per square foot calculations when assessing the value of a home. But using price per square foot as a shortcut to determining the value of a home is flawed. Price per square foot is not a reliable indicator of market value because when you only calculate the relationship between size and sales price you are ignoring all the other variables of a home that a potential home buyer analyzes like view, lot size, level of finish, location, and much more. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at the above maps of foreclosures in California, Maryland/Washington, DC and Virginia (these are the states I operate in) is interesting. Read the rest of this entry »

Alexandria Virginia was hoping that Verizon would bring its high speed internet and video service called “Fios” to the area, and Verizon chose not to. Now Alexandria Virginia is hoping to be a test site for a new high-speed internet service being developed by Google. And anyone that owns real estate in Alexandria should hope this happens! Read the rest of this entry »

Does traffic affect real estate in Washington DC, of course it does! We plan our lives around traffic, we look for the best routes to get where we are going, we think about the best times to come and go, we telecommute to beat traffic, we move into the city to beat traffic, and we work late to avoid rush hour. We do anything we can to avoid traffic! Read the rest of this entry »

I could tell you how Washington DC had an influx of population in 2009. I could tell you how strong the job market is in Washington DC. Or I could even tell you how real estate prices were up 2.9% in Washington DC last year. Instead I am going to regale you with some anecdotal stories to illustrate what is going on here in the real estate market. Read the rest of this entry »