You know what I’m talking about right?  You saw the Open House sign and wandered in.  We chatted for a few minutes and then you set off to tour the the house.  Though I wasn’t right on your tail I was watching you. First you opened up the kitchen cabinets.  Okay that makes sense as…

This week while searching through the MLS for listings for one of my Northern Virginia homebuyer’s I was once again struck by what you find in MLS listings. I’m not talking about great prices on homes throughout the region but about how agents are marketing their client’s properties. Let’s start with directions in the MLS….

Anyone who picks up the Washington Post (WP) Sunday paper immediately notices how light it is. For those of us who have been around for awhile we can remember when the WP was thick and heavy. Sunday’s were spent getting newsprint on your hands while scanning for homes for sale or open houses. Times have…

Last month in the post Market Reports Are Not The Value of Your Home, I suggested to Northern Virginia home sellers that the “average” price in your neighborhood may not be reflective of your home value. As Paul Harvey used to say…now for the rest of the story. For example this chart shows how one…

Most of us grew up with “mother rules.” We knew what they were from when we were little until we left home. Even as adults we can hear them ring in our ears as we go about our day. So I started thinking about some of the “mother rules” in our house and how they…

There are websites dedicated to finding a exposing “bad MLS photos.”  This isn’t one of them.  However I do wonder why so many listings in the Northern Virginia MLS have photos of toilets.  Just the toilet.  Toilets with the lids up no less. This photo won’t end up in one of my listings.   Now if…

Did you just read a marketing report about your Northern Virginia neighborhood and think YEA the value of my home is UP UP UP?  I don’t want to put a damper on your enthusiasm but before you decide to list your home for the great price you see listed let’s talk. A market report may…

Two members of the US House of Representatives, Reps. Robert Andrews (D-New Jersey) and Tom Rooney (R-Florida), have sponsored a bill called “Prompt Decision for Qualification of Short Sale Act of 2010″ (H.R. 6133). The basics of the bill would require lenders to make a YES or NO decision on short sales within 45 days…

Despite rumors that Northern Virginia short sales are being approved and closed in 10 days it isn’t true.   Since the introduction of a new government program Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program or HAFA on April 5, 2010 there has been a lot of misinterpretation of the guidelines by both buyers and sellers. One of…

For years Realtors® depended on the brochure box as a way to give drive by buyers an idea of what the interior of a home looks like. This spring CJRealty Group introduced new custom signs for our listings and they have been a hit.  Owners like them and more importantly prospective buyers driving through Northern Virginia…