How Much Do Good Schools Cost?

Question: How much of a difference do schools make in the value of homes in Arlington?

Answer: Nothing drives home values like schools and for most buyers around here, that is determined by the 10-point scale ratings on the all-powerful GreatSchools.org. Let me be clear, this article is not meant to validate or contest the quality of GreatSchools ratings, rather an acknowledgement of the weight the website’s school ratings have on home purchase decisions and therefore, home values.

Quick Tips for Using Schools in Your Home Search

  • Families define a “good school” differently. Whether that’s test scores, socioeconomic diversity, language instruction, athletics, or a STEM focus think about what matters most to you and target schools that fit your values.
  • GreatSchools offers more than just a single rating, they offer component data as well. Dig deeper and look at the components of a school’s rating and review them based on what you value.
  • I have spoken to parents who have had both excellent and terrible experiences at top and low rated schools alike.  The GreatSchools rating is not everything.
  • There are excellent public resources available for research including the Virginia Dept of Education’s School Quality Profiles and information nights for each school where you can see a school and interact with teachers first-hand
  • There are numerous message boards with loads of information about school operations from disability support, to college readiness, to athletics
  • There are other private ratings websites like Niche.com and US News and World Report that offer different perspectives and ways of ranking schools
  • Arlington County ranks as the #2 school district in Virginia, just behind the City of Falls Church, with an overall A+ grade. Loudoun County ranks # 5 and Fairfax County ranks #6 in Virginia with an overall A grades.

How Much Does Each GreatSchools Point Cost?

If you want to buy a detached house or townhouse within a top-rated school boundary, you’re going to pay a lot. However, if school ratings and budget are your top focuses, you can use the table below to figure out what the most efficient use of your budget is to maximize your GreatSchools rating per dollar spent.

The table is sorted by the average cost per point of the GreatSchools.org rating (GS rates schools on a 1-10 point scale) for each neighborhood school in Arlington with the most “cost-efficient” schools to buy a home in listed first.

The data uses sales since January 1 2021 of detached and townhouse homes with at least three bedrooms. Net sold price is the sold price less any seller credits. Only the neighborhood schools are included in this analysis, not the magnet/option schools. Fleet and Arlington Science Elementary and Hamm Middle are not currently rated on GreatSchools.org

  • The most cost-efficient elementary schools are Tuckahoe (9), Ashlawn (7), and Glebe (8)
  • The most cost-efficient middle school is Swanson (7)
  • The most-cost efficient high school is Wakefield (4)
  • The most expensive school to buy housing in on a total cost basis is Jamestown Elementary (9), but the most expensive per bedroom and per square foot is Innovation Elementary (6)
  • The least expensive school to buy housing in on a total cost and price per bedroom basis is Abingdon Elementary (3) and the least expensive per square foot is Carlin Spring Elementary (2)
  • The most difficult school to find a 3BR+ detached/townhouse home is Hoffman-Boston (5)
  • Barrett Elementary (3) is the only North Arlington school with an average price under $1M and Oakridge Elementary (4) is the only South Arlington school with an average price over $1M 
  • A purchase of a 3BR+ detached or townhouse home in the top rated school pyramid of Jamestown Elementary (9), Williamsburg Middle (9), and Yorktown High (6) averages nearly $1.45M and an average of $332k per bedroom

If you’d like some more personalized data run for you using home sales and GreatSchools ratings, you’re welcome to reach out to me at Eli@EliResidential.com. I’m happy to help.’

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at Eli@EliResidential.com.

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to Eli@EliResidential.com. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Eli Residential channel.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH @properties, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. (703) 390-9460.

Important Poll and Data Analysis: White Meat vs Dark Meat?

Answer: Happy Thanksgiving ARLnow!

On behalf of all ARLnow readers, the Eli Residential Group has donated to the wonderful Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) whose mission is to feed our neighbors in need by providing dignified access to nutritious supplemental groceries. AFAC is a 4-star, top-rated charity on Charity Navigator and is a worthy organization for your holiday giving.

I spend a lot of time on housing data every week, but this week I’d like to address the important question – do ARLnow readers prefer white meat or dark meat turkey on their Thanksgiving plate?? AND do you know the data behind your decision?

I’m all dark meat on my Thanksgiving plate, but now that we’ve started to dabble in smoking our turkey, I’ve found white meat slightly more edible. Nevertheless, my vote is firmly dark meat! What say you, ARLnow?

Participate in the poll here!

What’s an Ask Eli column without a data table to help us make our decisions? Here are the results of many minutes of research on white meat vs dark meat:

White MeatDark Meat
Fewer caloriesTastes much better ☺
Less fatMore economical
DrierMore nutrients

I hope everybody has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving with family and friends!

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at Eli@EliResidential.com.

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to Eli@EliResidential.com. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist.
Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH @properties, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. (703) 390-9460.

What is the MLS/Bright MLS?

Question: In your last article you mentioned Bright MLS a few times, can you explain what that is?

Answer: If you’re buying or selling a home, you may hear the term “MLS” or “Bright” used a lot. The simplest way I describe it to people is that the MLS, short for Multiple Listing Service, is the real estate industry’s database(s) of record for property sales. There are hundreds of regional and local MLS’s across the country.

Bright (MLS) is the name of our regional MLS and also the largest in the country. Prior to 2017 it was called MRIS (Metropolitan Regional Information Systems), but in 2017 it was rebranded to Bright after a merger with 8 other regional MLS’s mostly from PA, NJ, and DE.

From a 2017 press release, the recently formed Bright MLS managed the records for about 250,000 annual transactions and $85 Billion in annual real estate sales. These numbers are likely higher now.

What is the MLS (Multiple Listing Service)?

The MLS is a real estate information exchange platform and database created by cooperating residential real estate brokerages to improve the efficiency of their real estate market.  As a privately created and managed organization, each MLS is primarily funded through the dues of the brokerages and agents within the market it serves. There are hundreds of MLS’s across the country and each operates under its own direction and rules & regulations.

The information you find on consumer-facing websites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Homesnap comes from various MLS’s and each MLS has the right to negotiate its own relationship (syndication agreements) with these sites and determine what information is made available.

Without the MLS concept, we would have an extremely fragmented industry that would make it difficult for buyers to ensure they are seeing most/all of what is for sale within their sub-market and it would be much more difficult for sellers to get top dollar because they would not have access to the entire buyer market.

What is Bright MLS?

Bright is the MLS that serves our region including most major markets or 100% of markets in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, and Delaware. It’s the largest MLS in the country by size and geographic area.

The Executive Committee and Board of Directors is made up of representatives from the region’s major brokerages and directs the business of Bright, which has developed into a full-blown software, services, and technology company. Bright has adopted a strict set of rules & regulations to provide data uniformity and ensure fair play such as restrictions on marketing properties for sale that are not entered into the MLS, as discussed in last week’s article.

Your interaction with Bright MLS is likely to come from listings that your real estate agent sends you directly from the system, but you are also indirectly interacting with Bright whenever you search a 3rd party real estate site like Zillow because Zillow pulls its listing information from Bright (and other MLS systems across the country).

While at time frustrating for brokerages, agents, and consumers there is a tremendous net benefit to the MLS structure by combining home sale data into one database with a common set of requirements and rules of engagement. This allows the entire industry to function much more efficiently than it did prior to the MLS concept and since Zillow and other consumer-facing sites began aggregating listing information for public use, it have taken away the “gate-keeper” role real estate agents, to the benefit of consumers and, I would argue, real estate agents.

Five Years of Ask Eli, Thank You!

My first Ask Eli column was published on November 10 2015 (I introduced myself and explained the Escalation Addendum), exactly five years ago! Since then I’ve accumulated 416 pages in Microsoft Word, nearly 170,000 words, and over 840,000 characters typed!

I want to take a moment to express my appreciation for Scott (Founder), Jordan, Lene, Turquiose and everybody else on the ALRnow/Local New Now team for creating and maintaining such an incredible platform for local news and community discussion. Thank you!

I also want to thank all of the amazing readers and commenters who have made the last five years of writing about Arlington/DMV real estate so rewarding for me. Your feedback, comments, critiques, and questions let me know that I’m not talking into an online abyss  Please continue sending me topics or ideas that you’d like me to cover!

For those of you who may have missed my post last week because it was Election Day, I shared a cool interactive chart showing how Arlington real estate has appreciated in value since 2010. You can check out that chart here.

Thank you everybody for following along. Hopefully I’ll get to write a similar ten-year post in November 2025!

How Agents and Agent Teams Are Structured

Question: I’m in the process of searching for a real estate agent and having trouble understanding the different organizational structures. Can you explain how it works?

Answer: Most real estate agents operate as independent contractors within their brokerage (office), thus have autonomy to operate their business/service model as they choose. With over 12,000 Realtors in the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors alone, the organizational structures and business models vary widely to suit an agent’s style of business and/or target clientele.

I think it’s almost as important for home buyers and sellers to learn about their prospective agent’s operating model as it is to make sure they know your market. An agent’s operating model will impact your experience and you need to make sure it aligns with your expectations.

I’ll break down some of the organizational structures that are most common today so you have an idea of what to look for.

Brokerage

At the top of the organizational structure is the brokerage, which is best described as the office your agent works for. The brokerage is the legal entity involved in the transaction and when you sign a Buyer Representation or Listing Agreement, it’s actually with the brokerage, with your agent as the assigned representative of the brokerage.

Currently in the DC Metro, most brokerages are made up of multiple agents, often dozens to hundreds, and function like a shared office. An agent cannot operate independently outside of a brokerage, but an individual agent can have their own broker’s license and operate an independent brokerage.

Most agents operate as independent contractors within their brokerage, but there are some models, Redfin being the most popular, where agents are employees.

Agent Models

In most cases agents operate individually or within a team, structured in a some common ways:

  1. Individual Agent, No Support: Many agents work independently without any sort of support staff. The advantage for clients is that you always know who you’ll be working with and who is handling every detail of your transaction. The main disadvantage is that there is a single point of failure if that person is unavailable.
  2. Individual Agent With Administrative Support: Some independent agents hire one or more people to support administrative tasks like scheduling and marketing. Some brokerages also offer this type of administrative support to their agents. This should be an advantage over #1 because the agent has more time for high-value tasks, but it also requires the administrative support to be on top of things and strong communication between agent and admin.
  3. Team Partnership: Two or more experienced agents with strong individual businesses may partner to share some administrative support costs and build a stronger brand together. For the client, it has many of the same qualities as #2, but there’s usually an added benefit of knowing that there’s at least one other experienced agent available as back-up in case your agent in unavailable.
  4. Team Lead With Coordinators: An individual agent or partnership with a large book of business that uses specialized buyer and seller coordinators to support client activities. An advantage to clients is that the transaction is generally led/directed by an experienced agent and that there is no single point of failure, you’re working with a support team. A disadvantage is that some or many high-value pieces of the transaction are handled by coordinators, not the lead (experienced) agent.
  5. Team “CEO” With Junior Agents: An experienced agent who acts more as a CEO, overseeing the operations of a large team of agents, and personally handling very few transactions, if any. Clients should benefit from systems and processes the “CEO” agent used to become successful, imparted on the junior agents. A disadvantage is that these teams often have dozens or more agents and the experience of those agents varies widely and don’t necessarily reflect the talent of the “CEO” agent.
What Should You Ask?

It’s important for you to understand how your real estate agent operates and it shouldn’t be hard to find out by asking some simple questions.

  • Will I work with anybody else during the transaction?
  • Will anybody else work on my transaction?
  • What happens if I need something when you’re unavailable or out-of-town?

I hope this has been helpful for anybody starting out their search for an agent or just generally confused by how the industry is structured. As always, if you would like to meet with me about buying, selling, or renting in Arlington or the surrounding DC Metro communities, feel free to email me at Eli@EliResidential.com.

Mid-Year Arlington Real Estate Update

Question: How did the Arlington real estate market perform in the first half of 2019?

Answer: I am excited to announce the first of many collaborations with Jeannette Chapman, Deputy Director and Senior Research Associate, at the Stephen S. Fuller Institute at George Mason University to bring you deeper, more insightful analysis of the Arlington housing market. The Fuller Institute conducts incredible research and analysis on the Greater Washington regional economy and I’d encourage you to subscribe to their monthly Washington Economy Watch reports. Jeannette is an Arlingtonian and housing data junkie, which means even better market insights for ARLnow/Ask Eli readers!

Inventory Down, Prices Up

Amazon announced they were moving their second headquarters to Arlington in November 2018 and there has been year-over-year double-digit decreases in homes listed for sale in each of the seven months from December through June, topping out with a 29.5% drop in April 2019 compared to April 2018. I think this is due to owners deciding to hold out for more gains once Amazon employees start showing up.

The shortage in housing inventory forced buyers to compete for homes, resulting in 46.1% of homes selling for more than the asking price in the first half of 2019, compared to an average of 26.5% going over ask during the previous five years. 

Less inventory combined with shifts in demand (buyers moving their timelines up and new investors entering the market) led to price increases across Arlington in the first half of 2019, compared to the first half of 2018, by an average of 4.6% and median 8.8%. This does not mean that all homes in Arlington are worth 5-9% more than they were this time last year – some sub-markets are up more while others haven’t experienced the “Amazon-effect” yet.

To get a more accurate picture of what’s happening in our housing market, we separated the data into smaller sub-markets. Townhomes aren’t included because there’s not enough volume to produce good data and we left out the 22202 zip code, which makes up the Crystal City/Pentagon City area (aka most of National Landing), because it’s a very different market than the rest of the County and requires its own analysis in a future column. We chose to remove new construction, age-restricted housing, and Cooperatives. Finally, the time period is based on when a property actually went under contract instead of when it closed.

Interpreting the Data

For the most part, the charts above reflect what I’ve experienced in the Arlington housing market this year so double-digit appreciation from South Arlington single-family detached homes and North Arlington condos makes sense. However, I was very surprised by the South Arlington condo data.

My experience this year tells me that South Arlington condos have appreciated more than most Arlington sub-markets, with examples of units selling for 10-20% more than they would have last year. So why does the data show that 0/1BR condos in South Arlington are only up 2% compared to the first half of 2018? The make-up of the individual sales is different in 2019 and 2019 sales are down nearly 50%, meaning our sample size is too small.

During the first half of 2018, there were more expensive sales and fewer inexpensive sales, as a percentage of total sales, compared to the first half of 2019. Sales in 2019 have also been 32sqft smaller with 7% higher condo fees than the sales in 2018. These differences in the make-up of the data have skewed the median and averages in a way that doesn’t accurately represent what we’re seeing from individual sales.

The lesson? Real estate data is tricky and doesn’t always communicate what’s actually happening in the market (e.g. this June column about 17.3% appreciation in Arlington).

Historical Context

We took a look at the strongest performing sub-markets in the first half of 2019 to see how these gains look from a historical perspective, going back to 2000:

  • North Arlington condos show the biggest “Amazon-effect” with a sharp deviation from relatively stable prices over the last 10+ years. Note that existing condo sales dropped off more than the chart suggests during the recession, but the sales in newer, more expensive buildings helped maintain the market-wide median price.
  • History suggests that the North Arlington condo market will level off and remain relatively stable at these prices. It’s easier to add new condo supply to the market compared to other housing types, so supply usually adjusts to meet demand.
  • Single-family detached homes in South Arlington received a noticeable boost from Amazon, but were already trending up over the last 3-5 years so the 12.3% gains are likely a combined effect
  • Volatility in the South Arlington single-family detached market will likely continue for years to come as the area develops and the market finds a balance. I am bullish on most single-family detached housing in Arlington because it’s nearly impossible to add more supply to meet increasing demand.

Conclusions and Questions

There’s no doubt that Amazon has had a major impact on Arlington’s housing market already, but at this stage, it’s all speculative. Homeowners speculating they’re better off waiting to sell. Investors speculating that property values will appreciate. Home buyers speculating that they’re better of buying now.

I expect the North Arlington condo market to taper off and provide owners with modest, long-term growth and believe the best days for North Arlington townhouse and single-family detached homes are 3-5 years out.

Even though the aggregate data doesn’t currently show double-digit growth in the South Arlington condo market, that’s what is actually happening (see earlier explanation). I think this, and the South Arlington townhouse/duplex market, will stabilize next year and provide modest, long-term growth. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a pull-back in the South Arlington single-family detached market next year, but I think it has the most growth potential over the next 8-12 years, outside of the 22202 zip code. The ceiling for South Arlington will depend on the quality and pace of development along Columbia Pike, parts of South Glebe, and Nauck.

Some of the questions I have about the next 6-24 months in the Arlington housing market are:

  • Will homeowners react to recent appreciation and take advantage of a “seller’s market” by putting more homes on the market in the next 6-18 months or will they continue to wait?
  • Did 2019 cannibalize buyers who were planning a purchase/investment in 2020-2021 and will that demand be replaced with new buyers or will we see a drop in demand until Amazon hiring picks up?
  • What decisions will the County make to increase density and will that provide for more townhouse/duplex development instead of just condos/apartments?
  • How will the headwinds from a potential downturn in the US economy impact local real estate momentum?
  • How much more will office vacancy rates drop and will another Fortune 500 company soon follow the lead of Nestle and Amazon?

If you’d like an analysis on how the value of your home has changed in 2019 or would like to discuss a strategy for buying or selling a home in Arlington or nearby communities, feel free to email me at Eli@EliResidential.com to schedule time to talk or meet. Our team covers Northern Virginia, Washington DC, and the Maryland Suburbs.

Opportunity Zones in Arlington

Question: How did the Opportunity Zone designation in the Nauck neighborhood come to fruition and what is the expected impact on the neighborhood?

Answer: Last year the US Treasury, with the help of each state, began designating underdeveloped or “economically-distressed” communities as Opportunity Zones (OZ) to encourage residential and commercial development by offering investors preferred tax treatment. There are currently over 8,000 designated OZs around the country and 212 in Virginia.

 

Arlington’s Opportunity Zones

It may come as a surprise that there were two areas in Arlington that received OZ designations by the Governor/Treasury – Nauck-Shirlington Road and Barcroft-Columbia Pike. Both are located in the area bounded by Columbia Pike to the north, 395, and S Four Mile Run (link to map and details). Note: Although the zone is called Barcroft-Columbia Pike, part of it is actually Douglas Park and the rest is an area that I don’t think belongs to either the Barcroft or Douglas Park Civic Associations, but the apartment buildings there do take the Barcroft name.

On a national scale, I don’t think anybody would argue that these neighborhoods are economically-distressed, but within Arlington these designations should help stimulate or expedite development from South to North and West to East instead of the other way around. Both of these areas also have detailed planning documents in place to guide investors.

 

How Do Opportunity Zones Work?

OZs are a bit outside of my purview because they require commercial development and tax expertise, but the general idea is that investors will put money into Qualified Opportunity Funds and deploy capital to one or more projects in Opportunities Zones around the country in returned for preferred tax treatment on their gains. The theme behind the OZs is encouraging long-term, sustained investment from these funds by incentivizing investments of 10+ years.

It’s important to note that OZs were first written into the tax code in December 2017 and while a lot of money has been raised by funds, there’s still uncertainty on how everything works. The last planned public OZ hearing between industry and Government was June 9 in which industry raised numerous concerns about the governance of the funds/tax exemptions, thus keeping a lot of the money sidelined.

The primary concern for industry seems to be around how the IRS will apply the tax code to different exit strategies common within commercial and residential development. Some investors are happy with any preferential treatment or willing to take the risk of not having an exit strategy, but many are understandably hesitant to deploy huge sums without a full plan in place.

 

What To Expect

You can expect the development in each of Arlington’s zones to follow the guidance of the 2004 Nauck Village Center Action Plan, 2018 Four Mile Run Valley Master Plan, and 2012 Columbia Pike Neighborhoods Area Plan. The recently approved Nauck Town Square was the first step in realizing the Nauck area plan and much of the Columbia Pike plan is underway, including major commercial and public/utility improvements.

According to Arlington County’s project mapping website, there are not currently any proposals for major development within either of the OZs. However, the redevelopment of Centro Village (anchored by Harris Teeter), directly across from the Barcroft-Columbia Pike OZ, is nearly complete and the Trafalgar Flats condos, also directly across the street from the OZ, has done very well.

It’s quite possible that OZ funds have already been deployed in Arlington and we wouldn’t know. Given the impact Amazon is/will have on South Arlington, the Nauck, Four Mile, and Columbia Pike area plans were going to take shape, but I suspect that the recent OZ designations will lead to a more rapid implementation of the County’s vision. 

Investors in Arlington’s OZs likely fall into a category of investors who won’t wait for the Treasury to fully address all of industry’s questions before deploying capital because they’re content with any preferred tax treatment on investments that will be financially viable without the extra help. Is this a fair implementation of tax incentives for a national program? Probably not.

 

Impact on Residential Real Estate

While the OZs themselves have a relatively limited supply of homes, the homes within and adjacent to these zones make-up the least expensive property in Arlington County. If you’re looking for growth opportunities relative to the rest of Arlington, I recommend adding these neighborhoods to your list, but plan on holding for 7-10+ years to realize the full benefit.

Tax benefits aren’t limited to commercial or multi-family property, but also apply to single-family homes. In some cases, there may be financial benefits to making substantial improvements (a requirement for preferred tax treatment in OZs) to rental properties located in OZs and holding them for 10+ years to qualify for the maximum tax benefit. This may not work in Arlington because the cost of substantial improvements must be at least 100% of the adjusted basis (net cost) of the acquisition price within a 30-month period. Before considering this strategy for your next rental property acquisition, it’s critical that you speak with a tax professional well-versed in OZs.

I recommend Larry Bormel of Bormel, Grice & Huyett (LBormel@bormel-grice.com) for any tax-related OZ guidance.

Banning Smoking in Condos

Question: Do you have any updates to your previous columns about banning smoking in condos?

Answer: Banning smoking in condos is probably the most popular topic I’ve written about and it has given me visibility into how many communities have tried, are trying, or want to ban smoking in units and common areas.

 

Multiple Buildings Have Banned Smoking

As of 2019, only 12% of Arlingtonians smoke so it’s not surprising so many condo residents are interested in eliminating it from their buildings. Over the last few years, multiple condo buildings in Arlington have successfully amended their by-laws to ban smoking in units and on private balconies (common areas are relatively simple).

Hosting Info Session for Residents/Board Members

This fall, I’m organizing a meeting/info session for all interested condo communities (residents and/or Board members) to discuss strategies and lessons learned on banning smoking, misinformation surrounding smoking bans, and other topics I’ve gotten questions on over the years. We’ll have guests who were heavily involved in the smoking bans in their communities, including an attorney who led the charge in his building, and who has helped other communities get their process started.

Let Me Know If You’re Interested

If you’d like to be included, send me an email at Eli@EliResidential.com with your name, condo building, whether you’re a Board/Committee member or resident, and if your building has already tried or currently trying to ban smoking. I’m targeting a September meeting and hope to set a date and time by early August. Don’t worry, you won’t get signed up for a bunch of junk marketing emails from me if you reach out 🙂

 

I hope everybody has a great July 4!

What Stays When a House Sells?

Question: What is customary to leave behind when we sell our house? Is there anything we have to leave or take?

Answer: The answer to this question varies by state/region so it’s important to understand what’s customary or required in your area. Throughout the entire DMV (DC, MD, VA) it’s customary to leave/convey all appliances, anything fixed to the home (e.g. light and plumbing fixtures), and take electronics or anything not attached to the home (e.g. free-standing shelves).

Fortunately, the Northern Virginia sales contract has a section dedicated to what conveys, including a yes/no option for the 30+ items below:

 Around here, it’s customary for the items listed above to convey if they’re present, so if you intend to take any of them with you, such a washer/dryer, you should be sure to let your Agent and potential buyers know ahead of time.

In addition to some of the obvious conveyances like landscaping, carpet, and heating/cooling systems there are some not-so-obvious items that convey unless stated otherwise. Those include light fixtures (chandeliers), attached shelving, and wall mounts for electronics. The electronics (and wiring) themselves do not convey, so in practical terms – the TV comes with you but the wall-mount stays.

 

Other Tips/Grey Areas

  • You do not have to remove nails and other hardware used for hanging photos and other personal items. In fact, if you do remove them, you’ve technically changed the condition of the home and can be held responsible for patching and painting.

  • You are responsible for leaving the property “broom clean.” Broom clean is a bit of a grey area, but it surely means you do not have to hire a professional cleaning service or scrub the grout. Regardless of what the contract says, I always recommend sellers use an altered version of a common axiom and convey their home in the condition and cleanliness that they’d like a home to be conveyed to them.

  • You are also responsible for leaving the home “free and clear of trash and debris” which certainly means not leaving junk in the attic, clothes in the closet, or food in the refrigerator but it’s common (and generally appreciated) to leave behind extra matching paint, extra tiles or floor boards, and other items used to for replacement or repair. It’s generally a good idea to run these items by your buyer first, before leaving them behind, so you don’t get a call 30 minutes before closing to haul away a bunch of stuff they don’t want.
     

Price and contingencies generally command all of the attention in contract negotiations, but ensuring you’ve accurately documented what conveys also deserves your attention to avoid a major disagreement in the last hour. If you have any other questions about what’s customary when selling a home in Northern Virginia or the great DC Metro area, feel free to email me at Eli@EliResidential.com.

Landscaping Tips for Resale or Long-Term

Question: We’re hoping to do some major landscaping work over the next year and would like your thoughts on what we should focus on that will also be good for resale.

Answer: Now is a great time to start planning a landscaping redesign project for next year’s warm weather. If you’re preparing for a sale, small improvements to your yard can be just as valuable as updates to the inside of your home. I sat down with local landscaping expert and long-time Arlington resident, Jeff Minnich (you should see his yard!) of Jeff Minnich Garden Design, to discuss smart ways to boost the outdoor appeal of your home before listing it and talked about some of the landscaping trends he sees in Arlington.

 

High ROI Landscaping for Resale 

  • DAPPR: Define bed edges, Add fresh mulch, Pull the weeds, Prune the bushes, and Remove dead leaves

  • Lawn is King: Tall Fescue grass works the best in Arlington. The best time to seed your lawn is March – April and September. Water 1-2x per week. Give it about a month to grow.

  • Blast of Color: Azaleas are beautiful around here in April and May. Pansies are good options fall thru spring. Geraniums are great in the summer.

  • Grand Entrance: Your front door is a focal point – hit it with a fresh coat of paint or replace all together. Power wash your driveway and walkways. Flagstone aka Pennsylvania Bluestone offer great value if you need to replace or add a walkway (also perfect for patios).

  • Create a Scene: Help potential buyers picture themselves relaxing in their future yard by staging an area of your yard with chairs, table, umbrella, hammock, lemonade pitcher, etc.

  • De-clutter: Just like you removed personal items from inside the home, put things like statues and lawn gnomes away

  • Condos too: If you have some outdoor space (balcony, patio, etc) pot some plants (see Blast of Color) and stage it (see Create a Scene)

 

Landscaping for Personal Enjoyment (not everything needs to be done with ROI in mind)

Trends:

  • Outdoor living spaces are the biggest trend in Arlington. This includes kitchens, fire pits, entertainment areas, and lighting

  • Hydrangeas and other “old fashioned” shrubbery are back in style. Dogwoods and azaleas are always trendy in Arlington.

 

Approaching a landscaping project:

  • Step 1 Hardscaping: Install patios, walkways, living spaces, water features, etc. This can cost anywhere from $10,000-$25,000+

  • Step 2 Sheds and Storage: Establish space for these items next

  • Step 3 Plantings: Work from biggest (trees) to smallest (flowers)

  • A full project usually takes 1-3 months to complete

  • There’s no such thing as maintenance-free

 

Thank you Jeff for all of your great advice. To learn more about Jeff or see examples of his work, please visit his website (link) or send an email to jeff@minnichgardendesign.com. Jeff received his horticulture degree, with an emphasis on landscape design and nursery management, from Virginia Tech. His garden design/build firm, Jeff Minnich Garden Design, Inc. takes the client from initial design concept through the completed garden design. Enjoy the wonderful colors of his personal Arlington garden at 2268 N Upton St.