District of Columbia

The mainstream real estate market is still iffy, but the green real estate market is gaining momentum. We talked with Adam Gallagos of Arbour Realty — Northern Virginia’s first green real estate company — to find out about the local green real estate market, how homeowners can reduce their carbon footprint, and the coolest eco-friendly home he’s ever seen.

Check out the interview on Going Green DC.

I was wondering how are some people able to tweet 20-30 or more times a day? Where do they get time for it? So, I was searching on the web and found TweetMiner. It allows you to schedule and/or automate posting to Twitter.

http://tweetminer.net/affiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=255

I think it is a big help for people who tweet a lot.

Things You'll Need:

• Pencil and paper, patience, time,

1. Step 1

First of all, do your homework and be prepared. Collect pictures from magazines etc. Write down what you would like to have the contractor accomplish. Be as specific as possible.

1. Step 2

Get your family together (as appropriate) and discuss how much money you are willing to invest in your remodeling project. Make a list of priorities for the project and share both with the contractor.

1. Step 3

Ask your friends and neighbors who they would recommend. BBB is of little value, many good contractors are not members of BBB. Check the company website and industry affiliations. Being a member of NARI (National Association of the Remodeling Industry) is a plus, but again, many good contractors are not members of NARI.
Don't use the various online contractor referral services.
They charge contractors for every name of a potential customer while providing very little value.

1. Step 4

Talk to 2-3 companies referred to you. How do you feel about them? Do you connect or are you comfortable with some of them, is there good chemistry? If the company going to spend a few months in your home, good fit may be more important than a few hundred $$.

1. Step 5

A good contractor will have a well written contract with all details spelled out, including start and finish date, payment schedule etc. Read it carefully and do not hesitate to ask questions.
References don't have much value because nobody gives bad ones. Call the references of the contractor you decided to work with if you wish. Ovoid casual calls to the references of the contractors you are not planning to hire. Remember, their references are regular people, just like you and me, they will invest their time to talk to you. Don't waste it.

1. Step 6

Be direct, but understand, nobody if perfect (even you) things happen in remodeling. Whatever comes up, address in on the spot and work with your contractor to resolve any issues immediately. A good one will have no problem with that.

The Blizzard Diaries: The Politics of Snowplows

The fortunes of many DC mayors have come and gone with blizzards and the way they handled snow removal on residential streets.

During a big one in the 1990's, our then mayor was enjoying himself at the Superbowl. And that (among other things) was his downfall.

Now, Adrian Fenty, our young and energetic leader, is facing a re-election very soon, and you'd think he'd learn from the mistakes of his predecessors.

While I was in Hawaii during the December snow, it sounds like the Department of Public Works did a pretty decent job with the all-important snow removal. But this time it's different.

OK, I'll give him a break for the difference between a 16 inch snow and a 20-something accumulation, but there is something that I'm annoying myself with.

Mayor Fenty is my neighbor. He lives around the corner from my house.

Between his house and the nearest big traffic artery, you can actually see pavement. You can drive on it without risking your life.

But it's Tuesday, and my block has yet to see a snow plow!

Now, I always thought it would be good to live so close to the mayor, that in an effort to impress the guy the Department of Public Works would get to our streets right after the major arteries got cleared. But not this time.

During Fenty's tenure, things have worked. Our trash gets picked up. Potholes get filled. Even the test scores in the DC public schools are on the upswing.

And I have to wonder: is it fair to hold a mayor responsible for the aftermath of such a force of nature? Well, my guess is that he might find that life is not fair as his fund raising appeals go out to a constituency that will look at them and remember the blizzard of 2010 and how they couldn't leave home after five freakin' days!

And fair or not, it's going to be his fault.

But at least he wasn't at the Superbowl over a weekend when Washingtonians could not get to Superbowl parties!

Buyers have lots of choices as they navigate the home search process these days. Is it wiser to extend yourself to buy as much house as possible right now, while prices are good, rates are low and loans are still accessible to get? Or buy conservatively now, knowing that your move-up might be much more difficult and costly? Some buyers become paralyzed by all the decisions that should be made.

Should you plan to buy with an FHA loan, saving your cash cushion but risking not having your offer accepted by sellers who frown on FHA-financed offers, or buy with a conventional loan, sinking all your cash into a home that might drop a little more before it finds bottom?

Buyers face additional dilemmas in contemplating the purchase of new construction. Should you buy a condo before the building even goes up, or a single family before the first spade of dirt is turned with the hope of saving thousands and thousands of dollars, but with the risk that the project might have construction defects or that the other units don't sell well (in which case buyers might not be able to obtain financing and risk forfeiting thousands in deposit money)?

Or is it wiser to wait until after the building or community is done, limiting your choice of unit and finishes and risk having to throw money at the developer to buy one of the last few units? Or hope that the builder will give you an incredible deal to take one of the last units off his hands?

It's no simpler for sellers. Should you price aggressively now to sell your current home so that you can get a deal on the move-up home and collect the move-up tax credit, but also get less than "peak pricing" for your current home? Or sell later when prices for both your current home and your next one might be higher?

Determining your offer price is difficult, as you try to determine appraisable fair market value, while being sufficiently aggressive to best other offers - without overpaying. For instance, I just sold a listing in Kenwood Forest which received six offers. Ultimately price was not the final determinant in the offer that the seller accepted but instead, the strength of the overall offer was more important.

Similar issues come up when you set your list price: Sellers crave to lure buyers in with the prospect of a good value without selling their home short or only getting lowball offers. How much effort should be put into getting the house or condo ready for market? To reach an upper bracket market, a recent seller put granite countertops into his six year old home. Other sellers might finish off a bathroom or replace appliances.

Buyers and sellers both are looking for the right answer to these questions, but generally there are no definate answers but just right approaches. Buyers and sellers must be flexible in order to adapt to the rapidly changing facts about the market, their dream home, and the available financing. But it also takes certainty - about the ultimate purpose of their purchase - is it a first home that will be sold in 5 to 7 years or the home (hopefully) to raise a family in and host the grandchildren. Is it a home you will hold on to as an investment at some future date? What location(s) are important to you. Urban, soft urban, suburban?

Don't get hung up on the minutiae. Establish the goals that you are trying to accomplish and go from there. Buying a home is not a one size fits all process. Very often the home that you buy is nothing like what you thought you wanted, but as you start your search, you learn new things - about the market, about financing - and about yourself. Go with the flow of the search, and it will take you to where you should be.

If you are looking for a home in the DC metro area, please give Lise Howe a call at 240-401-5577 or check out her website www.lisehowe.com.