AJ Heidmann ~CRS, CDPE, ABR~Arlington/Alexandria, VA

This is the scene at Fire Station 206 at the intersection of Seminary Road & N Pickett St in the City of Alexandria, which is located just around the corner from our home. The ambulance draped in black, along with flowers and a photo are all in tribute to Paramedic Joshua Weissman, who passed away on Thursday after suffering injuries in the line of duty the previous evening.

According to the Fire Department and numerous news sources, Weissman's EMT unit was responding to a car fire in the HOV lane near the intersection of I-395 and Glebe Road around 6:30 pm on Wednesday. Because the HOV lanes had shifted to a Southbound flow and Station 206 is located south of the scene, the vehicle was in the Northbound local lanes when it came upon the fire. In attempting to reach the vehicle, Weissman attempted to cross gap between the two roadways of roughly 3 feet, but instead fell 20 feet to the rocky creek below. He was rescued from the Four Mile Run and taken via Medivac to Washington Hospital Center where he succumbed to his injuries. He is survived by his wife Rebecca.

Unfortunately, I did not notice this last night as I drove past last night on the way home, but when I took my son to preschool this morning it was unmistakable. It is a vivid reminder of the risks associates with the choice to serve others when they are the most in need. To Joshua's wife, we keep you in our thoughts & prayers at this most troubling of times.

As a side note and remberance of the summer, there is a fantastic open house at this station with a real fire house for the kids... and every year I have to drag my son away from it. If the fantastic members of the firehouse let him have his way, he would flood Seminary Valley and run up one heck of a water bill.

There have been quite a few posts in the couple of weeks regarding the efficacy of doing an open house, if you do one at all, that really brought a lot of comments. I'll get to that later, but most of all I want to say THANK YOU to the several agents in the Alexandria & Arlington real estate market that held open their listings on Super Bowl Sunday and helped me help all my buyer clients at once.

Let me set the stage for my thank you....

I am currently working with several buyers and like most well qualified buyers they have jobs that take up the majority of daylight hours on weekdays. Along with some having children and other obligations, they all seem to want to go look at homes on Saturday or Sunday between about 10am - 4pm. What a shock... it is about them and they want to see homes when it's convenient for them. Last Friday I received an email from one of my clients that says that they want to see 2 new listings on Sunday before they people come over to the Super Bowl party that they are hosting. They have already written an offer, but didn't get the home, so they just need to find the right property. Not a problem, both are on lockbox and I arrange make arrangements for showings. On Saturday morning, I get an email and then a call from two different buyers that want see just a couple homes on Sunday... before they go to their respective Parties for the big game.

Trying to balance multiple clients can be challenging, but I checked on the listings that each one wanted and the majority was being held open. Solution provided! I sent the last two clients that wanted to see property off to the open houses, armed with my business cards and reminder to keep a good poker face, even if they love it. Turns out that one of the couples didn't like what they saw, so they are back to their automated search and will let me know when a home pops up. However, the other client think that one of the houses is a winner, so we're headed back tomorrow when they get back into town and I will be bringing a contract with me just in case.

Now my thank you isn't about making my life easy, though they all did, but it was about them taking the time to provide access to their listings so that my buyers can view them and make an offer if they choose. There are many buyer agents here that are working with 3, 4 or more buyers and you can only put one in your car at a time, so an open house does have value.

Like everything else in real estate it is a local issue; whether by custom & relative proximity to others, there are valid reasons to OR not to hold an open house. If the property is the only one in at the end of a 20 mile box canyon... I don't care if you are offering homemade lemonade, your turn out will almost certainly be small. Whereas if there are 3 other homes at similar price points within 4 blocks of your listing and they are all open on a given Sunday, it may benefit your client to hold it open and provide it with equal exposure. Here in the Northern Virginia real estate market, proximity to other opens isn't normally a problem, particularly in Arlington, Alexandria or close-in Fairfax County.

I hold open houses and say they work! Please share any success story from your open house experiences or flops.

We have closed the books on the sales for 2011 in the Palazzo at Park Center with 18 units reaching settlement. These units were spread among three of the four available layouts in the building, with just the larget unit, the Verona not being sold. The type sales within the community was very evenly mixed with 7 normal sales, 6 short sales, and 5 foreclosures.

This is huge change from the mix in 2010 when just 21% of sales were normal transactions and foreclosures made up the biggest component at 42% of the 28 units that sold. One reason that this changing mix is good for the association is that with foreclosures, many times the associations loses out on months of the condo dues, while with a short or normal sale the association almost always collects 100% of any delinquent dues. As an owner of a unit in the Palazzo at Park Center, it was very nice to see that the monthly fee was increased by a very manageable 1.4% for 2012.

The Palazzo at Park Center was constructed in 2000 and converted into a condominium in 2005, with 391 units is four buildings. It offers amenities that are not available in most of older condominium communities in the Shirlington real estate area: underground parking, elevators, and 2 Bedroom/2 Full Bath floorplans on one level. Additionally, there is an outdoor pool, nicely equipped gym located in the clubhouse, along with a party room that is available for use by residents.

If you are considering selling or leasing your unit in the Palazzo at Park Center, please contact for a confidential meeting to explore your options. As an owner in the community, I am as motivated as you to get the best possible terms for your unit.

January came in like a Lion!

Let’s just hope that the Spring market for the Shirlington real estate market doesn’t go out like a lamb. For the month of January, 6 units went under contract in The Arlington, leaving just 2 properties fully available for sale. Of those two available properties, one is a ground floor short sale, while the other is the larger 3 bed/2 bath L Model. In an average year, roughly 35 units will go to settlement.

This sudden burst within The Arlington is a big contrast with the entire 4^th quarter of 2011 when there were only 6 settlements. However, it appears that the community was simply playing catch up with the rest of Northern Virginia properties priced under $330K. At the end of December, the available inventory at this price point stood at just 1.5 months, which would signify a sellers market. Now I don’t think that market has swung that far that fast, but it does show that there is a demand for properly priced for condition homes. The trick is pricing your home right and getting the proper exposure.

The Arlington is a garden style condominium development of 518 units that were originally built as apartments and then converted into condos in 1980. Spread over 24 acres, the community boasts 2 outdoor pools, 2 tennis courts, well over 500 trees (yes, they count and log all the major trees in the community), ample green spaces, unassigned surface parking in 17 parking lots and street parking on Wakefield Rd and S. 28th St. The close-in location is a community within the Shirlington real estate market and is conveniently located well within the Capital Beltway (I-495) and close to the Pentagon and Washington, DC.

If you are thinking of putting your unit in The Arlington, or elsewhere in Shirlington on the market this Spring, give me a call for a confidential consultation on your unit to see if it is ready for the current market conditions.

Being 22 days into the New Year, with a layer of ice coating lawns across Arlington County, the opportunity to work on that resolution to get/stay in shape may seem a bit far fetched. Swimming is a great way to get your physical activity in, but with freezing temparutures who other than a polar bear would want to take the plunge now?

Well, it's time to put your excuses aside as the opening of the brand new Yorktown Aquatic Center on January 15th in North Arlington makes this exercise option available to all Arlington residents. The new state of the art facility features an 8 lane x 25 yard competition pool with adjacent diving well and separate instructional pool, as well as seating for 175 spectators. The school swimming instructional program uses the pool during the school days, but the pool are open to the community year round during early morning, mid-day, evening hours and weekends.

The pool is located at 5200 Yorktown Blvd at Yorktown High School and can be accessed through entrance #3. For information on the pool and schedules, you can use the link below or call 703-228-8754.

http://www.apsva.us/Page/2256