About Arlington's Clarendon

For those of you Whole Foods shoppers who buy American Flatbread’s frozen pizzas, here’s some great news!

American Flatbread will be opening a new restaurant in the ground-level retail shops of the Zoso Lofts Apartment building at 1025 N. Fillmore Street, Arlington VA 22201 in Clarendon on October 5, 2009.

American Flatbread started in Vermont in 1987. Their pizzas are made from Organic ingredients in a Primitive, wood fired oven. They support local farmers for their produce. They even brought a portable oven to Clarendon Day 2009:

Aside from various styles of “flatbreads” (i.e. pizzas!), they’ll feature 3 seasonal salads on the menu, in addition to drinks.

Can’t wait for the Clarendon one to open on October 5th? They have a restaurant in Ashburn, VA too!

Want to see what’s for sale within walking distance to the new American Flatbread Restaurant in Arlington?
Search current Arlington and Clarendon Homes for Sale

A new construction project on N. 9th Street on the corner of N. Irving Street is the home of Clarendon 3131. Located at 3131 N. 9th Rd, Arlington, VA 22201, just 3 blocks to the Clarendon metro.

The development will be home to 14, large 2 bedroom-condo units, and 2-bedroom luxury townhomes.

Condos will start in the upper $500ks, and the townhomes will be just under $1.2M.

Condos on the first floor units will have a private front-yard, and elevated units will have balconies. Standards will include hardwood floors throughout, granite, upgraded cabinetry, recessed lighting, luxurious baths, and covered parking for each unit.

Townhomes will all of the above, gas fireplaces, two-car garage, 4th floor loft with balcony.

Delivery is expected for late 2009.

Are you better off buying AFTER the tax credit expires? Maybe.

Everywhere you turn you read about the $8,000 1st time homebuyer tax credit and how you need to "Buy Now" (anybody remember that NAR ad from 2006?). Gotta hurry up before the Dec 1st Expiration! 

(Sidenote: that expiration means you need to CLOSE by then. If you are looking for a short sale gamble, and you want the credit, you better get it under contract NOW. And everyone else, don't be an idiot and schedule your closing on the 1st. At least close a week early. There will be a backlog and hiccups and you might miss your tax credit.)

So Warren Buffet says whenever you see a herd running in one direction, you are supposed to walk the other way. 

Oh, and there IS a stampede in Virginia trying to buy a home in time for the tax credit. People LOVE tax credits. Kinda like people love to "SAVE" by going FSBO, when it will likely actually NET them less.

Has anybody stopped to wonder whether this mad dash might be temporarily INFLATING prices beyond the credit that it offers? And the day after the credit expires, might there be an even MORE of a dead winter following it?

Buyers:

If you are buying under the $100,000 price point, sure that $8k credit will likely be better to take now. 

If you are buying from $400k-$700k, you have to ask yourself, "Once the flood of buyers evaporates, won't that send prices down?" Maybe.

Am I saying "NOT TO BUY." No, but I am also saying, don't be silly and getting into some crazy bidding war or overpay for a place to get in under the wire.

Kinda like the Cash For Clunkers campaign. How many "Deals" do you think the Dealers were really giving in that last week when their phones were ringing off the hook? They probably jacked prices up. And sometimes that $5,000 credit was in place of a $3,000 valued car. So the net saving was only $2,000! And on a $25,000 car, I bet a month after the tax credit, (after inventory catches up) you can get that $25k car for well under $23k.

Sellers:

Don't get too greedy! You also want to sell into this flurry. Ask for too much and watch the dead Winter-time come (unless Congress extends it, which they might).

Normally I am not an advocate of Market Timing. But for those that like to try and play the game, I just wanted to give some food for thought.

Also please attach comments with links to any other blogs that might question the value of rushing in to get the tax credit (I didn't see any, they were all "buy now").

And stay tuned for a flurry of new posts. I had an 18 hour trip to Africa (see Wheel Estate Cam Below) to write a ton.

Written by Frank Borges LL0SA Broker FranklyRealty.com

Inman 2009 Innovator of the Year

Random Wheel Estate Cam video from Africa:
Please report all typos!

Photo Credits:Tax photo by Aimeesblog, Clunker by ThreadedThoughts, Warren by Tedizen 

Our real estate market has gotten so crazy the past few weeks, I've had a hard time keeping up with the blog and my clients! Our inventory levels are so low, that people are snatching up properties within days of them being listed - many with multiple offers! I'm going to post a sequence of statistics for Arlington, but specifically for 22201 is below:

Single Family Homes in June

12 properties sold

Price Range: $570,000 (fixer upper) to $1,297,000

Average Sales Price: $888,554

Average Days on the Market: 58
(there were 3 above 100 days, of the remaining 9, the average was only 16 days)

Condominiums

There were several units that sold that are not included in the calculations (like a studio, a 3 bedroom unit, etc.)

1 bedroom, 1 bath units (19)

Average Sale Price: $342,911 after an average of 40 days
(Ranges from $264k to $349k)

2 bedroom, 2 bath units 6)

Average Sale Price: $484,170 after an average of 37 days
(Ranges from $423k to $545k)

Townhouses

Much like the condos, there were some anomalies that are not included in these calculations:

Average Sale Price: $742,400 after 40 days
(Ranges $565k to $862k)

Here's my usual disclaimer:

these stats are BROAD and shouldn't be used to value your personal properties or any you're interested in pursuing. Many things go into determining value for a specific property, so please let me know if you're interested in a detail comparative market analysis. These stats are for general information purposes only!

I hate to do this, but ActiveRain blows when it comes to copying and pasting a blogger blog into Activerain (any tips? I blew an hour trying).

So here is a lamo link to my Newest (LONG) short sale post on the latest trends. Don't miss this one! NEWSFLASH! MANY Short Sales are NOW CLOSING! But still BEWARE!

And even though you don't get points, I would appreciate your comments over on the other blog.

Frank