Serving the Northern Virginia area gives us the opportunity to serve military and civilian personnel arriving to assignments which include: The Pentagon, Navy Yard, Fort Myer, Fort Belvior, Quantico Marine Corps Base, Dahlgren Naval Research Division (NSWC), and Fort A.P. Hill. We receive questions from prospective clients frequently regarding the best course of action for buying a home from a foreign or domestic duty station.
Before the creation of IDX listing feeds the real estate consumer relied mostly on print advertising, and real estate companies with local MLS access to find houses for sale. Listing information is now available to the public through internet companies such as: Trulia.com, Realtor.com, Zillow.com, and many others. Until the creation of these companies we advertised our services to members of our armed forces in various parts of the world through Stars and Stripes magazine.
Prospective clients contacted us, gave us a summary of what they wanted to purchase, and were sent listings by e-mail. After learning which houses interested them, we provided them with additional photographs, and community information from brochures provided by local school districts and government agencies. After making a decision to purchase a home based on this limited information, all contracts and associated paperwork was signed through express mailing services. But times have changed. Finding and purchasing a home can be done from your computer. We even use a service to electronically sign contracts through e-mail. But we still encourage our clients to spend the time and money to travel to their next duty station to conduct an extensive search, and purchase a home while standing next to us.
Let's discuss relocation purchases with the use of present day technology. Finding an experienced relocation agent is still the most important step in the home buying process. Experienced agents already understand the time and paperwork requirements of purchasing a home through a relocation company. Experienced relocation agents understand the buyers schedule for home searches is usually limited and inflexible. Having an agent who can clear the calender to meet the needs of their client(s) is important beyond all else in this process. We feel using a real estate team for a relocation purchase is a wise decision. This guarantees your agent will have the ability to go in opposite directions if necessary to preview homes, gather all necessary sales information before viewings, and provide you with a second opinion immediately during showings.
We encourage those who are relocating to Northern Virginia to conduct home searches on www.MaryanneMoyers.com. The IDX feed on our website is continuously updated directly from the Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS) which is the listing management company for the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area. This guarantees real-time information for available homes. Our strategy is to provide you with home searches which match the description you provide of your next home, while using our website to help us determine the perfect home for your next move. Once you provide us with a list of homes you would like to view, we begin communicating with the listing agent, providing additional photographs and video upon request, recent sales statistics of each neighborhood, and our knowledge of the community and neighboring areas. Our website also has extensive information for individual schools provided by the National Center of Education Studies, and community links for general services including transportation.
At this point you're satisfied you've done your homework, you have had multiple conversations with us through e-mail, telephone, and Skype, and you're ready to come to Northern Virginia to begin the tour of homes you've selected. Prior to your arrival we are scheduling showing appointments, and making sure our trusted home inspector (Kevin Holliday) is ready to get to work once we've found your home. Based on our earlier lender recommendations (Rhonda MacGill, Kim Ramey, Ken Malinowski) you're already in possession of a prequalification letter for us to conduct home searches in your qualification range. It will also be necessary to provide a prequalification letter with a contract offer. At this point we have found a home which is supported by a suitable homeowner's association, schools, amenities, and commuting options (it's time to learn about area commuter lots and slug-lines). We advise all of our clients to obtain as much intelligence as possible from their upcoming duty station about smart commuting options.
It's equally important for you to test drive the morning and afternoon rush hours to determine if you can survive the commute from potential purchase area(s). There's no positive way to describe Northern Virginia traffic. It is considered the worst in the nation. If you commute to Washington, D.C. everyday we suggest beginning your search in Prince William County. For buyers utilizing I-95 this would include the Woodbridge, and Lake Ridge areas. If I-66 is in your commuting plans we suggest your homework should start in the Manassas, and Bristow areas. This recommendation is based on home prices, commuting options, and commuting distance.
We encourage clients to consider Stafford (south of Quantico MCB), and The Gainesville-Haymarket areas. These areas contain newer communities with sought after schools. But there must be a plan in place to utilize HOV lanes if searching for homes in these areas are part of your plans. But it's an individual choice usually based on your commuting options allowing you to survive the ride home. The I-95 HOV/HOT Lane Project is currently under construction. This may help ease traffic congestion to the release point at Garrisonville Road (Exit 143B) in Stafford County. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has a great website addressing Northern Virginia Commuter Resources. This will help map out a battle plan for your commute.
After we have located your home of choice, we will present your proposal (hopefully without competing offers) on a Regional Sales Contract (including addendums). The seller agrees to our offer. But the celebrating will need to wait. Since you are still in town it's time for the home inspection. After the inspection discovers deficiencies requiring repairs, we will discuss lender required repairs, contractor repairs, and homeowner repairs. We usually want all of them addressed (unless the seller has accepted your offer which is well below market value). After signing the home inspection addendum you are ready to go back home and continue communicating with your chosen lender in order to provide the necessary information to complete a loan package.
We will coordinate with the lender, seller's agent, title company, and any necessary third party to get to the closing table by the chosen date. Our recommendation for a moving company is Interstate Moving and Storage (ISO 9001-2008). This is an impressive company which handles military and government moves from any Department of Defense location worldwide. This company conducts its domestic and overseas operations from Springfield, Virginia. We have inspected the Interstate Moving & Storage facilities personally and we were impressed with every aspect of this company. The packers, loaders, and drivers are all full-time, drug tested, security clearence approved employees. The company does not allow day labor assistance as witnessed with numerous companies in Northern Virginia. We encourage all of our clients to take advantage of the Avery-Hess Realtors discount to use Interstate Moving & Storage to for their next duty station. For title agencies we encourage our clients to use RGS Title, or MBH Title. The loan officer, processor, and closing attorney at a title agency can be the difference between moving into your new home with a shipment of household goods, or living out of suitcases in a hotel room until a less than attentive and responsive third party to the transaction has the necessary paperwork for closing.
We've arrived at the end of this process. The only event remaining before moving into your home is conducting a walk-through to make sure the required repairs have been completed, and the home is being delivered in satisfactory condition. If the seller has not finished the repair work we would ask for an escrow based on an estimate for repairs as required by contract. Once this issue has been negotiated we are signing the closing papers. If you are unable to attend the final walk-through and closing, hopefully we have convinced you during this process to sign a transaction specific power-of-attorney (otherwise known as an attorney-in-fact). If your assignment date is delayed we can sign the necessary paperwork for you to become a homeowner in Northern Virginia.
We are both qualified relocation agents for CARTUS, SIRVA, Prudential, and Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. Please feel free to contact us for any questions related to residential real estate.
