Online Web Real Estate Appraisals - Just Like Offline!

I now recommend, as a service through our business partners at KME Internet Marketing in Northern Virginia, online web real estate appraisals. This does NOT mean appraisals of your physical real estate, your "brick and mortar" business, your home or land...this means appraisal of your actual website, blog or other digital assets for buying or selling.

Sounds a bit strange, and probably not what you're typically looking for in a Realtor - but a website, especially one that helps create income, needs to be appraised, updated, maintained, staged and basically treated just like "offline" physical real estate - especially if you're getting ready to buy or sell. AND if the website is actually associated with your home or business, in fact a "virtual" extension of it.

Therefore, though you may be thinking and planning a real estate transaction in the "real world", for example buying a new home - think a bit also about your online digital assets, and whether there are also steps that need to be taken to get ready to sell, or consider a new "property". I'll suspect that if you're reading this blog, you live and work not only in your neighborhood and at your business, but online as well.

Read more about appraising websites, buying and selling online real estate...

Spring revitalization, remodeling, renovation - you and your home or business!

Spring is Here!

"If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies." By Nadine Stair

During this time of new growth and fresh starts, it's a fantastic time to organize and reinvigorate yourself. Spring home cleaning, yard and garden preparation, important document organization and tax filing, winter clothes and decoration changeovers, home repair and remodeling, window replacement and energy-efficient upgrades, personal business coaching- these are all opportunities to nurture your life into a year of fresh opportunity and success!

Both spring and fall are commonly chosen times for devoting extra attention to cleansing and renewal, though any time of year is a good time to reorganize. Spring, however, is a particularly motivating and exciting time of year to fulfill your sense of accomplishment and engage new-found initiatives.

Here's a quick list over at the Northern Virginia and Washington DC Business Blog of recommended home repair, remodeling, renovation and handyman service providers in our extended region, from Northern Virginia (Fairfax, Alexandria, Arlington, Loudoun counties) to the Piedmont areas of western Loudoun, Prince William and counties south and west. The list also includes a few other nuggets of spring revitalization resources - for you or your homeowners/home sellers!

South Florida commercial real estate tax advice - does it translate to Northern Virginia?

It turns out that the real estate investment climate "bottom" might not be so far off, especially for tax-savvy investors in commercial real estate markets...for example, now's a great time for commercial real estate investors in South Florida to leverage Florida commercial real estate tax advisors for maximizing commercial real estate tax refunds, asset recovery returns or otherwise get more value from existing commercial real estate, or brand new, "trophy" properties. While obviously it's been a very tough South Florida market - there's some ripeness in opportunity, especially through tax assessment reduction and challenge actions. For example, SVN Palm Beach (http://www.svnpalmbeach.com) is a very respected leader in this tax advisory area, especially in South Florida.

Here's some direct advice on approaching the South Florida commercial real estate market in 2009, compliments of the Sperry Van Ness Palm Beach Brokerage (Edward Kearney, CCIM, Managing Director):

He says:

"1. "Off-market" transactions: I routinely help my buy-side clients seek out assets that are not listed by retail brokerage firms. Going the extra mile in approaching principal owners on a direct basis negotiating with them on assets that are not publicly for sale pay big dividends for clients.

2. Change Market Focus: Both buyers and sellers alike are benefiting from focusing on secondary and tertiary markets where there will be less competition for assets. Many of the South Florida sub-markets have particular appeal during economic downturns.

3. Change Asset Class Focus: Be open to asset class rotation to take advantage of market opportunities as they arise. Diversification has never been more important than it is in today’s market. Look across multifamily, retail, office, industrial, hospitality, self-storage, net-leased, and raw-land asset classes.

4. Think Trophy Assets: Only a few years ago, many trophy assets were simply not affordable. Take advantage of higher vacancies, lease roll-over risks, and financing issues to acquire a trophy property at less than premium pricing.

5. Look for Joint Venture or Recapitalization Opportunities: Many of the best opportunities in today's market are not found in out-right acquisitions. Explore joint ventures that will allow you to co-invest with existing owners of assets in a fashion that will allow them to free up trapped equity or fund new developments.

6. Renegotiate with your Lenders: If your debt is non-CMBS debt, but is portfolio debt still on the balance sheet of your lender, don’t hesitate to inquire about buying the debt out at a steep discount. It is sometimes possible in today’s market to buy-out the debt for only a fraction of the outstanding loan balance. This not only improves your balance sheet and your cash flow, but it frees you up to acquire other assets.

7. Change Your Acquisition Process: Traditional acquisition time frames that were competitive 12 months ago will leave you on the outside looking in with today's bottom feeding environment. Be willing to make unsolicited offers, put up meaningful earnest money deposits and close quickly where it make sense to do so."

Why South Florida? It appears to be a bit of a bellweather in terms of a likely rebound in the very soft commercial real estate market, especially with respect to foreign investment. While South Florida isn't quite the same as the Northern Virginia/Washington DC market - it always pays for Real Estate Agents and Brokers, working with their investors and property owners, to keep an eye out on other national and international markets plus commercial real estate investment advice and methods that seem to work well, and may very well translate into opportunities and profits in our Northern Virginia and Prince William real estate market.

All Real Estate Agents/Brokers - Step up to Help Your Community Nonprofits

One way to truly help your communities, your local buyers and sellers, and the overall real estate market in your area is to help the local nonprofits. Without nonprofit, charitable organizations, communities and therefore the associated real estate markets would suffer - even more than they're suffering now, with additional hardship to come in light of the rapid drop-off in philanthropic contributions across the nation.

Here's something you can do today, to support and leverage a very unique, collaborative nonprofit fundraising mechanism that leverages the power of Internet Marketing and Social Media. This will help your community, and your business.

Choose your favorite nonprofit organization (local, national, global). Let them know you'd like to help them raise money, help their cause, and improve the community (your community, and your market).

Together, review the "Nonprofit Funding Solutions for Charitable Organizations" program, at http://www.npofs.org. This is a very quickly-growing, worldwide consortium of nonprofits, brought together under a program run by the Virginia-based Paws4People Foundation, who together leverage online Charitable Raffles to raise money (and provide many attractive cash prizes to the ever dwindling donor base!).

Sign up as a Corporate Sponsor of your nonprofit (termed a "Referral Organization", i.e. PTAs, community groups, churches, etc.) - and loads of benefits accrue:

• Your nonprofit gets badly-needed legitimate cash help, fast


• Donors and communities benefit


• Paws4People and all the charities of the nonprofit consortium benefit, with very little overhead taken out and away from direct community support


• The local market and community profile improves, as does hopefully your business


• You get FREE online marketing/social media exposure for this support, and for your business

It's pretty simple and straightforward, but a brilliant concept. A PTA raffle on steroids.

Collaborative support of local communities between nonprofit organizations and local realtors/brokers. Get involved. Or just buy an online charitable raffle ticket yourself, to support and win.

Northern Virginia Energy Efficient Tax Credits for Home Renovation and Repairs

(From Northern Virginia and Washington DC Businesses)

A “perfect storm” is brewing for all US and Northern Virginia homeowners this spring, interested in saving money on energy costs, saving money on taxes, and promoting a healthy, clean, environmentally-friendly lifestyle for themselves and their families. On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed a stimulus bill (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) that made some significant changes to the energy efficiency tax credits. More Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency are available for consumers and home builders, at a much higher percentage of cost (up to 30%), with very few upper limits or exceptions. Tax deductions are available as well for businesses.

The highlights are:

• The tax credits that were previously effective for 2009, have been extended to 2010 as well.


• The tax credit has been raised from 10% to 30%, with no upper limit through 2016 (for existing homes only).


• The tax credits that were for a specific dollar amount have been converted to 30% of the cost.


• The maximum credit has been raised from $500 to $1500 for the two years (2009–2010). However, some improvements such as geothermal heat pumps, solar water heaters, and solar panels are not subject to the $1,500 maximum.


• The $200 cap on windows has been removed.

These tax credits convert into significant savings for consumers interested in Northern Virginia home renovations and remodeling, or consumers simply interested in lowering energy costs through use of new energy-efficient home features like vinyl windows and HVAC units, solar panels and hot water heaters, or simply additional, updated insulation, roofing or caulking projects. This is the absolute best time of year, as well, to begin planning home renovation, repair and remodeling projects that require warmer weather to implement – and require longer lead times from service providers as the spring orders increase.

Here are some very good examples I know of, of Virginia home improvement, construction or handyman firms capable of handling your energy-efficiency projects this spring.

For large, custom Northern Virginia home renovation and construction projects that include significant home energy improvements or features, Architectural Construction of McLean, VA offers services that easily provide significant return on investment, via these stimulus bill energy efficiency tax credits. Constructive Solutions of Leesburg VA offers many routine home maintenance, repair, remodeling and handyman services including installation or retrofitting home energy features to take advantage of the tax credits. Vinyl-Lite Window Factory of Lorton, VA already provides the very best and most energy-efficient Northern Virginia windows and replacement vinyl windows – acting now to order and install replacement windows takes full advantage of the tax credits, resulting in significant savings in addition to the reduced energy costs. (Don't forget to include window security screens or alarm screens for maximum security and privacy). For “Piedmont” area (including Fauquier, Clarke, Culpeper, Frederick, Spotsylvania, Stafford and Prince William counties) handyman, home repair and renovation services, Handyman Matters will quickly and efficiently replace old, energy-inefficient features of your home with new ones that take complete advantage of the new tax credits.

Contact Ingrid Myers, Prince William realtor, as well to discuss spring home renovation and remodeling plans, especially if the goal is to get a head start on the spring real estate season, fix your home up for resell, or simply find an easy and now very cost-effective way to improve the value of your home.

Northern Virginia Home Renovation - Examples from Leesburg Historic District and Great Falls

Home Sweet Home...Home Improvement is one of the smartest investments a homeowner can make - and is many times overlooked. Yes there is dust, dirt but the end result will be well worth the inconvenience. With real estate in Northern Virginia in such turmoil many are choosing to remodel and renovate Northern Virginia homes - their own homes. Give your home a ”facelift” or makeover that provides an updated or new look, while not uprooting your family to a new location (i.e. no need to move!).

Here's a truly inspiring example of a home renovation in the Leesburg Historic district and Great Falls - both the "before" and "after" pictures. The "Miles Carriage House" in Leesburg received a commendation from the Town of Leesburg for outstanding adherence to historical design standards.

Architectural Construction provides home renovation and remodeling services throughout Northern Virginia, including Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William counties.





Read more about Virginia Home Renovation at Dulles South Online.

Northern Virginia Real Estate Investing - It's Prime Time

Happy New Year 2009!

Prime time for Northern Virginia Real Estate Investing is here, as we enter 2009 scraping and bumping our keel on the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay watershed housing market. All the indicators and news items are there, along with solid examples here at Ingrid Myers Northern Virginia Real Estate.

Today's Washington Post article "Cash Glut Could Take Markets on a Ride" puts the scenario solidly in perspective - that "the mountain of cash...on the sidelines represent dry powder" ready to light this coming year. While the article focuses on the tremendous buildup of investor cash available to buy corporate shares in the stock market, the implications of cash available for real estate investing are clear. It's time to buy residential properties, especially for investment purposes.

Other indicators point to the Washington DC Real Estate market and Northern Virginia real estate market in particular as very strong candidates for real estate investment rebound - and we can confirm at ground-level it's begun. This article from Yahoo points to Washington DC as one of the top 5 Real Esate markets most likely to rebound the quickest, driven first by the snap-up of commercial real estate, and the residential follow-on. Part of the investment growth is International; with a weak dollar, and the Northern Virginia Dulles Airport area being such a strong, growing commercial presence as the gateway to international business and travel, foreign investment in the area is rising quickly.

Just in the past week, we've come across townhouses in the Prince William real estate market, Western Prince William real estate market, and several other properties in Fairfax and Loudoun counties that have come on the market and sold quickly, to investors, with at least 20% down. What's to appreciate, is that that pricing is considerably below market values of the past 8 years (for example an $89K townhouse and $303K single family in nice neighborhoods of Prince William county), and the transactions were very quick after listings, even with the significant downpayments. Northern Virginia foreclosures in particular are accounting for significantly-accelerating buy-up by the investor community - though the foreclosure inventory (i.e. bank-owned properties) is expected to slow as the national market stabilizes a bit and banks and homeowners are able to reach better agreements.

It's been said that the opportunities for building wealth are greatest as the markets approach their bottom - that time is rapidly approaching, from all indicators. Donald Trump said back in August "now is the best time in years to purchase real estate...especially in the next 12 months to get the best deal". While the market crash this fall stalled much investment activity, it appears to have picked up again, and fast - the "next 12 months" starts now.

Contact us today to discuss Northern Virginia real estate investing opportunities and scenarios, including farm investments, land investments, commercial real estate investments, and Maryland real estate investments.

One more thing to consider - investing in real estate isn't limited to whole-property purchases. Now is the time to plan and execute your Northern Virginia home renovation, remodeling and reconstruction plans. Many Northern Virginia home construction firms are at the bottom of their pricing cycles; add this to the dramatic uptick in expected Northern Virginia home remodeling and renovation for this Spring (outpacing and replacing new home construction activity), and now's the time to lock in low prices with your Northern Virginia home contractor for 2009 delivery of very important home renovation investments. These should range from Virginia energy-efficient replacement windows with window alarm security screens, to full-on home renovation projects. Have a Southern Maryland home renovation|construction project? Try Cherry Cove Hospitality, in Lexington Park, MD.