Archive for March, 2008
Not Convinced It’s a Great Time to Buy? Read This and Pick Up the Phone!
March 30th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
A true story currently making the rounds in Northern Virginia involves a young couple, a brand new million+ dollar house and what a bit of savvy negotiating can mean in this market:
- After negotiating the price from $1.63 million to $1.4 million, the buyers, concerned that trees planted directly in the center of the backyard would make playtime challenging for their two young children, required the builder to replant the trees in the side yard.
- The housing inspector found the possibility of ‘cupping’ - when the wood warps due to excessive moisture - and the builder was required to re-stain, re-sand and refinish the home’s first and second levels and the stairs AND guarantee it for a year.
- The seller agreed to pay the closing costs of some $21,000.
Are you ready to get in on this market? Call me at 703.927.4554 and let’s talk about your dream house.
Thanks for stopping by,
Michael
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Cherry Blossoms Bring More than One MILLION Visitors to Greater Washington DC Area
March 28th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria, Things to Do, Weekend Pass
A 1912 “friendship” gift of 3000 cherry trees from the mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, set the stage for what is now the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival.
Starting March 29, and running through April 13, the festival will draw over 1,000,000 visitors to the greater Washington, DC area, including Alexandria. A full, two week schedule of activities will feature everything from sake tasting to kite flying to a parade to the largest Japanese Street Festival in the United States.
First Lady Helen Heren Taft planted the first two cherry trees on March 27, 1912. That same year the United States sent flowering dogwoods to Japan as a gift and did so again in 1965. During the duration of World War II the Japanese trees were referred to as “Oriental” trees and the festival was suspended between 1942 and 1946.
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Easter Sunday at Alexandria’s Historic Christ Church
March 26th, 2008 Categories: Alexandria, Real Estate News
Easter dawned brisk and bright this past Sunday at historic Christ Church in Alexandria. One of the oldest Episcopal congregations in the Commonwealth of Virginia, construction was started on the Georgian style church in 1767 and completed in 1773. The interior has been slightly modified on several occasions but now appears essentially as it did when it was restored in the 1890’s. The home parish of George Washington and Robert E. Lee, the church has also hosted Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rosa Parks and Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Sunday services.
Thanks for stopping by,
Michael
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