Just like you can’t see a great personality across a crowded floor, potential home buyers cannot find the homes of their dreams based on words alone.   Great photography can get your house more prospective buyers and as a result a better offer or offers to choose from.   Too often agents and sellers use existing photographs or take quick photos of a property to market the home.   The photographs often appear either dated, amateur, or simply don’t show off the home’s greatest features.   In real estate, buyers are often looking for reasons NOT to purchase a home…so first impressions mean everything.   In the following series of blogs, I will discuss basic techniques to making your photographs stand out and SELL your listings faster.

I am a Top Producing real estate agent in McLean, VA and have been a professional photographer for 10 years.   Aside from photographing my own listings in McLean, Vienna and Arlington, I also photograph listings for other agents and sellers throughout Northern Virginia. Here are some tips to taking   great photographs to market your real estate.

First off is the exterior appearance.   Want to attract buyers? Be attractive!   Make sure that the house is looking its best.   All garden hoses and trash cans have been moved out of site, the lawn and yard have been mowed and landscaped, debris removed from the yard, roof and/or sidewalk.   If painted areas are looking worn, paint them!   This may sound obvious, but you would be amazed at how many photos of properties I see where general appearance was clearly not addressed.   You wouldn’t go on a first date not looking your best, why list a house when it™s not looking its best?

Lighting can make all the difference in the world. NEVER photograph a house when the light is directly over you or in front of you.   When the sun is directly over the house (typically 11:00 am -4:00 pm), you will see the greatest shadows appearing from the roof and windows.   This can be very unflattering.  Instead, take the photographs in the early morning (7:30 am – 9:30 am) or late afternoon (5:00 pm – 7:00pm).   Which time you choose should be dictated by where the sun is in relation to the area being photographed.   If the house faces east, you will want to photograph in the morning.   Otherwise, you will want to photograph in the afternoon.   As a general rule, photograph with the sun behind you and over your shoulder.   If the sun is in front of you, you will either get a silhouette or you will be fighting glare on your lens.   Another alternative is photographing your real estate with overcast skies.   The benefit of this is that you will get soft, even light throughout the image with little to no shadows. The one negative is that you will have white or grey skies.   This problem can easily be alleviated by cropping your image or Using Photoshop to paint in blue skies.

Next, there is the question of camera placement (i.e. how high is the camera in relationship to the house).   If the camera is too low, the house will look like a tower and the sides of the house will bow inwards towards the roof.   If the camera is too high, the house will have a diminutive appearance and the sides of the house will bow inwards towards the ground.   The trick to good camera placement is to divide the house into thirds as you look at it through the camera lens.   Imagine three horizontal lines as you look through your lense.   Your camera should be in the middle third, giving equal importance to the bottom and top of the real estate property you are photographing.   This is very easy to do with a rambler or raised rambler home.   Two to three level houses (colonial, split level, split foyer, Cape Cod, Craftsman, or Contemporary) and townhouses will require a ladder to get to the proper vantage point.   Make sure your camera lense is parallel to the face of the house that you are photographing.   Otherwise, your image will be distorted.    

Finally, you will want to compose your image so as to show off the greatest attributes of the property or hide any potential shortcomings. If the house is small, get up close and fill the photograph with the image of the house.   Real Estate properties look bigger when photographed up close.   Whenever possible, photograph the house from an angle (front and side or back and side) so as to give your house depth.   If you want to show off a house™s large yard, back away from the building and include more of the yard.

In my next blog, I will discuss interior photography.   For more information about how I can assist you in marketing your house please visit my website at www.myagentpaul.com or call me directly at 703-623-8050.   I am based in McLean, Virginia and My RE/MAX Allegiance office is located at 6226 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA   22101.

APS Preschool Registration and Elementary Transfer Request Deadline Approaching

April 15 is the deadline to apply for Arlington Public Schools preschool programs (VPI and Montessori) for the 2008-09 school year.

The deadline to apply for a transfer to another elementary school other than your neighborhood school or to apply for admission to an elementary countywide school or program is also April 15.

Applications for transfers are available at all APS elementary schools and on the APS Web site by clicking on school options. A lottery is held if there are more applications than available slots for any particular school or program.

For more information, contact 703-228-7667.   Go to www.myagentpaul.com to find housing in Arlington.

So often we hear that the way to wealth is to buy low and sell high.   4 years ago, as the market was frothing, investors would come to me and ask me to find the home in McLean, Vienna or Arlington that no one knew about that was being sold for cheap.   People would make outrageous offers well beyond the list price and give up many of their rights in hopes that their offer would be selected.   Now the market has cooled off and buyers have a better selection, prices in many markets have eased, and sellers are giving concessions.   So how does one profit?   The next set of blogs will address strategies for beating the market and winning with real estate.   Great minds don’t think alike.   They question the thinking of the masses and see how they can take advantage of popular belief.  

The first misconception is that you make your money when you sell your property.   While gains in the housing market are great, its often hard to gauge  how much prices will vary from year to year.   So yes, buy low!!!   Don’t be afraid to offer less than list. When you  look for  a house, select several houses you would be happy with.   Prioritize them in order of your favorites and offer accordingly.   Its much easier psychologically to walk away from a bad deal when you have other homes to choose from.    More to come in the next blog.   Go to www.myagentpaul.com to search for your next  homes.  

Per the National Association of Realtors:
 

Sales of existing homes increased in February and remain within a fairly stable range.
Existing-home sales “ including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops “ rose 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (1) of 5.03 million units in February from a pace of 4.89 million in January, but remain 23.8 percent below the 6.60 million-unit level in February 2007.   The sales pace has been in a fairly narrow range since last September.

This confirms recent activity sited by CNN  that mortgage applications have risen by 48.1%, comprised primarily by refinance activity, 82.2%.
 

Per the latest statistics from NVAR:

Foreclosures filings in Northern Virginia dropped by  18.7 percent, with only one county, Loudoun, seeing a slight increase of 1.3 percent, from 388 properties with foreclosure filings to 393 properties. Prince William County,  hardest hit  by the mortgage crisis, saw a decrease in filings of 23.7 percent, from 1,504 properties to 1,147 properties.

Fairfax County’s number of foreclosures  dropped by  19.2 percent and Arlington County dropped 12.8 percent to 82 properties.

Overall, in the state of Virginia, foreclosures dropped 18.7 percent over the past month as well, from 5,152 properties with filings to 4,187 properties.

Across the entire country, the number of properties with foreclosures dipped 4.0 percent from Janury to February.

On March 6, 2008, HUD announced new ceilings for for conforming and FHA Loans.   With ceilings of $729,750, home owners may be able to save  money in refinancing their mortgages.   To see the new levels for FHA loans in your neighborhood go to: https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm.   These changes are part of the new Economic Stimulus Plan enacted by President Bush.   Sources at the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors (NVAR) say these changes could result in a reduction of foreclosures by as much as 210,000 homes, and an additional sale of 300,000 homes.

First a little introduction for those new to the area…

McLean is located in the very popular county of Fairfax, Virginia.  McLean is considered the luxury section of that county because of the high medium home prices and the exceptional plots of land on which those homes are built.   Ideally located closely to Washington D.C. those looking into the McLean real estate market are generally either investors or those with enough resources to afford the amenities that this location offers.   With a population of about 38,929 and a median age about 8 years older than the median age of other Virginia residents, in McLean you will find a more mature buyer who know what he or she is looking for and is willing to pay that price.   In fact, the estimated median household income for those living in McLean is nearly $100,000 more than the average median income for the rest of the state.    

McLean Virginia condos are also something to talk about.   When business professionals are looking for a residence close to Washington D.C. but cannot afford or do not need the space of a single family home, a condo in McLean provides them with the ideal location in a city of good reputation for a lower price.   This is not to say that condos are cheap in McLean, in fact the property values of homes/condos in McLean have more than doubled in just the past five years.   The impressive growth and increased value of McLean has made it into one of the most highly desirable luxury home locations in Virginia.   In addition to ready access to public transportation as well as an acclaimed school system only nation wide market lows have effected the steady growth in the demand for homes in the McLean area.   It is estimated that property values will continue to increase especially as available plots of land for new construction are almost non-existent.  

Welcome to the Mclean and Vienna Real Estate Blog! This blog will provide you with valuable information, tips, and general insight into the real estate market in McLean and Vienna. For detailed real estate information and to search the MLS, please visit my website at http://myagentpaul.com.