Local's Perspective on Financial/Family Services (Virginia Beach, Arlington: sale, real estate, foreclosure)

[CaptMatt]

Hello CD Nation!

I'm moving to the Northern Virginia area next year. My fiancee is in law school currently and she will arrive there, with a job waiting in Herndon in August. I will be relocating there in October.

We need to get ourselves established in the Virginia area, and we need some perspective on some services we will need to utilize from nearly the minute we set foot.

1) We need to figure out a reputable RIA. I have a lot of investments spread all over, and I need to consider consolidating some of these things. I'm wanting to take my wealth management to another level, and have decided that the services of an RIA will be in order. If anyone has any personal experience with any in the area, I would surely appreciate your thoughts.

2) We need a stable local bank to develop a relationship with. Aside from standard checking and savings accounts, we will intend to be involved with some enterprises of our own.

3) We need to establish a relationship with a Family Law practice. My will and other legal documents will need to be revised to be within the legal obligations of Virginia, and since she has not ever had such documents before, we will need to get her's started.

4) Any recommendations on real estate agents? We don't plan to buy a home immediately, but we will likely start looking after living there for a year. As the rest of this post implies, your thoughts are much appreciated. Any real estate agent that is honest and works the NoVA area is fine. It would be a bonus if they also have connections to some of the outlying areas, like NE North Carolina, Virginia Beach, etc.

I very much appreciate your help guys!

[rmm0484]

With you being in the Military, I would start with USAA for sure. They can help with wealth management, real estate, etc. You need to find someone in the area that specializes in law for military members as well.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by CaptMatt

Hello CD Nation!

4) Any recommendations on real estate agents? We don't plan to buy a home immediately, but we will likely start looking after living there for a year. As the rest of this post implies, your thoughts are much appreciated. Any real estate agent that is honest and works the NoVA area is fine. It would be a bonus if they also have connections to some of the outlying areas, like NE North Carolina, Virginia Beach, etc.

I very much appreciate your help guys!

I have a very good friend who is a mortgage broker in the Williamsburg, VA area. Keeping in the rules of the forum, I'd be happy to share their info if you send me a Direct (private) Message.

[slduvall]

Originally Posted by CaptMatt

Hello CD Nation!

I'm moving to the Northern Virginia area next year. My fiancee is in law school currently and she will arrive there, with a job waiting in Herndon in August. I will be relocating there in October.

We need to get ourselves established in the Virginia area, and we need some perspective on some services we will need to utilize from nearly the minute we set foot.

1) We need to figure out a reputable RIA. I have a lot of investments spread all over, and I need to consider consolidating some of these things. I'm wanting to take my wealth management to another level, and have decided that the services of an RIA will be in order. If anyone has any personal experience with any in the area, I would surely appreciate your thoughts.

2) We need a stable local bank to develop a relationship with. Aside from standard checking and savings accounts, we will intend to be involved with some enterprises of our own.

3) We need to establish a relationship with a Family Law practice. My will and other legal documents will need to be revised to be within the legal obligations of Virginia, and since she has not ever had such documents before, we will need to get her's started.

4) Any recommendations on real estate agents? We don't plan to buy a home immediately, but we will likely start looking after living there for a year. As the rest of this post implies, your thoughts are much appreciated. Any real estate agent that is honest and works the NoVA area is fine. It would be a bonus if they also have connections to some of the outlying areas, like NE North Carolina, Virginia Beach, etc.

I very much appreciate your help guys!

Altougth I can't advise on a NOVA RIA, I highly recommend doing this - wise planning. What I have discovered with my wealth management company is (not located in NOVA but where we retired) that they provide - free of charge - legal document advise and assistant. Ours has a lawyer on staff, who will walk thru all documents etc. I also went to them for builders, realtor, and lender advise (small town, so reputation goes along way).

As another poster mentioned, if you are military - from your "handle" I'm assuming, if you are considering USAA, do check around beforehand. I won't go into details, but their costs are high, won't be able to provide you with face to face service that I think you are looking for. My company knows us by name, not just account, they know our short term as well as long term financial plans and goals, and judging by our recent annual review..have done quite well for us!

[ACWhite]

Re: real estate agents, I think you need to wait until you have decided on a community or at least a city/part of a county. It's best to have a buyer's agent who really knows the neighborhoods. An agent who knows N Arlington, for example, will likely not know the best parts of Herndon, areas to avoid, commuting routes, etc. So much info is online that you can probably narrow things down before searching with an agent.

Welcome to NoVA!

[CaptMatt]

Thank you for the responses!

Firstly, I am former military, and incidentally my name on here is from college athletics.

I do already use USAA and I'm not terribly impressed with their services. They talk a good game, but in all actuality it's always up to the individual. Which is fine, but when you pay essentially the same rate to them as you would and RIA, it seems defeating to me.

RIA's in my experience tend to only charge one to three percent on an account. I've seen some in the country advertising at five percent, but that seems like not much more insight for much more money.

I suppose if anyone knows a decent bank in the area that would be helpful. I looked at Herbert & ????, but the user reviews were pretty mixed. Apparently they are not hip to pay roll checks.

If anyone has a local bank they love, I would be interested in your opinion.

[rmm0484]

Burke and Herbert is a very old bank, with some interesting and colorful history. It was established in 1852, and I have heard tell of a parrot that used to reside in the bank as a mascot

Burke & Herbert Bank - About the Bank - History

Admiral Arliegh Burke was also a member of this family.

For selecting a bank, I would check our reviews on Yelp - here are some ratings for Alexandria
Banks Alexandria, VA

Happy hunting!

[cal-tex]

Back when interest rates reflected reality, I compared notes with a USAA customer on 1 year CDs. He actually did better than me by .1% (4.6 vs 4.5), but his account required a 200K minimum. Your advisor will likely be someone in a cubicle in Phoenix, but they have many happy customers. I usually hear the term CFP; not RIA....many money managers will also be CFPs. I would avoid the full service companies like the plague; they will constantly be calling you offering you some new type of investment vehicle. Very few hedge funds outperform the indexes. The two best things that have happened to my market investing are 1) using Scottrade 2) investing in ETFs based on the sectors of the S&P: XLB, XLF, XLI, XLK, XLP, XLY, XLV, XLU.....or just SPDR.

I had a neighbor, who was a money manager at Edward Jones. She paid 159,000 for a condo, and it was sold at a foreclosure sale for 60K. Proceed with extreme caution with these people.