Realtor suggestions, please. (Arlington, Alexandria, Reston: for sale, real estate, foreclosure)

[danaf617]

Good morning!

My husband, young children, and I will be moving to NoVa soon. I'd like to start looking for a realtor and would love your suggestions.

I have no idea what area we'll be looking in - part of the reason I'd like to start working with a professional.
We're moving from Southern NJ and my husband will be working for WMATA at Metro headquarters at the Jackson Graham Building (600 5th Street, NW).

We are looking to be outside of the city and he'll commute on the Metro.
I can go into the whole "we want good schools, affordable housing, blah, blah, blah" but I suspect you've heard it 1,000 times already.
That said, I'll take the suggestions if you're giving them.


Thanks in advance!!

[lindy112]

Are you renting or buying? That will affect suggestions as some realtors aren't all that interested in renters.

[michgc]

My personal recommendation is to start looking on your own at first, without a Realtor. Look in Arlington, Falls Church, Vienna or somewhere near a Metro line. Read all that you can on C-D. Figure out what area fits your budget. And then once you narrow down where you want to live - say North Arlington, for example - then look for a Realtor who specializes in that area.

This area is so vast and congested that it's hard for any one Realtor to be a specialist in all areas. The Realtor may know North Arlington very, very well, but not know squat about Vienna. And after you sign on with him, if Vienna is where you decide you want to be, you could be better served by someone who is tight in the Vienna market.

Just my two cents. This is how we did our searching 11 years ago and it worked out well for us.

[Margery]

Originally Posted by michgc

My personal recommendation is to start looking on your own at first, without a Realtor. Look in Arlington, Falls Church, Vienna or somewhere near a Metro line. Read all that you can on C-D. Figure out what area fits your budget. And then once you narrow down where you want to live - say North Arlington, for example - then look for a Realtor who specializes in that area.

This area is so vast and congested that it's hard for any one Realtor to be a specialist in all areas. The Realtor may know North Arlington very, very well, but not know squat about Vienna. And after you sign on with him, if Vienna is where you decide you want to be, you could be better served by someone who is tight in the Vienna market.

Just my two cents. This is how we did our searching 11 years ago and it worked out well for us.

Good advice! While I know Loudoun and parts of Fairfax County very well, if a buyer is looking for a home or rental in Arlington, Alexandria, or the Woodbridge area I would have to refer them to another Realtor. Get familar with the area and your commute and then pick a Realtor who lives in the area of interest. It is impossible to know an area well if you haven't lived close by.

[Middlin]

Whole heartedly agree! The area is too large for any one realtor to really know all areas very well. You will be much better served narrowing down your list to 1 or two areas that are adjacent to each other before calling a realtor.

[danaf617]

Thanks for the tips!

We will be buying and I'm sure the "vast area" will be narrowed down GREATLY with our max budget of $280k. That's about double what our home here is likely to sell for so we can't do any more than that.

Ideally, we'd like a SFH. It doesn't have to be huge or new (good thing, cause I know that won't happen in NoVa on that budget. lol)
We need 3 bedrooms but would love 4. And we're willing to buy a home that needs updating as long as it's liveable for the time being.

Can anybody suggest an area within an hour of DC that would fit the bill?

[JfromReston]

You are right - the areas you will be able to look in will be instantly narrowed by your price range. I suggest putting your search criteria into Homesdatabase and finding areas with houses in your price range. Then come back here and ask about the pros and cons of specific areas.

With such a tight budget something is going to have to give. Think about expanding the commute to 1.5 hours. Are you willing to live with only one bath? Would you be willing to live in a townhouse? I did a search on homesdatabase for Fairfax county (SFH 3 bd/2 ba) and came up with only about a dozen properties - and a couple of those exceeded your 1 hour commute preference. Most were in the southern part of the county that I know little about.

Homes for Sale and Rent in DC, Maryland, Virginia | HomesDatabase.com

[FindingZen]

Note that posting realtor recommendations is considered to be real estate advertising per the Terms of Service. Non-realtor members should offer to send recommendations of their experiences via Private Message.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by JfromReston

You are right - the areas you will be able to look in will be instantly narrowed by your price range. I suggest putting your search criteria into Homesdatabase and finding areas with houses in your price range. Then come back here and ask about the pros and cons of specific areas.

With such a tight budget something is going to have to give. Think about expanding the commute to 1.5 hours. Are you willing to live with only one bath? Would you be willing to live in a townhouse? I did a search on homesdatabase for Fairfax county (SFH 3 bd/2 ba) and came up with only about a dozen properties - and a couple of those exceeded your 1 hour commute preference. Most were in the southern part of the county that I know little about.

Homes for Sale and Rent in DC, Maryland, Virginia | HomesDatabase.com

While Southern - or rather, Southeastern - Fairfax County sometimes gets a bad rap sometimes, there are a number of nice communities there, particularly east of Route 1. That said, I would raise an eyebrow at a SFH (or even a TH) that's being sold at $280K there. At best, it's a foreclosure or significant fixer-upper.

[HereinVA]

You could get a decent 3 bedroom townhome in the Bristow/Gainesville/Haymarket area for less than $300,000. The schools in that area are generally very good. Your will have to compromise on the commute, however. Depending on his work hours, the exact location of your home, etc. it might be more advantageous to take the VRE instead of metro. There is also reliable commuter bus transportation. Pretty much every option will take over an hour, however.