I just received the following information by email from my son's lacrosse league at 2:52 pm, today, November, 23, 2009:

Loudoun County, VA: The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is seeking information regarding the whereabouts of a missing 12-year-old Sterling, Virginia boy.   

The child, Alexander (Alex) Richmond, left his residence on Meanders Run Court around 4 p.m. November 22nd on his own accord. Alex is described as being 5'5" tall, 125 pounds with blue eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie, hiking boots, and blue jeans.   

If you have any information regarding Alex's whereabouts you are asked to contact Investigator W. Promisel at 703-777-0475. If the caller wishes to remain anonymous they should contact 703-777-1919.

Please pass along this information to anyone who is in the community and may have seen Alex.

If you happen to be sticking around this weekend, what better way to spend Black Friday (we all know the alternative, and that is not for me) than at the Reston Towncenter Holiday Parade? This will be the 19th annual parade, and based on the fact that my oldest will turn 20 soon, I am fairly sure we have been to most of them!

The parade kicks off Friday morning at 11:00 am with over 70 groups marching down Market Street.  Folks line up along the parade route, so come early!  This is a real civic event; you are likely to see the child from next door marching with the boy scouts or the girl up the street playing with the marching band. Over the years, Reston has done a fantastic job of making this a 'go-to' event.

 The retailers are open beginning  at 8:00 am, so you can get some shopping done and still wander over to the parade route in time to get a great seat.

The calendar of events, as published in the Reston Towncenter Press Release for the event is as follows:

• 8 AM: Reston Town Center retailers opening early
• 8 AM: Run with Alan Webb: 9th annual races for tots to teens to benefit Neediest Kids. Donation of $5 for participation encouraged. Participants can register at www.neediestkids.org.
• 11:00 AM: 19th Annual Reston Holiday Parade
• 12:30 – 4:30 PM: Visits and Photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Located on Market Street, next to Talbots. Donations will benefit local charities.
• 6:00 PM: Tree Lighting and Sing Along. Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive in a horse-drawn carriage to magically light up the Christmas tree, followed by traditional holiday songs led by Reston Chorale and brass quintet.
• 6:30 – 10:00 PM: Horse Drawn Carriage Rides. Proceeds benefit Volunteer Fairfax. Pick-up location is in front of Talbots on Market Street.$5 per person, children 5 and under ride free with adult.
• All day: Ice Skating Pavilion. Open every day for public skating until March.
• Santa’s Studio: Santa Claus will be at Reston Town Center in his portrait studio throughout the season. Dates and times vary, November 28 until December 24. His schedule is posted at his location on Market Street next to Talbots, and at www.restontowncenter.com.
• Holidays are Here! All through December, Reston Town Center will host performances of music and dance by community groups at Fountain Square, and strolling on Market Street. Horse drawn carriage rides are scheduled for Saturday afternoons, December 5, 12, and 19, from 12 PM until 4 PM. All proceeds benefit local charities. $5 per person, children 5 and under ride free with adult. The Ice Skating Pavilion is open every day until March. See the schedules and more details at www.restontowncenter.com.

Bring the family, grab your neighbors and friends and come out for a really special kick-off to the holiday season. As you can see, there is something for everyone!  For more information about this event, or other events at the Reston  Towncenter, go to www.restontowncenter.com

Three years ago, in the market for a new car, I asked around to find out what people thought about leasing or buying. The feedback I received was split, but there were strong feelings on either side.

Taking all of the advice in to account, we decided to buy, and went in to negotiate with the dealer.  Several hours later, and following a really good leasing program presentation, we decided to lease. Our decision  was based on these factors: the APR was very, very low, we planned to buy the vehicle at the end, it allowed us to keep our money invested  for another 3 years.

Here is what I learned from this experience:

1. The premise under which we leased the car only made sense if we ended up liking the car--we did not. It was a lemon. I was thrilled to get rid of it.
   
2. If you are going to turn in a leased vehicle, you better be darned sure you can stay under the miles. We negotiated the mileage to 15,000 per year, but given my job and our lifestyle, that was not enough.  I ended up pretty much parking the stupid car for 6 months and driving a little convertible that we have rather that pay $.25 a mile. We would have been over by about 7,500 miles or $1,875.
3. The premise of a lease is that if you buy it, you owe a payment at the end. We would have been better off to take some of our money out of the stock market to pay for the car at the beginning instead of deferring the payment to lease end. We know now  that the stock market has not done as well over the past several years.
4. I don't like to have to buy a new car after only 3 years. I tend to obsess over the process and I need more than 3 years to recover. I actually like being on a 7 year cycle.
5. Don't lease the 'family' car. My car (used to be) the one we used on family outings and vacations, making it even harder to stay under the miles. My husband's car had to take up a lot of the slack over the past 3 years. Luckily, it was large enough to step in. This only worked because our kids are older now.
   

I spoke with a friend who is a financial advisor and asked what she advises her clients to do. She said that she will recommend that they buy a car that will hold its value for resale (she mentioned BMW, Mercedes & Volvo) and then maintain it well and hold it indefinitely.

When I asked my accountant for advice, he basically said their are advantages to each, but for leasing to remain an advantage, you must stay under the miles...oops.

So those are the results of my 3 year experiment and my conclusion is that leasing only makes sense for someone who feels the need to get a new car frequently and who does not drive too many miles in a given year. Whether you lease or buy, there is no way to know in advance if you are going to continue to like the car or if you are going to get a lemon. I guess the other argument for leasing is that for less money down you can drive  a nicer car. For me this did not matter since my original plan was to buy the car I ended up leasing.  This factor is important, however, for many leasing customers.

I am not sure that leasing would ever make sense for a Realtor, since we live in our cars and the odometer often reflects it! At the very least, I now know that it doesn't make sense for me.

If you are looking for the answer with this post, I will have to advise you to check back later to read the comments My intent in posting this is to gather information from Active Rain members around the globe (let's see how far this sphere of influence stretches).

I was in a Broker CE course yesterday, taught by the Professional Development & Standards Director for Dulles Area Association of Realtors, Allan R. Marteney. As a sideline to our training and discussion, he mentioned that one of his hobbies is gathering information about how real estate transactions are handled around the world. He read us some information that he had received from one of his students about how real estate was conducted in the Netherlands. 

It seems that the Netherlands treats real estate as a degree-based training program and requires a 6 month apprenticeship before one can become a practitioner.  That was interesting, since increased education requirements are often sited as a way of improving the quality of Real Estate practitioners here in the U.S.

Do you have any knowledge of  Real Estate Practices in other parts of the world?  What are some of the differences in background requirements for agents? Is the process different? How are Real Estate Agents paid? Are they required to join an association like National Association of Realtors? Have you worked in the Real Estate Industry  in another country?

Since it would probably be difficult to have any substantive information in the comments, consider writing a post about your information and posting the link in the commments section of this post. I am looking forward to seeing the answers that are posted here...thanks in advance for sharing your information with us.

I am the kind of person that keeps organization stores in business. A trip to The Container Store is a dream come true for me! My house is filled with baskets, bins and containers that once held the promise of being the perfect solution. Most of them work out pretty well--for a while. But for some reason, I cannot leave well enough alone, and I am always trying to implement 'process improvements' that usually involve a change of containers. Of course with a family of 5 and a dog, there are always plenty of things to contain!

Right now I am happily sitting at my computer with all of the books, files and debris that I have removed from my bookshelves and desk on the floor behind me. I need to reorganize. I need to clean-out, sort through and put away. I have found the best way to do this is put it all in the center of the room where I cannot ignore it. These projects take on a life of their own because all the books I take out of here, and from which I am not willing to part, must go to live elsewhere in my house...

But instead of jumping in, I am writing this blog. Why? Because right this second, all of these containers  I just bought are PERFECT! As soon as I start re-organizing, their inadequacies will start to show and the cycle will begin again.

My 17 year-old daughter just walked in to my office and told me that all this disorganization stresses her out...and the next generation of The Container Store customers is born!

If you are planning to sell your house, the time to put in the work is BEFORE the property is listed. In my previous post, Sell Your Home: A Series of Posts, Part 2, I discuss how important it is to look at every aspect of your home with a critical eye. The posts below deal with very specific areas and may help you to get started with this process.

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series:What the Mailbox Might Be Saying About Your Home

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Plants & Shrubs by Front Door

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: What is that SMELL?

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: What to do with an empty room?

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: The Closets

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Deal with the Paint Cans!

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Pet Owners and Home Sales

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Moving is Hard!

My business is built around referrals. If you live in the Northern Virginia area and are considering selling your house, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss my approach to preparation, pricing and marketing.  As an accredited Home Staging Realtor, I believe that much of the work of selling your home has to be done before the sign goes up on your house. If you have family, friends or colleagues who plan to list their property, I would be honored if you would pass on my name and contact information.

From the Fairfax County FamilyGram, Fall 2009:

Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences magnet program will have openings for qualified students in grades K through 6 for the 2010-11 school year. To be selected, students must be working on or above grade level in language arts and mathematics and must possess good citizenship and study skills. The magnet program weaves the arts, sciences, and technology into all areas of the curriculum in order to stimulate and extend the educational potential of all students.

Each year, students are selected by a computer-generated lottery. The number of students chosen varies from year to year according to the number of openings at each grade level. This is not determined until the actual time of the lottery. Students not selected for the lottery are placed on a wait list.

Applications will be available in all Fairfax County public schools beginning in January 2010 or can be downloaded from the Hunters Woods web site at www.fcps.edu/HuntersWoodsES/. Applications must be completed and submitted to: Magnet Lottery, Office of Elementary Instruction and Administrative Services, 3705 Crest Drive, Annandale, VA 22003. Applications must be postmarked no later than Monday, March 1, 2010.

An information meeting will be held at Hunters Woods on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 7 p.m. In the event of inclement weather, the meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at 7 p.m.

For additional information, contact Diane Beers, parent liaison, Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences, 2401 Colts Neck Rd., Reston, VA 20191, 703-262-7405.

I am a recycling fanatic.  I am the one in my family who has trouble tossing out the cardboard toilet paper rolls. I save shampoo bottles from the shower and diligently take them to the recycling bin.  I regularly pick soda cans and bottles out of the trash. While not everyone in my family shares my enthusiasm, slowly they are getting better about getting the recyclables in to the right container.

The downside to all of this gathering was getting it to curbside every Friday. We got to the point where we had 4 (very) full bins--and a very long driveway. I was pleasantly surprised when a large recycle cart (looks similar to our regular trash can and includes wheels) appeared on my neighbors driveway; I immediately called and ordered one for our family.  Now getting the recyclables to the curb is a fairly easy task.

But what happens when they dump everything from one bin?  According to my trash company, American Disposal Services, they are using a method called Single Stream Recycling.

According to the mailing we received from them (which included an explanation of how this works and a handy magnet to show what is eligible for recycling): 'Single Stream Recycling is an innovative process that allows the consumer the freedom of putting all of their recyclables into the same container, a process called co-mingling, without the bothersome tasks of bundling and sorting.'  Once the materials reach the facility, they are put on to a conveyor belt and sorted by vaiours 'electro-mechanical means.' Some of the methods mentioned: magnets, eddy currents, air jets, and heavy duty rotating screens.

On the website, www.ecocycle.org I found the following article about Single Source Recycling: Single Source Recycling Comes to Boulder County.  While not about my community, the information was helpful. In the article, they say. 'It’s the future for responsible resource conservation and an important step toward meeting our goal of building a Zero Waste community by 2020. Single-stream recycling makes it almost as easy to use the recycling bin as it is to use the trash can, so for the previously unconverted, there’s no excuse for not recycling.'

Not everyone is willing to take the time to sort their trash. Single Source Recycling makes it easier; instead  of sorting in to paper, plastic, aluminum, cardboard and more, you can choose between recyclable and non-recyclable. I find that it is easier to get people to participate if the process is simplified.  Hopefully, this new effort will be a win-win for all of us--and for our environment!

If you are an American Disposal Customer, you can find out more about their program at www.americandisposal.com or by calling 703-368-0500.

As a Realtor and EcoBroker, I have been giving a lot of thought to what the role of  a Home Energy Audit should be in the process of selling a house.  Unlike a Home Inspection or a Radon Inspection, a Home Energy Audit does not affect the safety of living in a property. So how should a Home Energy Audit be considered in the sales process?

You may or may not have heard of a Home Energy Audit.  While I could provide an explanation here, Ardently Green  (a company out of Northern Virginia, which is, for purposes of full disclosure, owned by my husband) has a great explanation of a Home Energy Audit. Here you will find information about how the Audit is conducted, the report that you will receive and what kind of recommendations you can expect.

As a Seller, should you conduct a Home Energy Audit prior to listing your house?  I would recommend it--but only it if you plan on implementing a majority of the recommendations that come out of the report. If you have the audit done, but opt not to make the repairs, there is a distinct disadvantage in letting potential buyers know that you have had an audit. Basically, the report then becomes a way of pointing out problems with the house.  If , however, you make the repairs necessary to improve the efficiency and comfort in your house, most buyers would prefer to purchase a house that has been Audited and improved over one that has not. Who wouldn't choose the more comfortable and energy efficient home over a comparable less energy efficient property?

As a buyer, should you request a Home Energy Audit? This question is a little bit trickier.  First of all, making it a contingency on the contract will make your offer less attractive to a seller. After all, no one knows what the audit will find. What if the results recommend that all the windows should be replaced? As a buyer, that could be a deal-breaker if the seller is not willing to change the windows (not a cheap or easy process). As a seller, that is a very large ticket item and is very likely to be a deal breaker on the seller's side--it is tantamount to reducing the sales price by the cost of the windows.

But what if a buyer wants it done for Information Purposes Only?  This can be a real advantage for a buyer; they will know exactly what has to be done to improve efficiency in the house. Again, however, for the seller it can be a reason for a buyer to walk away from a contract.  Even if the contract does not require the improvements to be made, the seller may end up 'volunteering' to make the improvements to keep the Buyer from canceling the contract.

In both of these scenarios, we are thinking about big ticket items such as window replacement. Of course, the report will contain EVERYTHING than can be done to improve efficiency...windows might just be a 'nice to have' improvement; if a buyer looks at it that way, it can be a valuable tool. The problem is that a seller cannot know in advance how a buyer will view the results.

The truth is that most Home Energy Audits recommend some very inexpensive things that you can do to improve energy efficiency. Examples include:

1. Sealing around recessed lights to prevent air loss through the gaps.
2. Caulking around windows to improve air seal
3. Adding  or redistributing insulation in attics or behind walls
4. Insulating behind wall plates to minimize heat or conditioned air loss.

As you can see from this (incomplete) list, most homeowners can handle many of these tasks easily, quickly and inexpensively.

So what should the role of a Home Energy Audit be in a Real Estate Transaction?  It can be a distinct advantage for both the buyer and the seller if it is conducted prior to the property being listed and if the seller implements many of the recommendations that come out of the report. As a buyer, consider having an audit done on a house that you are purchasing, but be aware that doing it after the sale may make your offer more attractive to the Seller. Again, many of the improvements are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement.

If you are interested in buying or selling a home in Northern Virginia, I would be honored to meet with you to discuss how a Home Energy Audit can improve the saleability of your home or be used in the purchase of a property.

Now that you have decided to sell your home, it is critical that you look at your property objectively and make the necessary improvements.  If you have read any of my previous posts, you will know that one of my favorite sayings is, 'you only get one chance to make a first impression.' 

This is the time to prepare your home as thoroughly as you would prepare yourself for an important interview. Look at every corner of your home and ask yourself is it 1) clean, 2) well maintained, 3) dated (and replace offending items if necessary).  Just as you may look at that wall paper and think, ' it is too much trouble to remove, repair and repaint,' your potential purchasers are thinking EXACTLY the same thing. 

If you want your price and your time-line, now is the time to put in the work! Here are a couple of my previous blog entries that will help you get started.

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Home Maintenance is Key!

Getting Your Home Ready to Sell Series: The Condition Matters!

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: The Front Door Matters!

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: The Surprising thing I tell My Sellers

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Help! I have been in my house forever!

I hope you found these posts informative and that you are able to use some of my advice as you prepare your home for sale. Try to remember that your goal is to make your home as attractive as possible to the greatest number of people.

My business is built around referrals. If you live in the Northern Virginia area and are considering selling your house, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss my approach to preparation, pricing and marketing.  As an Accredited Home Staging Realtor, I believe that much of the work of selling your home has to be done before the sign goes up on your house. If you have family, friends or colleagues who plan to list their property, I would be honored if you would pass on my name and contact information.