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.

Are you are thinking about selling your house? If you have talked about this to friends and family, you are probably getting a lot of advice--much of which you find conflicting. For the past several years, I have written a number of  blogs for sellers which I have called the Getting Your House Ready To Sell Series.

I hope that you can benefit from some of these posts. Selling your home is different from many other life decisions because it impacts not only your net worth, but is usually a very emotional transaction. It is a rare seller who can completely remove emotion from the sales process.

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Why Use a Broker to List your Home in a Down Market

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Setting Your Sales Price

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: A Letter to My Seller after our Pre-Listing Walk Through

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series:Why Spend Extra Money to Sell Your House?

Getting Your House Ready to Sell Series: Sell Your House in 2009

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. I will be posting 3 more of these compilation posts over the next week...be on the lookout for more in the Sell Your Home series.

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.

I ran across an article today that I thought was worth sharing. It was from the Washington Business Journal and it was discussing the findings of an Urban Land Institute report which shows that there remains a shortage of workforce housing in the Washington D.C. area within 20 to 30 minutes of 6 workforce employment centers: Downtown Washington, D.C., Reston and Herndon, Alexandria, Tysons Corner, Bethesda and Rockville

I have several buyer clients right now that have not been able to find homes. Both of these clients are looking in Reston VA. It seems to me that we are beginning to run in to an inventory shortage.  Homes that are priced above the comparables are remaining on the market, but those that are priced fairly and are in good shape are generally moving within a reasonable time frame. I have seen that there is still a bit of a struggle for sellers to determine what is a reasonable comp and what is not. I will tell you that when a home hits the correct price, it WILL go under contract.

My experience, combined with the findings in the ULI report, would indicate to me that at least in the Reston/Herndon area, we are on the way up from the bottom of the real estate market.

If you are a buyer who has been on the fence, this might be the time to jump in and find your new home. Unless you would rather wait and pay more later...

For the full text of the article:  http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/11/02/daily36.html

Did you know that if you feed your children Kellogg's Coco Krispies it will help boost your child's immunity? Really?

Apparently, new cereal boxes have been printed and distributed with a banner stating this fact.  Last week the San Francisco, CA City Attorney, Dennis Herrera,  sent a letter to  Kellogg and the Food and Drug Administration asking Kellogg to prove their claim. Really?

Kellogg is stating that they have added additional Vitamins C, D and E which provide support to the Immune system. Okay...

This is the silliest scandal I have heard about this week (I say this week since there seems to be a new silly scandal each week for the press to obsess about).  As a parent, if I am feeding my children Coco Krispies, I am clearly not worrying about their health relative to their breakfast diet. Before you jump all over me, what I mean is that sometimes you just want your kids to eat breakfast. If that is what it takes to get them to eat, more power to you!  If I wanted to make sure that my family was getting a balanced breakfast diet, I doubt that I would head to the sugary cereal section of the grocery store. 

I have seen this story featured on CNN, NBC and in USA Today.  Gosh, you would think that we all believe everything we read on cereal boxes.  Is it really fair to the American public for the press to assume that we are all too naive, and yes, stupid, to doubt the validity of a banner plastered across a Coco Krispies box?  If I select Coco Krispies for my family, do you think that, maybe, it has to do with the fact that I believe they will actually eat it?  My family is not a big cereal family, but if they were, I would buy what they would eat.   Maybe it is just me, but I find that buying a box of cereal that my family won't eat is a true waste of money. I am quite sure that I am not going to swap out my Special K for Coco Krispies because of their banner claiming a Immune system boost.

I guess it just makes me wonder why so many people are focused on such a silly issue? Is there nothing else for the press, the city of San Francisco and the FDA to worry about?  I think there is plenty wrong with the food system in our country and Coco Krispies is probably at the bottom of my list of concerns.

Do we really need the media to tell us that Coco Krispies is not a cure for the H1N1 flu?  Are Americans that naive? Of course, we just finished a period in time where people believed it when the banks told  them that their homes were like bank accounts....maybe we do need protection from ourselves.

I guess it brings me back to that old adage, 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.' And just in case you believed the labels on your cereal, now we must apply that to our breakfast choices as well!

 If you were not able to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program, you might be hoping to buy a new car as the economy picks up.  If, like me, you were bleeding money last time gas went up to $4.00 a gallon, you might want to consider a more fuel efficient car this time around.

I just saw a really cool website that allows you to put in information about your car, your driving habits and calculate what your carbon footprint is for operating that vehicle. The site is run by the U.S. Department of Energy and also provides tax incentive information for different vehicles.

Like I have said before, whatever your beliefs about Climate Change and Global Warming, money savings interests everyone. Find out how much it will cost you to run your vehicle--or one that you are considering--and see what your carbon footprint will be for these vehicles.

The website: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

Go in to the section called: Find Your Car's Energy Impact Score  and enter in your driving information. You need to know roughly what percentage of your time is spent driving Highway driving and City driving. You can also change around gas prices to help you with planning for increased gas prices.

I found this to helpful and interesting. I hope you do, too!

I remember when we used to be able to celebrate a season.  Afterward, things would be put on clearance for a couple of days, the stores would be cleaned up, and slowly the retailers would begin putting out items for the next season.

Welcome to our new retail reality. I had occasion to be in Target today with roughly 500 of my closest neighbors all trying to finalize their Halloween purchases. It was a little bit of a challenge as all items had been consolidated in to 3 narrow isles--to make way for the Christmas display!

October 31 is not generally a day that I begin contemplating Christmas decorations.  I prefer a day or two--and really like a couple of weeks-- between my holiday planning.

I know the economy has been continuing to provide us with some unhappy surprises of late, and I know retail sales are down, but is this REALLY necessary?

Snow flakes dangle from the ceiling as we enjoy temperatures in the 70s. 

The only positive that I have about this whole situation is that they haven't yet started playing the Holiday music. I expect that will begin tomorrow.

Have a wonderful and SAFE Halloween! 

I awoke to the closing of the garage door. Since I am ALWAYS the first person awake in our family (at least during the week), this was a bad sign.  A quick glance at my alarm clock told me that it was 5:35 am.  Hmmm, why was my daughter leaving so early for school? Another glance at the cable box and I realized that it was really 6:35 am.

Surprise...the alarm clock self-adjusted itself for daylight savings time--and it is not following the new rules set by Congress!!!!!

There is nothing worse than starting a Monday morning an hour behind schedule before you even get out of bed.

My alarm clock is this really great Timex T622. It has a built in CD player and MP3 hook up. It is easy to set the alarm and easy to turn off in the morning (in the dark). There are some quirky things about it, but I have learned to live with them.

But I cannot live with a clock that randomly adjusts itself!! Of course, if it was adjusting itself on the correct daylight savings time schedule, this same problem would be a great feature.  Instead, it is a really cr_ppy way to wake up on a Monday morning.

I hope the rest of the week is better....

And to add insult to injury, this is what I just heard back from Timex:

'We apologize but there is no patch available. Consumers must change clocks.

Due to new enacted government regulations, effective this year you must change the time manually, since the calendar was programmed to change according to the time DST issued by the government, it will not recognize the change after 2006. Change the zone to Hawaiin, the adjustment will only be twice.  

Press & hold the time set button until the time flash, then release it and press the ff >> or << rev buttons. '