US Cities With Largest Rent Hikes - 03/31/11 06:34 PM
While home sales have dropped, the rental market is doing pretty well.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the average apartment vacancy rate is 6.6% nationwide, and that is down from 8.0% last year. Also, the rate for occupied apartments went up during the forth quarter by  more than any comparable time during the previous 10 years.
One of the impacts is this:  rents are up 2.3%.
Here is the list from the study of rent increases published on MSNBC 1.  Greenville, SC (+11.2%; $669 average monthly rent) 2.  Chattanooga, TN (+10.4%; $726 average monthly rent) 3.  Savannah, GA (+8.4%; $866 … (3 comments)

Buying your first home in Northern Virginia? This video is for you! - 03/31/11 04:02 PM
If you are a home buyer in Northern Virginia, we want to invite you to invest a little time to watch our free home buyers video.
If  you have not gone through the process of buying a home before, or if it has been a while, a little education will go a long way toward helping you avoid serious mistakes. And there are mistakes you can easily make.  But many are preventable.
We took the Home Buyers Workshop that we have delivered live many times, and put the key points in this video presentation.  We take you through the major phases … (0 comments)

Military Pesonnel: The $8,000 tax credit is still an option - 03/16/11 03:45 PM
Just in case you were not aware, for certain members of the military, and for certain federal employees, there's just about 6 weeks left to take advantage of the buyer tax credit.  (A little less time than the graphic indicates).

Eligible persons include members of the uniformed services, members of the Foreign Service, and intelligence community employees who served at least 90 days of qualified, extended duty service outside of the United States between January 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010.
Also, the spouses of anyone fitting the above categories are eligible.
The tax credit ranges up to $8,000 for … (2 comments)

Before You Remodel In Preparation To Sell: Know What To Avoid - 03/01/11 11:40 AM
There is a lot of home remodeling going on in Northern Virginia and elsewhere.
By some estimates there may be over $125 billion spent this quarter in home remod projects.  Yes, that is an incredible number.
You want to be real careful if you are doing this to get your home ready to sell.
Not all renovations are created equal.  Some may not be "worth it", according to Remodeling Magazine's 2011 Cost vs Value report.
The real kicker is that some projects should never be started -- they may cause your home to be difficult or impossible to sell.
One quick … (3 comments)