Real Estate in Oakton and Vienna

Two Truths and a Lie

Mark Voorheis (Weichert Realtors) — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 20:45:46 -0600

As promised, here are the answers to my "two truths and a lie" quiz in my previous post.

For starters - two truths...

I have been bitten by a zebra - this was a very bizarre experience, and when I explain it to people everytime it sounds a little more unbelievable. I was about 11 or 12 years old I think, and I was visiting my grandparents in Michigan. One day while I was there they had planned a drive to a nearby "zoo." I use the quotes to suggest the type of zoo we were attending. A drive-thru zoo. The kind of zoo that nowadays would make PETA members cringe. We got there, and checked in, and were given our "allotment" of "animal feed" (read - bag of pretzel rods). Then we started our circuit. As we drove by the zebra "grotto" one of the locals ambled up to the car obviously knowing that pretzel rods were inside. I held one out and he began enjoying the salty snack, although it was a bit softer than usual...yes, he kept chewing on down and got a hold of my index finger. I was able to pull it out and we drove away. I don't think I told my grandparents what happened, I didn't want to leave.
I was once a beekeeper - after graduating from college, I spent a summer in South Dakota at Blue Cloud Abbey in their associates program considering a life in the priesthood. While I was there I had a number of jobs including carpenter, musician, barber, cleaning crew, and, yes, beekeeper.

So obviously, my daughter was not born on February 29th. She was born on February 20th 4 years ago, and I was hoping she would be born on the 29th. I thought it would be "cool." My wife did not. In addition the fact that she thought it would be sad that our child wouldn't have a birthday every year, she also explained that she was the one carrying the baby inside her and that another 9 days was not "cool" at all.

So that's it in a nutshell. Feel free to share your own!

-Mark

Meme'd on Christmas Eve

Mark Voorheis (Weichert Realtors) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:59:17 -0600

Thanks Heather!

A wonderful surprise, but with all the festivities this week, I haven't had time to live up to my end of the bargain. But now, here goes...

I'll start with family, since I always try to make that my priority. I have a wonderful wife, and four great kids, ages 5, 3, and 1 (twins...whew!).

I am very local. I grew up in Vienna, and was one of a handful of kids in my graduating class (at Madison High School) who had gone straight through K-12 without moving and transferring schools. In a transient area like Fairfax County that was pretty rare.

I also stayed in Virginia for college and went to James Madison Univ. (Go Dukes!)

When I graduated my first years in the business world were spent in the IT field. I started several large Tech

Support groups for a number of well known companies, including Global One, MicroStrategy, and CyberTrust (now Verizon Business).

My wife, Erin, and I were married in 2000 at St. Mark's in Vienna. She used to work at EDS until we had kids, and
now she is a full time Mom (4 kids, maybe I should say double-time mom) as well as a Mary Kay beauty consultant. She has been selling Mary Kay for about 2 years, and despite her crazy life at home with the kids, she is consistently in the top of her directorate. If your in need of Mary Kay products, she's definitely the one to call!

I love playing guitar. I started playing in college, and have been playing now for 15 years (well, it sounds like a long time when I say it that way). If you are ever in Ashburn, look up St. Teresa's LifeTeen mass. I try to play there once a month. It's tough to get out to play much more than that, but I hope to start playing at my own home parish (St. John the Apostle in Leesburg) in the next few years.

I also am a huge hockey fan. I started playing about 10 years ago through Hockey North America. They had a program called "Beginner Hockey for Adults" and I went through that. I had played winger mostly, but decided about two years ago to try goalie. I bought all the equipment and loved it until halfway through my second season between the pipes I strained my MCL while dropping into a butterfly. I knew I would never be able to play goalie again and sold the gear. Now I'm looking to go back to skating out. If you don't like hockey, try going to see a game live. It is so much better than on TV, and is really a great sport. I also encourage you to watch a college or International game, they don't have all the fights which can actually (in my opinion) ruin the grace and speed of the game.

I wanted to end by adding a little something different to the Meme idea. The old two truths and a lie game. Two of the following three bizarre statements are true, one is made up. I'll reveal which one and explain the other two in a follow up post in a week or so, but feel free to guess.

I was once bitten by a zebra
My 3 year old was born on February 29th (leap year 2004)
I used to be a beekeeper.

Finally, I get to pass it on. Here are three people I would like to read more about...

John MacArthur -- John was the first person to comment on my first blog post a few months ago. As a newbie, it was great to start seeing feeback.
Joanne Knauff -- Joanne sells real estate in Harrisonburg, as a JMU alumni I enjoy reading her posts about life in the 'Burg
Bobbie and Ray Leahey -- My broker and her husband are a great team and are just getting started on ActiveRain after I introduced it at a recent sales meeting.

Thanks everyone, and have a great 2008!

To the agent who came to my Open House on Sunday...

Mark Voorheis (Weichert Realtors) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:37:59 -0600

Thank you for stopping by, really, it was great to have you see my client's home. It is great to get people to and see my listing, provide feedback, and hopefully come back with buyers.

That being said, I thought I would take just a moment to list some of the priceless ways your attendance was crucial to my success:

Thanks for not leaving a card. MY GOODNESS! Aren't those tedious? They just stack up there on the counter next to all my brochures and let me know who has been through the house, thus forcing me to follow up with them later when I'm trying to figure out how the house looks, is priced, etc.
Thanks for asking "Who chose the price?" Boy, let's not beat around the bush, tell me what you think.
When discussing the price, thanks for not noting anything positive about the home. "Well nothing's been updated!" Wow, what a relief to not have to listen to all of the blather about what might make the home attractive to a prospective buyer. Possibly even yours. Forget about the new carpet. Forget about the new windows. Forget about the new paint. As long as the kitchen doesn't have brand new granite, and there isn't a massive soaking tub, then I think we can safely say that the house has "no updates." I'm glad we've discarded the old ways of mentioning one positive for every negative...that was always so time consuming.
Thanks for doing all this at 4:00 when I am reviewing how things went with my client WHO WAS STANDING RIGHT THERE!

Have we forgotten that we are all in this together? Have we forgotten how to give constructive feedback? You had no idea who was standing there with me as you went on and on about pricing. It is bad enough that it was the owner, what if it had been a potential buyer?

Are you sure you are in Sales? Customer Service?

Oh, and by the way, my client (and your neighbor) is not likely to recommend your services to anyone he talks to in the near future.

Sorry for venting to my fellow 'Rainer, but can we agree that this is not the way to act when visiting somebody else's home?

Great Home Inside the Beltway -- Springfield, VA -- Open Sunday 11/2/07

Mark Voorheis (Weichert Realtors) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:53:19 -0500

Mark Voorheis | Weichert Realtors | 703-938-2200

7056 Leebrad ST, Springfield, VA

Great Home Inside the Beltway

3 Bdrm Townhouse

offered at $422,000

Year Built	1979
Sq Footage	1,400
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2 full, 2 partial
Floors	Unspecified
Parking	1 Uncovered spaces
Lot Size	1,500 sqft
HOA/Maint	$50 per month

DESCRIPTION

Spacious and sparkling brick townhouse inside beltway and only 12 miles to DC with hardwoods on main and upper level, walk out lower level with brick patio and new fence. Lower level family room, den and laundry room. A must to put on your list.

see additional photos below

PROPERTY FEATURES

Central A/C	Central heat	Hardwood floor
Tile floor	Living room	Dining room
Dishwasher	Refrigerator	Stove/Oven
Basement	Washer	Dryer
Laundry area - inside	Balcony, Deck, or Patio

COMMUNITY FEATURES

Guest parking

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

Seller contact info:

Mark Voorheis

Weichert Realtors

703-938-2200

For sale by agent/broker

Equal Opportunity Housing

Posted: Nov 1, 2007, 7:46pm PDT

The Financial Advantages of Walking

Mark Voorheis (Weichert Realtors) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:55:06 -0500

Ok, show of hands, how many of you out there are farming?

Ok, now those of you who have your hands raised, how many of you have walked your farm in the last six months?

Not as many right. I was guilty of this injustice myself until just this weekend, and I had to get on AR to crow about how important it is, and how rewarding it can be, to get into the neighborhood and show your face, shake hands, and just talk to neighbors about what is going on.

I ordered 500 trick-or-treat bags with my name and contact information imprinted on the back, and walked my farm handing them out, or just hanging them on doorknobs. Here is a summary of what I learned:

The tennis courts look much better since they were re-surfaced this summer
The new paved retaining walls look great compared to the old railroad ties
I love the waist-high bollard lights that were put in some of the dark corners of the neighborhood

But that's not all, two of the neighbors I talked to are potential serious leads. One of them has already seen a few condo's she might like to buy as rental properties, and another is thinking about retiring and selling his home in a year or two.

While it is true that I might have found out about these with just regular follow-up calls to the neighbors, walking around handing out goodie bags is a much less intimidating way (in my opinion) to get in front of somebody.

Good luck!

HOA Resale Document Fees

Mark Voorheis (Weichert Realtors) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:47:57 -0500

I'm interested to hear about everyones experience with HOA document fees.

Here in Virginia, the cap on resale document fees was increased and also an annual percentage increase is now allowed. I moved recently, and was on the board in my old neighborhood, but am not anymore, so I'm curious as to how these fees are making their way back to the association, if they are.

In my old neighborhood, we started using a new full service management company. Shortly after I moved, I listed a neighbors house in my old neighborhood, and ordered the documents. They were charged $245 for the resale packet, and that was if we took an electronic version of the documents emailed to us, or downloadable. If we wanted hard copies printed and/or shipped, there was an additional charge of $50 or more (depending on shipping speed, etc.).

I also understand from a friend who is a settlement attorney, that these fees are going up everywhere, and they are also having to pay fees to confirm the status of the account.

So here are my questions for my fellow 'Rainers...

1 - What sort of outrageous fees are you seeing?

2 - Anybody on their HOA board have an idea if your association is getting all of this money, or is the management company keeping a slice?

3 - Are the management companies getting the boards approval before increasing the fees?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Mark

Weichert Realtors

Oakton Library Grand Opening this Saturday, 9/29/07

Mark Voorheis (Weichert Realtors) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 08:28:05 -0500

Residents in Oakton, VA are preparing to celebrate a major victory against the hyper-growth that filled the area for the last decade or so. This Saturday, September 29, the new Oakton Library is celebrating its grand opening.

The land where the library is situated, just off Rt. 123 and Hunter Mill Rd., was set aside as builders were tripping over themselves to put more and more high density residential neighborhoods.

Now don't misunderstand me. I like new homes and I am, after all, a Realtor, so new homes generally signal a growing industry, and that is positive on the surface. Still, in many areas I worry that we destroy what might be special about a community or a location by not adding anything to actually make that area desirable. More homes on that land would certainly have sold, and probably for a handsome price, but adding the library coupled with the renovation of the Oakton shopping center just across the street, will benefit Oakton in the long run because it will be a more desirable place to live. All of our homes will be worth more instead of just having more of them and that, I think, is what the mantra of "Location, Location, Location," is all about.

For those of you interested in more information about the library, Fairfax County has great details about the Grand Opening and the Library itself on their website.

Mark
Weichert Realtors

It's Not Rocket Surgery, it's just a Blog...

Mark Voorheis (Weichert Realtors) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:56:59 -0500

Hello out there to all of my fellow 'Rainers. I just signed up at the advice of a colleague, and so far I really like the great information that is available. I can't wait to read more and get ideas for my business, or just a wider breadth of opinions than what I read in the daily paper.

So I sat here, saying to myself "I don't want to do any blog posts yet, because I need to update my profile, write a better bio, get my website up to date, etc., etc., etc."

It is the oldest trap in the world I suppose, and one that I fall into all too often. I tell myself, Just wait until this or that, once I get there then I'll really be ready to roll. By waiting until everything lines up I fool myself into doing nothing.

So here it is, my first blog post. It doesn't say much, but it's just a blog post, right. No big deal. Get the first one out of the way. It's like the first pancake, right, it's always a throw away, but it gets you ready to start cookin'.

Mark

Weichert Realtors