Clarendon

Seller #1

Sally was your typical single professional who immediately thrived in the urban village of Clarendon upon arrival. She was just 30 when she purchased her condo in Colonial Village within walking distance of the Clarendon metro on the orange line metro. Oh, and of course, like so many of the young professionals in the area, she was a “consultant”. :)

After almost 3 years of enjoying restaurants like Whitlow’s, Clarendon Grill and Lazy Sundays, Sally began to feel cramped in her 580 square feet and was tired of having to go outside of her building to get to the community washing machine room. She knew her condo had appreciated but never really paid too much attention real estate since her purchase. Not knowing where to start, she checked out the real estate services section of craigslistdc--a community website for anything and everything. There she clicked to the link of TheOrangeLine.net and liked the idea of learning about the market on her own since she wasn’t sure yet what she wanted to do.

In June 2005, Sally filled out the form for receiving updates on real estate listings by email for Clarendon real estate and Rosslyn real estate. She requested her updates be weekly on Fridays so she’d have the latest listings for open houses on Fridays. Her home’s value? Sally had no idea. She filled out the form for sellers on receiving a home evaluation by email. She gave specs on her home. Sally would tell you today she was a bit leery about the whole process, but she was so busy with her 55 hours+ of work each week she figured this could solve her problem.

Later that evening her home evaluation arrived (sample home evaluation) and she was pleasantly surprised to find her home had appreciated 80%! In her spam folder her listing updates had arrived for condos with washers/dryers that offered more square footage in Clarendon area. She approved the sender so updates would arrive in the inbox in the future. Most of the listings included photos, addresses, remarks, square footage, etc. Some in particular caught her eye so she clicked on the “get more details” button for several listings and went to bed. In the morning she received the full listings on her homes of interest and 3 of the 4 offered virtual tours online for viewing photos of the condos’ interiors.

Each week Sally would receive her update at lunchtime and and request more information on several listings; she was starting to get a good idea of the condos in which she was most interested. On Sundays she occasionally would attend open houses that were convenient. Her goal was to get this whole “task” of selling and buyer her home done by the end of the year. Each month Sally received an update of all the condos selling in Colonial Village. It was October and she had received all this service while only having spoken to myself once. Sally wrote me to get some referrals on reliable and competitive lenders to find out where she really stood. By the end of October I listed her home at a discount since she was also using me to buy her new condo. By the time we met in person we felt like we’d been working closely together as a team for a long time even though we’d only spoken on the phone twice in 5 months. We purchased her new condo. She got a second loan of 15% to help with the down payment since her condo had not yet sold in the slower market that occurs each November-January. However when her home sold for today’s market value after 6 weeks (about 2% less than in the Spring) she immediately paid off her 15% loan that she had used in financing her purchase. This option was better than the higher interest rate that would have come with a bridge loan (helps you buy when your home hasn’t sold yet). She was very appreciate of the discount in selling her home for 4.95% for the 2 sided transaction.

Sally and I only went out twice to look at homes. And due to the time of the year we only had to write one contract with no competing offers. I’m looking forward to the housewarming party. She has promised me her homemade lasagna. :) And she already knows her next move up home if she is in the area will be on the orange line metro in Lyon Village. And it turns out some of her best friends from college just moved into Rosslyn.

RE/MAX Allegiance--3315 Lee Highway--Arlington, VA 22207