Realty Insider Blog

Woodburn Village

So far this year, 9 homes have sold. Of those, two were foreclosures and three were shortsales. The highest priced sale was a 3br at $195,000. Two bedrooms sold in the $137,000-$160,000 range.

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Back in the rolling 2005-2006 years credit was plentiful and 100% and even 110% financing was available to anyone with a pulse. After the market peaked sometimes in 2006, prices rapidly started declining with foreclosures soaring in the following years.

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The tax value is one of the factors used when determining your property taxes. The other part of the equation is the tax rate. With increasing tax assessments, the tax rate was reduced from $1.23 in 2002 to just 89 cents in 2006 in Fairfax County. With falling home values, the tax rate has climbed steadily ever since.

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While it may seem like something from the 40’s and their “Victory Gardens”, the idea of community gardening is still going strong in Fairfax County. There are more than 650 garden plots available in nine different locations. Plots are typically 30'x20' and rents for $60/year. The garden plots are very desirable and there are wait lists for most, if not all, locations. 

The area between the Dunn Loring/Merrifield metro and down to Rt 50 is seeing a lot of change  these days. Apart from the development around the metro station itself, the area off Rt 29 and Gallows is unrecognizable. Gone are the gas stations, the repair shop with the gnomes, Taco Bell and the car towing company. While I do miss the Taco Bell at times, some may say that even the current flat-scape is better than what was before...

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Sales in Pimmit Hills have kept up pretty well in the first months of 2011. A total of ten homes have sold up until today, ranging in price from $280,000 to $480,000.  Nine out of the ten homes sold were under $400,000, so it is the lower end that is selling.

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The Washington D.C. metro area has done extremely well compared to the rest of the country. Still, foreclosures and short sales have had a dramatic effect on the real estate values also here. The effect is often hyper-local with the number of foreclosures varying greatly from one county, city and community to another.

In Tysons Corner the effect has not been as dramatic as in for example Herndon, Chantilly or Manassas. To give you a general idea of the foreclosure activity in the Tysons Corner area I put together a quick comparison of the number of distressed sales in 5 communities.

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According to the Fairfax County Transit Development Plan, the Tysons Corner West*Park Transit Station will cease operation when the Silver Line starts operating. The transit station is located across from the Fountains at McLean at the corner of Jones Branch Drive and Spring Hill Road.

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Besides the obvious advantage of being able to build your dream home, how much would it cost?

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If you are planning to buy or renovate a home, RPA may be something that will impact you and the value of your home more than you expect.  A Resource Protection Area (RPA) is created to limit development around water bodies with perennial flows. The goal is to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries through limited development.

The Chesapeake Bay Act has been around for a while and most purchasers do know that development potential is limited around streams, lakes and rivers in Fairfax County. However, in 2003, the regulations were amended and further restrictions were put in place. The definition of what was covered under the act was changed from “tributary streams” to ”water bodies with perennial flow”. The result was that a large number of new areas and homes were affected.

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