Do you know what a gas lantern mantle is?Gas lanterns, or gas lamps, are popular around here in neighborhoods that are made to look old fashioned.They provide the street lights via little pear-shaped cones called mantles. You can see two mantles in the street lamp in the front yard of this house. One mantle was lit, and the other damaged to the point where it would no longer provide light. When the mantles get too old, or brittle, they no longer have a structure and can no longer glow or get bright.Also called incandescent gas mantles, gas mantles, or Welsbach mantles, they are exactly similar to the little camping lanterns I used as a Boy Scout decades ago.  As children we were exposed to highly flammable lantern fluid, and the little incandescent mantles which were radioactive.  IT'S ... 06/14/2017

FAQ:  Where Can I Buy to Guarantee That I Have Equity in Five Years?There are two types of real estate buyers in the world.  Those that are looking for home and those that, while they may be looking for a primary residence, are really focused on the investment aspect of buying that home.  The latter will often ask where they can buy that will guarantee them a good amount of equity in the next five years.It sucks to burst that investment minded buyer's bubble, but that sure thing doesn't exist.  All properties are affected by the ups and down of the local market.  There is no sure thing when buying real estate.  In general, over the long term, properties do appreciate in value.  However, the real estate market crash in the first decade of the 2000's taught us that our appreciating market... 06/12/2017

Faux painting at its best.I don't often see faux painting.  And I certainly don't see it done so well!Faux - adjective - imitation, artificial, made to look similar.This kitchen had some very classy wall tiles, placed subway fashion.And this homeowner had someone come in to hide all the receptacle and switch plates, faux painting style!  And they were gorgeous!First glance you almost didn't see where to plug things in. I don't know what this cost, but it was well, well done!My recommendation:  some things are probably hard to leave in the house when you move, but they have to be left anyway.  It's not like these could be removed and taken somewhere else.  They are made to be placed where they are now.  This faux fits!   06/10/2017

Online Yard Sale Lesson in Communication and NegotiationThe other day I went into the Facebook marketplace with an item that I move would sell quickly. a forty inch Samsung LED TV that was used for one week, while my larger TV was fixed.  Since the end of the last year, I have decided that rather than throw things away or donate them, I will attempt to sell them.  Why not?  It's not like the trash can is ever gonna cough up money for the items I pitch.  And who needs more deductions when they are attempting to keep their adjusted gross income up?  Too many business owners don't get that, go to refi their home and realize, their adjusted gross income isn't what it needs to be.   The little discussed devil of over deducting.Within an hour of listing the TV on Facebook in the marketplace a... 06/09/2017

Monday Morning Consult the ProfessionalMonday morning is not something anyone looks forward to arriving.  Back to work.  Back to school.  Mind you, loving my job as a Bristow Real Estate Agent, I actually look forward to Mondays and work.  However, this Monday morning did bring some dread as I had an appointment with my dentist first thing.  And it wasn't for anything routine.  Nope.  I'd noticed a tooth ache around the area where I had just had a crow done about three months ago.  And the toothache was immediately preceded by my chewing a bit of omelet two weeks ago and having something hard and crunchy in my mouth that disintegrated as soon as my chompers bit down.  Definitely felt like maybe someone got knocked loose.  Maybe a filling or part of the crown.As I explained the problem t... 06/05/2017

FAQ: Can I Wait to Sell My Home Until I've Found One I Want to Buy?Timing the sale of your current home with the purchase of the next one is something that troubles move up and down sizing sellers.  Every so often I meet a seller who qualifies to carry two mortgages, meaning they don't have to sell their existing home in order to buy the next one.  However, more often than not, most folks don't have that ability.  And let's be honest, some of those that do have that ability don't want the risk of having two mortgage payments for more than a month.  So what's a buyer, that wants or needs to sell first, to do?Our comfort zone is to know where we are going before we put our homes on the market.  Unfortunately, in most market conditions, this is not a strategy that works well.   It is actua... 06/03/2017

'Tis the season for carpenter bee infestation.This may be a problem where you live.  It certainly is here.Carpenter bees!  They are what they sound like - they work on wood.They carve holes and tunnels into wood surfaces, lay eggs, and keep going.They seem to pick out a house, or an area of a house, and go at it.If you see stains such as the one in the photo to the right, you have a carpenter bee infestation!Just above that stain is a small, round hole in the wood, about the diameter of your pinky.That is the entrance to the carpenter bee's lair, where eggs are laid, and food is deposited for when the eggs hatch.  When hatched the new carpenter bees go and do that voodoo they do so well.They create more holes, lay more eggs, and, well, the cycle of life continues.If you ever get to wher... 06/03/2017

FAQ:  How Do I Get the Highest Sales Price When I Sell My Home?No matter the condition of the market place in terms of buyer demand, sellers always want to know how they can sell for a record setting sales price.  Rightfully so.  The sale of a home is the probably the single largest financial transaction in which any of us will ever be involved.  There is something sellers must answer in order to figure out how to price their homes, when consulting with an agent.  Do they want the absolute highest price for their homes?  Or do they want the highest price the current condition of their home will bear?  The absolute highest sales price involves putting the best product on on the market.  Fresh, neutral paint.  New carpet.  Updated appliances and fixtures.  The list goes on and on.  Of cou... 06/02/2017

Braemar Townhouse Report:  March-April 2017After days of cloud cover and rain, I can honestly say that I would never last in the Pacific Northwest climate.  Sunshine is essential to my existence.  And I'm so happy to see the sun shining away in Bristow today.  Makes it very tempting to go outside and play hooky, but I'm not doing that.  Nope.  This Braemar Real Estate Agent knows that my fellow Braemar residents expect my market reports before the end of the month.  So here I am, putting out the last of May's reports with the March-April edition of the Braemar Townhouse Report.There were eleven Braemar townhouses that sold between the months of March and April.  The highest sold price was $358,500 and the lowest sold price was $250,000.  Throwing these eleven sales into our rolling six ... 05/31/2017

How do I know the radon mitigation system is working?I get that question all the time.Some houses have a radon mitigation system installed, which consists basically of a pipe stuck through the basement floor, connected to a vent fan which runs all the time, and a tube to blow the air outdoors.It's pretty simple.  The fan is literally drawing air from under the house.  If the air is laden with radon gas the fan will help get it removed and blown out of the house.Radon is a very fragile, negative ion.  It only lasts about 3 1/2 days, and is easily dissipated by opening doors or windows.  But it can accumulate.  Too much build up, it is thought, is not good, and something that some people might want to eliminate from the house.If a house tests high for radon a vent system is installed.  I'... 05/31/2017

Finding a Pet Friendly Real Estate Agent in Bristow, VAWhen you are selling your Bristow, VA home, there are lots of things to consider.  Getting an agent that knows the market is key.  You can't very well sell your home if your agent has no clue how to help you price it.   And hiring an agent that has a mind for marketing is just as important.  The first impression your house makes, after all, is up to them.  But what about hiring an agent that is pet friendly?  Why would that be important?Only a fellow animal lover is going to understand the concerns you have about your pets during showings.  If I were placing my house on the market, my primary concern would be for my cats.  I would want to make absolutely certain that my cats were safe during showings.  Making sure buyer agents knew ... 05/28/2017

Braemar Property Values:  March-April 2017 (Ryan Homes)It is Memorial Day Weekend in Braemar and it makes me proud to see so many homes displaying the American flag.  Some of our neighbors going the extra mile and putting miniature flags around the periemter of their front yard.  What a nice touch, as we approach a day of remembrance for those military members who lost their lives in the line of duty to our country.There isn't much on the radar for this holiday weekend for this Braemar Real Estate Agent, except of course, keeping you informed about our Braemar real estate market.  In this edition of the Braemar Property Value Report we will look at the Ryan Homes sales activity from March to April.There was only one Ryan Home that sold in our sampling period.  It was a Ravenwood model w... 05/27/2017

Little hole.  Big leak.It was a little hole in the TPO covering of a veranda outside a master bedroom.TPO is a Thermoplastic Olefin material, a single-membrane roof/balcony covering which is pretty tough and has a life span of 15 years or so in the sun.This veranda was 12 years old.But no single-membrane anything can withstand a hole.This veranda was about 15'x20' or so.There was room to walk around and to sit.   There was comfortable furniture.It overlooked woods, and a large meadow.  What a great space!And the buyer wants to preserve it, so this hole was an issue!How can we know the little hole was an issue?With a thermal camera!The hole above can be seen in the thermal image as the small bubble near the lower left corner.Moisture can be seen moving from it toward the left.And a puddl... 05/27/2017

Braemar Property Values:  March-April 2017 (NV Homes)The sun is shining brightly in Bristow today, after countless days of cloud cover.  That makes it a great day for me.  Even the sight of a rat snake in the road on Native Rocks Drive didn't get me.  He's needed some sun too.  Unfortunately, I think he also got hit by a car, because he wasn't moving.   Braemar's real estate market certainly is moving.  In this edition of the Braemar Property Value Report we are going to examine the sales activity of NV Homes between the months of March and April.  There were three NV Homes that sold between the beginning of March and end of April.   Their sold prices ranged from $528,400 to $570,000.  And as you can see, $570,000 was a sold price repeated twice.When we take these sales and put them int... 05/26/2017

Was this staining outside indicative of a problem inside?Why yes!Looking up these foundation stains were directly under a third-floor, bathroom window.  The two bathrooms abutted and shared a single drain stack which ended in the basement.The siding was new, but these stains were old and had two colors, indicating they happened more than once.Seeing these stains I suspected a plumbing problem indoors.Looking inside I saw what appeared to be previous leaking, and an unprofessional repair.  So I ran the water in both bathrooms at the same time, and for a while.The sill plate (the board on top of the foundation) was black and rotted.The floor joists nearby were black and rotted where they rested on the sill plate.The rim joist (the board covering the outside opening where the floor joists ... 05/26/2017

Braemar Property Values:  March-April 2017 (Heritage Series)It is another gloomy day in Bristow, perfect conditions to do a Braemar Property Value Report and tell you what's going on in the Braemar real estate market.  This report will look back to sales in the Heritage Series homes in Braemar for the months of March and April.  If you aren't familiar with what type of homes make up the Heritage Series, they are he mid-sized single family homes, built by Brookfield Homes.  They have two car attached garages and include the following floor plans:  Exeter, Yardley, Zachery & Waverly.  There was only one sale of a Heritage home in Braemar between the beginning of March and end of April.  It was a four bedroom Exeter model, with three of those bedrooms being on the upper level.  It listed f... 05/25/2017

Braemar Property Values:  March-April 2017 (Courtyard Series)Most days I wake up and pay no attention the weather report.  As I was getting ready to head to Wegman's to put a few groceries, after placing a TOO LATE sign topper on a listing in Gainesville, I expected it to be sweltering.  I'm not really sure why.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it was in the low seventies on my thermostat.  Of course, with all the cloud cover Bristow has had lately, I'm not sure why I expected sweltering.  Maybe it's because I've had my nose in the MLS looking at Braemar home sales during the months of March and April.  Today I am going to tell you about what's happening with Braemar Courtyard home values.  Courtyard homes are one of three different floor plans that share a private courtyard driveway... 05/25/2017

A sofa does not a guardrail make!While that might come as a shock to some, it should not.This homeowner decided to replace the flooring in the house with new hardwood flooring.While it was a very nice job, the pesky guardrail was removed and not replaced!Instead, and why not, a sofa was purchased to fill the void.As lovely as the new furniture was, a sofa does not replace a guardrail.No really.  I looked and a guardrail is still required by the code.The word sofa appears no where that I could find.But if a guardrail is installed, won't the new sofa stick out further into the room?  Won't that make it harder to get from the front door into the house?Yes, yes it will.My recommendation:  people come up with interesting ideas of how to do this or that.  While it might seem okay at the time,... 05/25/2017

Roof truss cables must be removed.Some builders remove them and some don't.But leaving roof truss cables exposed just provides another unwanted penetration through the roof, with shingles that are never going to glue down flat. Shingles that are not flat are wind vulnerable. And leak vulnerable.Any roof can leak at any time depending on the force and direction of rain.  Winds can blow hard, and the rain will go where it is blown.If there is a penetration through any roof with points of vulnerability - be it a skylight, plumbing penetration tube, ridge vent, or even loose shingles - there is the potential for leaking, and damage.This roof had two cables like the one in the photo.  This is a new construction and these cables were seen during a pre-drywall inspection.  The supervisor said ... 05/23/2017

Braemar Property Values:  March-April 2017 (Carriage Series)Another overcast weekend day is making for the perfect opportunity for this Braemar Real Estate Agent to update you on Braemar home values.  This particular report focuses on sales activity for Braemar Carriage homes in March and April.   Braemar Carriage homes are characterized by the lack of an attached garage. When these homes have a garage, it is detached and sits in back of the home.  The floor plans, from smallest to largest, are: Maplewood,  Norwood,  Oakdale and  Parkdale.There were six sales of Braemar Carriage homes between the beginning of March and end of April.  Two of the six sales were four bedroom homes, four of them were three bedroom homes.  The final sold prices ranged from $325,000 to $430,000.  It is a plea... 05/21/2017