Northern Virginia Real Estate Podcast with AJ Team Realty

Why did I choose real estate? Let me share the story of how I got into real estate. To explain what makes the AJ Team who we are, I’ll share my own story of how and why I got into real estate. We’ll start with my graduation from George Mason University in 1999. My degree was in English literature, but my first job out of college was at a used car dealership in Fairfax. My dad was happy I landed a sales job. My mom was less so considering I just completed an English literature degree and she assumed my career path would start elsewhere, but God has a way of positioning us in places we need to be. Two years later, my dad suggested it was time for me to buy a house. You see, his graduation present to me was $5,000 to put toward buying my first house. At the time, I was doing well at the dealership, and because I worked a lot and didn’t have time to spend a lot, I had enough money saved up. During my first weekend checking out open houses, though, no one would talk to me. This was the early 2000s, and I had Allen Iverson cornrows and was wearing baggy sweatpants because it was my day off. I didn’t look like a typical buyer, and I wasn’t treated like a typical buyer. Next week I told my dad what happened and said it was a sign that I should stay where I was at. "At this point, it feels more like family." He disagreed, and when the next weekend came around, he went with me to check out open houses. As you can imagine, most of the agents talked to him instead of me. At the last house we visited, though, the listing agent (who looked like my aunt) we talked to said I reminded her of her son, and that she’d love to help me buy my first house. However, when I showed up at her office on my next day off, she stood me up. I called my dad and tried telling him again that it was a sign not to buy. The next day at work, the first person who walked into our lot was a young man named Lydio. He ended up deciding to buy a Mazda 626, and when I saw his loan application, I noticed that he wrote “real estate agent” as his job. That’s when I told Lydio I would buy a house with him, and three months later, I did. In those three months, I also obtained my real estate license. I had a bunch of friends graduating college at the time, and I didn’t want them to go through what I went through. I wanted them to be treated right—to have a Realtor that they could grow with, helped them understand the market, and do right by them regardless of how they looked. 18 years later, I’ve sold over 1,200 homes, and I’ve had the pleasure of helping so many people buy their first home. At this point, it feels more like family. As always, if you have any real estate needs I can take care of, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

How do you sell your home and buy a new one at the same time? Find out today. When it comes to selling your current home and buying a new one at the same time, there are three key points to think about: planning, committing, and executing.Plan. Your plan should start at least four to six months in advance. Starting the process early will save you a lot of stress. Also, communication is crucial during the process. We like to coordinate with our clients months in advance so that we can make sure that they’re on the right path and that we have a solid game plan. Planning ahead will give you plenty of time to prepare your home for the market, as well; you never know when the perfect home is going to come on the market. Be ready at all times.Commit. Juggling both transactions on top of everything else in your life is stressful, so you need to commit. The good news is that we help two or three families buy and sell at the same time each month, so you can lean on us for help. Part of committing to the process is being educated about the process to come. When clients we work with don’t expect what’s coming, it hits them by surprise and they get frustrated. “      Throughout the process, we may tell you some things you may not want to hear, but trust the process and remember that we only have your best interests at heart.” Execute. Make sure that you understand the contract. For our part, we sit down with our clients to explain the contingencies of the contract and write out the full plan.  Throughout the process, we may tell you some things you may not want to hear, but trust the process and remember that we only have your best interests at heart. Additionally, think about why you’re moving—when I last moved, it was because we had a baby on the way and we needed more space; that made all the stress we went through worth it.If you’re planning to sell and buy a home, reach out to us as soon as possible so that we can start forming a game plan. For any questions you have, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send an email. Hope to hear from you soon!

Are you considering refinancing your mortgage? Here are a few things you’ll need to take into account first. We’ve been getting a bunch of questions recently about refinancing and whether it’s a smart move in our current market. Here are a few things you should think about if you’re experiencing the same dilemma.For starters, if you’re going to consolidate some type of high-interest debt, refinancing makes a lot of sense because you can lock that debt into a much lower interest rate. That can save you a ton of money. If you are currently in an adjustable-rate mortgage and it’s about to expire over the next year or two, it might be a good idea to refinance to a fixed rate before that adjustable rate skyrockets.Another thing you’ll need to think about is the terms of your loan. Let’s say that you’ve been paying your mortgage down for the next seven years and you go to refinance. Typically, if you go to refinance for another 30 years, you’re basically extending the life that you’re paying for your loan by another seven years. For some people, that is advantageous and for others it’s not. You have to think about where you are in your life.“   Now is a great time to refinance, pull out your equity, and make another investment.”For example, we had a client who needed more cash flow from their property because they had a child going to college. They decided to extend their mortgage out so they could keep more of their cash and use those funds for college. Don’t just think about terms on one side. Think about them in the totality of where your life is and where you should have your cash.If you’re a real estate investor, right now is a great time for you to take out a home equity line of credit, refinance, and pull out money to buy another investment property. These are just a few of the things you’ll need to think about when refinancing. If you have any questions for me about the process or what you should do in your situation, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. If you have a rate over 4.5%, we should be talking. I hope to hear from you soon.

Beware these three deal killers both before and during the home selling process. Recently, I spoke with someone from one of our local title companies. During our conversation, he said something that was pretty eye-opening: 15% to 18% of home sales collapse after going under contract. To put that into perspective, that means that out of 100 deals, somewhere between 15 and 18 of them will fall apart. To prevent your deal from suffering the same fate, today I’ll list three “deal-killers” that you should avoid. The first deal-killer on the list is not working with an experienced agent. Certain factors make our Lake Ridge market challenging and unique, and agents who are still new to the business suffer from inexperience that makes it difficult for them to successfully navigate through challenges that arise. It’s best to work with an agent or team that has years of experience and plenty of sales volume under their belts like the Allen Johnson Team. “  15% to 18% of home sales collapse after going under contract.” Other sellers make mistakes related to timing, preparing, pricing, and relationships.  •Timing. Presenting news to your buyer and their agent and negotiating in a timely way are essential to the success of your sale.   • Prep. Make sure you’re crossing your t’s and dotting your i’s ahead of each stage in the selling process. That means making preparations before you list your home, making sure inspections are complete, and making sure you reach the settlement table. • Pricing. Your pricing strategy can either make or break your sale. If you price correctly from the start, challenges that may arise will be much easier to address.  • Relationships. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been able to salvage a deal based on a strong relationship we had with the agent on the other side. When agents collaborate well together, deals get done. It’s that simple. The last deal killer is sort of a combination of the first two. To illustrate my point, let me share a quick story. We listed a home in Westridge that contained poly pipes, which is normal for certain homes in this area. The buyer’s agent was actually from Alexandria and was totally unfamiliar with poly pipes. As a result, they wrongly informed the buyer that replacing the pipes would cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000. In reality, we got them replaced for closer to $5,000, which made all the difference in keeping the deal alive. If you have any questions or you’re thinking about selling your Lake Ridge home, please give us a call. We’d love to sit down and speak with you!

Today I wanted to check in and let you all know what’s been going on lately with our team. The AJ Team has been working really hard lately, so today I’ll update you on what we’ve been doing.Every morning at 8 a.m., our team participates in a devotional where we pray over our past and current clients, our community, other agents, as well as anyone else who might benefit from being held up in prayer. We often have clients reach out to us to pray for them, and we just wanted to let you all know that you don’t have to be afraid to do the same. Sometimes handling life on your own can be hard; let the prayer warriors in your life help you.Also, for the past three years, we’ve helped to fund the mentoring program at our local Title 1 school, and we’re going to continue to grow. Lately, we’ve been seeking out additional mentors to add to the program, so if you know of anyone interested in donating to the cause or being a once-a-week tutor, mentor, or life-skills coach, reach out to us. Children will one day become great resources, so we appreciate any and all of your contributions.“We’re excited to announce that the AJ Team won The Prince William County Best of Residential Agents Award.”Next, we’re excited to announce that the AJ Team won The Prince William County Best of Residential Agents Award. We thank all of you who have supported us and helped us grow. Even though we’re not perfect, we aim only to improve every day.Finally, we’ve sold 106 homes to date, and our goal is to get to 200 homes sold. If you know of anyone who is in need of real estate services, whether they’re buying or selling, we’d love to talk to them. For any other questions or comments you may have, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We hope to see you soon!

According to the latest numbers, the market is pulling back on sellers, and now is a great time to be a buyer. What’s the latest news from our Northern Virginia market? Let’s take a look at some key statistics from July to find out. July is typically a very busy month in our market, and we expect about 40% of all listed homes to sell during summer. In Prince William County, though, the number of home sales didn’t increase at all compared to last year. However, this is good news considering this number decreased the previous month compared to 2018. The average sold price in Prince William County, meanwhile, dropped almost 2% month over month, and the average days on market increased 5.6% during that same time.In Fairfax County, the number of closed sales dropped 4.8% month over month, the average sold price dropped 1.1%, and the average days on market rose 6.5%. You usually don’t see the average days on market increase during this time, so sellers need to realize right about now that the market is pulling back. Another tell-tale sign of this is the numbers from Alexandria City. A couple of months back, a lot of people predicted our market would go crazy because of Amazon moving their second headquarters here, but I told people that would only happen in a small area for a short time. Sure enough, closed sales in Alexandria City are down 17% year over year, the average sold price is down 3.4% month over month, and the average days on market is up 8.7% compared to June.“If you’re a buyer, these numbers mean now is go time.”In Arlington County, closed sales dropped 9.5% year over year, and the average sold price dropped 7.2% month over month. The good news here, though, is that the average days on market dropped 16.7% compared to the previous month.Stafford County is an intriguing case in terms of home values: Month over month, closed sales rose 11.2%, the average sold price rose 0.4%, and the average days on market dropped 3.7%.Lastly, in Loudoun County, it’s the same story as most of the other counties—closed sales are down 1.2%, the average sold price is down 1.4%, and the average days on market is up 22.6% month over month. If you’re a buyer, these numbers mean now is go time, especially considering that interest rates are in the 3% range for owner-occupied properties and in 4% range for investment properties. If you’re a seller, since we already know the market is pulling pack, you need to prep your home accordingly and price it correctly from the first day you list it. You also need to make sure you hire the right agent—roughly 85% of all agents in our market have never sold a home in a “down” market. If you have any more questions about our market or you’re ready to buy or sell now, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. These are waters we’ve navigated before, and we’d love to help you do so too. Remember: You have the dream, we have the address.