Your one stop shop for community events, small business highlights, and realty tips and tricks
This Weekend in Northern Virginia
Not sure what to do this weekend? Look no further!
Once again, Cox Farms is hosting its annual Fall Festival and bringing with it the usual music, games, and rides that have made it the beloved event that Northern Virginia has looked forward to every year.
They have a variety of fall themed attractions this year, such as the “Cornundrum”, a giant corn maze going through the farm and even a hayride. For my fellow cider lovers, the festival will also host local tastings from Marker Miller Orchards and Rinker Orchards.
Outside of the usual fall themed activities, this year's festival will also have a variety of slides and rides for the kids. Ranging from the Castle Slide to even the Dino Slide, there’s no shortage of fun for the kids. They’ll also have swing courses and an Imaginature Trail taking you through the wooded area near the farm. Interested in something that involves more sitting? Feel free to grab a snack and stop by their live musical events that go on every weekend.
Having gone last year, my favorite part may have been Goat Village, a petting zoo solely for goats. The children (and myself) loved the opportunity of being able to get up close and feed the animals. Best part? They even had newborn goats! For those of us who live so close to D.C., it’s rare to have the chance to interact with animals like this.
But what if you prefer the spookier parts of autumn, like Halloween?
Then stop by the Fields of Fear!
At night, the festival venue converts into a 20 acre haunted house. For those afraid of clowns, they’re putting on the Dark Side Hayride that takes you through an abandoned circus from the early 1900’s. Afraid of the dark? Stop by The Forest: Back 40 where you’ll go through backwoods and encounter everything from chainsaws to spiders. And for the 10th year in a row, Cox Farms is bringing back Cornightmare, a maze where anyone can pop out at any point.
The Fall Festival is open Friday through Monday every week until November 7th. Hours of the festival are from 10am-6pm from now through October and from 10am-5pm in November.
The Fields of Fear are every Friday and Saturday night from 7:30-11pm until November 6th. They’ll also be hosting the event on two Sunday nights (October 10th and October 31st) for those who can’t make the Friday and Saturday night times.
How do I go?
Home Buyer's Tips and Tricks
Matthew, a Buyer's Agent for The Andors Group, offers his best homebuying tips and tricks
Arguably the most common fear I encounter when working with buyers is the anxiety of "How do I make sure I'm not overpaying for a home?" Coincidentally, the second most common one is the fear of "How do I make sure I don't miss out on the home I want?"
It's tough, isn't it? Finding the balance between trying to get your dream home while also making sure you aren't overpaying? Luckily, you have a tool that can help make sure : An Escalation Addendum.
An Escalation Addendum is a silent auction for a home you want to buy. You send in an offer but you let the seller know that you are willing to bid up to a certain point if someone else matches or exceeds your offer. The best part? You don't have to haggle back and forth with the seller. All that happens is if they get an offer that is higher than your first offer, you will automatically match it up to the price that you sent. This makes sure that you don't miss out on a home that you want while also preventing you from overpaying.
For example, let's say you've found your dream home. It has everything you need: the kitchen you always wanted, a large living space, and is priced right in the sweet spot of what you can afford. So what do you offer? It's listed at 900k, but you would pay more than that if it means you could have this house and be done with the home search. That said, what if you offer 950k and no one else thinks it's worth 900k and you could have saved 50k by just making a lower offer?
If I was your realtor, I would highly recommend utilizing an Escalation Addendum. You could make an offer at list price for 900k, and then write into the contract that if an offer comes in higher than yours, that you'd be willing to go up to 950k to beat it. This ensures that you won't drastically outbid your competition while also preventing someone from coming out of nowhere and blowing you away with their offer.
This is commonly followed up by, "Well how much over asking price should I go?" To which I say: that's up to you! Only you know how much you can afford and what gives you the most value for your money. I also try to tell people to escalate to the amount to where you wouldn't regret losing the home, whatever amount that may be. Maybe you like the home a lot, but you don't love it and you decide that your offer could escalate just 10k over asking. That said, maybe you've found your forever home and there's no other place that would make you as happy. In that case, you could escalate your offer 100k over asking and sleep soundly knowing that if no one offers list price that you won't be spending 100k for no reason.
The important thing is knowing that you're not bidding against yourself. With an Escalation Addendum, you'll never run into the scenario of making an offer over list price only to realize that you're the only one that wanted the home. It can be tough to price a property, every house is unique and each week different buyers with different needs are making offers, but with an escalation addendum you can rest assured that you won't go bankrupt finding your dream home.
Carol Kou: Pragmatic Designs
Wondering how to best stage your home to sell? Professional interior designer Carol Kou offers her best tips and tricks to make your home stand out.
This week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Carol Kou of Pragmatic Staging. In our interview, she was kind enough to share some of her key “rules of thumb” that she shares with all her clients to make sure they earn the most amount of money possible when selling their home.
Here are the biggest takeaways I had from speaking with her:
“Less is more”
When staging to sell, Carol makes it a point to be minimalist with her design choices. Her reasoning? It allows your home to feel larger than if it were filled to the brim with furniture. Sure, you may need that extra seating for your friends and family when they stop by, but leaving it when buyers swing by is a hindrance to getting offers.
First impressions are everything, and it’s important that when guests come into your home they leave thinking your home is spacious and open rather than cramped or tight.
“A fresh coat of paint is always extremely helpful”
In today’s HGTV world, it’s crucial to make sure your home looks as new as possible. Buyers have been conditioned to think all listings are “move-in ready” and when they come across one that looks used they quickly move onto the next.
It’s strange, right? Unless you’re buying a home that’s been newly constructed, every home you move into is going to be used. While we can all admit that, it can still be a mental hoop for buyers to jump through. Yes, they could paint it themselves (and even get to pick the color) but imagining a fresh coat of paint takes a level of creativity that not everyone has. First impressions are crucial when selling your home, and a fresh coat of paint makes a world of difference.
But what color do you paint your home if you’re looking to sell?
“I actually have a go to color: Agreeable Gray by Sherwin Williams. It’s actually a gray/ beige color depending on how your eye perceives it. I’ve seen it in some places where it looks very beige as well as some places where it looks very gray. I generally stick to that if you’re trying to resell your property [since] it’s a very nice color.”
“Go as neutral as possible”
Painting your home “Agreeable Gray” is the definition of going neutral as possible, and there’s a reason why it’s Carol’s favorite: Buyers struggle with imagining a home different from how they see it, especially if the current state of the home leaves a strong impression.
Speaking from personal experience, I’ve seen homes with red kitchens that take over twice as long as their neighbors to sell since red is such a difficult color to move past. Painting a room is one of the quickest and most affordable renovations you can do to your home, so you’d think a potential buyer wouldn’t mind putting in the work. That said, there’s often a mental roadblock associated with strong colors that prevents them from making an offer. The solution? Keep it neutral.
“Decluttering as much as you possibly can”
This was one of the biggest takeaways I had when speaking with Carol. She made it clear that too often, homeowners will resist moving some of their belongings out early. As mentioned above, the goal of staging your home is to make it as easy as possible for potential buyers to imagine themselves living there. If your home is filled to the brim with furniture and personal belongings, where is a buyer going to imagine their stuff?
One of my favorite interactions during the selling process is seeing a homeowner’s reaction to when their home is decluttered. “Oh my goodness, there’s so much space!” is a phrase you get used to hearing. There’s nothing wrong with having a ton of belongings (trust me, I’m guilty of it too). That said, just be sure to prepare your home by making it as open as possible.
“Seeking professional advice from someone like me to tell you how to arrange your furniture in the most optimal way possible”
Finally, it never hurts to reach out to an expert. There’s a reason why the vast majority of homes in Northern Virginia are staged, and it’s not because us realtors are obsessed with interior design. The reason? Because staging your home nets you more money when you sell.
“People have used my staging, and they’ve gotten anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000 over list price.”
I mean that sounds great, but how much does it cost? Is this making me money in the long run?
“It obviously varies on how much you will stage. So condos, townhomes, and single family [homes] are a little bit different price. But things start at $1,500.”
That’s a huge return on investment, and it’s why we recommend Carol to all of our clients looking to sell. Not only will your home sell quicker if you stage it, but it will likely sell at a higher price as well.
Don’t believe staging your home is worth it? Check out a clip from our interview below. In the second half, she tells a great story of a past client who was resistant to staging his home and later had his mind changed.
-video here-
Huge thank you to Carol Kou for taking the time to meet up with us. Want to see our full conversation to learn more from the expert herself? Click here for a link to the full interview.
Interested in redesigning your home or getting it staged? Schedule a consultation with Carol here to see how she can help!
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