DC, Maryland, and Virginia Real Estate

Recently in the Northern Virginia and Washington DC area, you may have noticed the proliferation of three types of disparate groups: REALTORs, policemen and cicadas.   However, all three are dedicated to what they do, whether it be to represent their clients to their fullest ability, serve and protect people from the evils of the world or just simply be a cicada.  (I bet you can guess which is which!)

If you visit the Inman Real Estate Connect San Francisco 2013 Speakers page, you may see a familiar face.  That's right!  CENTURY 21 Redwood Realty's own President and CMO, Edward Berenbaum, has been chosen as one of the speakers for the upcoming Inman Real Estate Connect.    Inman Real Estate Connect is an event held twice a year, in New York City and San Francisco, where real estate industry leaders meet to "learn best practices, forge partnerships and make deals that will keep them ahead of the competition."  Source   Eddie is passionate about many things, but nothing more than giving CENTURY 21 Redwood Realty and CENTURY 21 AdVenture Redwood agents the most up-to-date technology and tools needed to succeed in today's competitive real estate market. 

When a housing market is as active as it currently is in the Washington DC area, prospective homebuyers need every advantage they can get.  One of the most obvious and important advantages is knowing what new houses fitting buyers' specific criteria have just come on the market.  The tool enabling this advantage is the home search tool, found on many brokers' (like CENTURY 21 Redwood) and agents' websites, with limited service companies like Redfin, as well as third-party sites like Zillow and Trulia.  Should you be using a home search?  If so, how do you choose which one makes you the most competitive homebuyer?

Continued slowed economic growth and lack luster improvements in the national employment market are leading the 30yr Fixed near its all-time low and the 15yr Fixed at its recorded low. With the equity markets thriving many households are anxious to devote surplus savings to the stock market hoping their money will once again work for them. In an investment arena touted with "benchmark" returns some still painfully remember losses their portfolios and investment accounts took between 2008 and 2010 when the Capital Markets froze. Talks with investment advisors focused not on how much of a return to expect but rather how to "hold serve" and protect funds one had managed to save and invest.

Opening email in the morning can make anyone's palms sweat.  Seeing "171 new messages" on top of the 1,456 messages you already have in your inbox can ruin the start of a perfectly good day.  What are we to do?  On April 12, 2013, I had the opportunity to present the Five Commandments of Email Management at the National Association of REALTORs' TechEdge Event in Fairfax, Virginia.  It was a jam-packed day of speakers and panels, presenting not just the newest in technologies for real estate, but also touching back on basics and how to implement these tools in life and in business.  I am happy to present a shortened version of that email management talk here, in blog form!