Are Andresen

Pimmit Hills

Pimmit Hills is ideally located in Falls Church minutes from where you want to be. Minutes to the north is Tysons Corner with great shopping and entertainment. It is also one of the major employment centers in the area with major presence of financial and defence companies (Capital One, SAIC, MITRE, Fannie Mae etc.)

Pimmit Hills is further surrounded by popular destinations like McLean and Falls Church. Washington DC is less than 10 minutes away and Dulles airport is about 15 away via the Dulles Toll Road (Rt 267.)

If you don’t like driving, metro is available at West Falls Church and East Falls Church stations. A new metro line is also scheduled to go through Tysons Corner.

Built in the 1950′s, the 1,500+ single family homes typically have a quarter acre lot. Home prices range from the low $300′s for a rambler with 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom and upwards to $1M homes. In Pimmit Hills there is a home for everyone!

For Sale in Pimmit Hills

Showing properties 1 - 3 of 6. See more Pimmit Hills tract Real Estate.
(all data current as of 5/22/2013)

1. $439,000 : 7605 Leonard Dr, Falls Church
   
   3 beds, 1 full bath

   Lot size: 10,075 sqft

   Year built: 1953

   Days on market: 7
2. $725,000 : 1918 Leonard Rd, Falls Church
   
   4 beds, 2 full, 2 part baths

   Lot size: 10,290 sqft

   Year built: 1953

   Days on market: 8
3. $495,000 : 2012 Hileman Rd, Falls Church
   
   3 beds, 2 full baths

   Lot size: 15,215 sqft

   Year built: 1954

   Days on market: 23

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Recent Posts about Pimmit Hills

Great 3br Rental in Pimmit Hills – $2,000/month (RENTED)

Wonderful expanded and updated rambler in Pimmit Hills. Minutes from Tysons and shopping. Large yard and patio overlooking wooded area. Updated throughout with a newer kitchen, appliances – great place to call home. Home has been expanded and is larger than the typical Pimmit Hills home with expanded living room and an added family room. PICTURES ARE FROM BEFORE CURRENT TENANT!!!

This home has been rented.

Pimmit Hills still a Great Value in Tysons Corner!

Real estate in the Pimmit Hills subdivision in Falls Church did well in 2012. 47 homes sold in the MRIS in 2012 with a high demand for homes. Like in the past, any home listed in the $300s sell very quickly. Not a surprise – where else would you get a single family home on a quarter acre lot minutes from Tysons Corner at that price?

The number of foreclosures and short sales in the community keep going down – last year  so there were 4 foreclosures and no short sales – a decrease from 2011 by more than 50% in distressed sales.

Prices in the neighborhood have stabilized and there is great construction activity throughout Pimmit Hills. Every other day it seems an old home is torn down to make room for a new one. 

6 homes are available for sale in Pimmit Hills as of today. The lowest priced one is a 3br/2ba listed at $419,777 and the highest is priced is a 5br/4ba at $940,000. All of those properties are regular resales. You can see what is currently for sale in Pimmit Hills here.

To get a better understanding of the overall price level in the neighborhood we need to compare apples to apples. I have therefore tracked sales of the 884 sq/ft 3br/1ba 1 level ramblers in the neighborhood over the last 14 years. We have tried to exclude homes with rear extensions, basements, attached garages and so on but we don’t account for interior condition etc.

Our “similar home average” makes it much easier to see what the price trend is in the neighborhood. Otherwise the mix of homes sold would continuously skewing the min, max and average sales price.

As you can see from the above graph the prices in Pimmit Hills have been pretty stable since 2009. The Tysons Corner area is seeing a great transformation and Pimmit Hills will continue to be the best deal for single family homes in the area.

After a dip in rentals for 2011 the number of rentals are back to normal in 2012. 40 homes rented in 2012, 18 in 2011 and 41 in 2010.  The rents are back to its general upwards curve but down from 2011 (likely due to the limited data set and number of rentals that year.)

For investors the GRM has been getting better and better since 2005. As the prices stopped going down in 2010 the rents have started creeping up. That has kept making the Gross Rent Multiplier more attractive almost every year since 2005. Investors are buying in the neighborhood – especially foreclosures and tear-downs.

Pimmit Hills is a great neighborhood in a fantastic location. Interest rates and prices are both still low. If you would like to discuss selling or purchasing in Pimmit Hills please give us a call at 703 560-3424 or contact us online.

Are Andresen
Broker, Soldsense Realty LLC
“Your sixth sense in real estate”

Disclaimer: The data above is not guaranteed in any way and may contain errors and omissions and is based on MRIS data only. The analysis is my opinion only – always do your own research.

New Tysons Corner Transportation Taxes

To pay for the extensive walkability upgrades planned in Tysons Corner the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to create a special Transportation Service District last week. It is estimated the new tax will generate $250 million for area improvements over the next 40 years.

As of now, the tax rate is set to take effect in January 2014 and will apply to both residential and commercial property. It has been estimated that the rate may be 6 to 8 cents per $100 assessed value. The tax district will only be for owners of residential and commercial property in the Tysons Corner area (presume the 22102 and 22182 zipcodes.)

There is opposition to the tax, especially from residential residents that believe that either a) all county residents should pay as the improvements will benefit more than just the residents, or b) Residential properties should be exempt.

Fairfax County seems sympathetic to excluding residential from the new tax as the share of revenue that would be generated from residential properties would be small. State law may prohibit such differential treatment of residential vs commercial so a special bill has been proposed that may make an exception in this case.

To me it seems fair to exclude residential homeowners in this case – the commercial landowners will benefit the greatest from the improvements in the heavily developed areas of Tysons Corner. The majority of residential areas in Tysons will see little direct benefit.

Looking to purchase in Tysons Corner? Contact us!

Don’t Wait For Spring To Sell Your Home!

The Tysons Corner(Vienna and McLean) real estate market ended 2012 strongly. While the number of homes being listed remained typical, the number of sales in October and November jumped significantly. The continued availability of low interest rate loans no doubt played a role as did the strong economy in the area.

Looking at the graphs it is obvious that sellers in Tysons Corner prefer to put their homes on the market in March and April. Purchasers seems to feast on those listings and do their closings during the summer.

In general we advice to buy and sell when you are ready. That being said, many will try to use the market trends to their benefit. So, here are some thoughts on using the trends to your advantage.

As a seller, to avoid the March-April rush you could try listing your home in January or February. That way you may take advantage of any pent-up demand from the winter months. Currently homes (and condominiums in particular) in Tysons Corner are selling very well – multiple offers are not uncommon. The main thing holding prices at the current levels would be the conservative  appraisals.

Alternatively you could try listing in May. Your new listing will look attractive with few days on the market as compared to homes having been listed in March and April. You may also take advantage of the high number of closing sales in the June-August time frame.

If you have a choice – when should you purchase a home? You could try to get an early start on the large inventory being listed in March and April instead of joining the crowd purchasing in May-July.

Every situation is different and the above may or may not apply to you. We know the Tysons Corner area and we would love to talk to you about how we can help you buy or sell a home.

Land Restrictions and Fairfax County Resource Protect Areas

If you are planning to buy or renovate a home, a Resource Protect Area (RPA) may be something that will impact you and the value of your home significantly A Resource Protection Area 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 – often reaching deep into exisiting subdivisons and alongside what most would have considered “storm drains” up to that point.

The most obvious impact on homeowners are limitations on the use of a property and a resulting loss of value. If you are in a RPA, you are subject to restrictions on decks, sheds, fences, extensions on your home and many landscaping projects. 

For example, if your home is in an RPA and you want to build an extension to your home in Fairfax County :

For those lots that have areas of RPA on them, the ordinance provides relief from the full effects of the RPA restrictions through the administrative waiver provisions. The provisions allow minor additions of up to 1,000 sq. ft. or 2 percent of the lot area up to a maximum of 2,500 sq. ft. of new impervious area in the RPA for homes constructed prior to the original effective date of the ordinance, July 1, 1993, with respect to both the old and new RPA areas. For homes that were constructed between July 1, 1993, and the effective date of the 2003 amendments, Nov. 18, 2003, minor additions are only allowed to encroach into the new RPA areas created by the amendments. This relief is provided to the current owners of these homes because the regulations were not in effect at the time the homes were built and the original builders did not have the opportunity to plan the location of these homes to avoid future conflicts with the RPA.

The state regulations on which the county’s ordinance is based do not permit detached structures to be treated as minor additions. The construction of detached structures and larger additions in the RPA are still possible, but would be subject to an exception process requiring a public hearing.
(from the Fairfax County brochure on RPAs)

For information on landscaping, fences, sheds and decks look at the brochure link above.

From the above, determining when a home is built and if that home is in an RPA is very important. One tool to do that would be to use the online Digital Map Viewer for Fairfax County – you select the “Chesapeake Bay Map” and then pick the Tax Map number for your property. You can find the tax map number by looking at the two first numbers of the tax-id for the property in the county tax records. With the correct map you will have to zoom in to find your property and determine if it is in one of the RPAs, if it is then 1993 or the 2003 RPAs and what effect that has on the specific property (see the excerpt above for the difference between being in the 1993 and 2003 RPAs.)

Sample part of RPA map of Pimmit Hills 

Purchasing a home next to a small stream is the dream of many. Before you purchase, make sure you know what the impact, if any, the RPAs has on specific property. You will then be able to make an informed decision.

As an aside – if you are in a RPA, you may also want to check if you are in a flood-zone…

Who to Call For a Fallen Tree in Northern Virginia

Hurricane Sandy seems to have left Virginia with less devastation than feared. Nevertheless, the storm caused lots of trees to fall completely and also left others in a damaged and potentially hazardous state.

If a downed tree is near wires, stay away. Never remove trees, limbs or anything else that are near or touching a downed wire.

If the tree is on public/county land, contact the following agencies:

• Near public streets and roads: Call VDOT at 1-800-FOR-ROAD (367-7623), TTY 711
• Fairfax County Parks: Call the Park Authority’s Operations Division at 703-324-8594, TTY 711
• Northern Virginia Regional Parks: Call the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority at 703-352-5900, TTY 711.
• Stormwater management ponds: Call the Maintenance and Stormwater Management Division at 703-877-2800, TTY 711
• Public school property: Call the Fairfax County Public Schools at 571-423-2350, TTY 711.

If the tree is on private property, the property owner is responsible for maintaining their trees. Fairfax County has no authority to force a tree removal on private property unless it is a public hazard. See our article from last year called “My Neighbor’s Tree is Ruining My Driveway“.

In general a homeowner can remove a tree on their property as they wish. However, conservation easements are common in Northern Virginia (may also be called things like Resource Protection Area – RPA, or an Environmental Quality Corridor.) See our article called “What RPA means and why you should care.”

If the tree is in a conservation easement, you will need contact the Urban Forest Management Division at 703-324-1770 for them to come by and take a look before you do anything.

Stay safe!

Three Great Rental Homes in Tysons and Herndon

We do a lot of rentals this time of year and currently we have three great rental homes available.

2013 Edgar Court, Falls Church VA 22043

This property is available immediately and is listed at $1800. It is a 3 bedroom and 1 bath home with a fenced rear yard. There is ample storage in the large stand alone shed, a small lean-to shed as well as an attic. The home is on a street with little traffic and has a long driveway.

Pimmit Hills is ideally located in Falls Church minutes from where you want to be. Minutes to the north is Tysons Corner with great shopping and entertainment. It is also one of the major employment centers in the area with major presence of financial and defence companies (Capital One, SAIC, MITRE, Fannie Mae etc.)

Built in the 1950’s, the 1,500+ single family homes typically have a quarter acre lot.

Pimmit Hills is further surrounded by popular destinations like McLean and Falls Church. Washington DC is less than 10 minutes away and Dulles airport is about 15 away via the Dulles Toll Road (Rt 267.)

If you don’t like driving, metro is available at West Falls Church and East Falls Church stations. A new metro line is also scheduled to go through Tysons Corner.

1550 Spring Gate Drive #8208, McLean VA 22102

This property is also available immediately and is located in the McLean part of Tysons Corner. It is a large and updated 2br/2ba in the gated community called Gates of McLean listed for $2,100.  The unit has been updated with granite counters, tile and hardwood/laminate floors. It faces a treed courtyard and comes with 2 reserved parking spaces. It actually is a 3 bedroom model where the walls have been removed from one of of the bedrooms making the living dining room a great size!

The community is gated and has well kept grounds. There is a clubhouse, exercise room, pool, walking paths, a sports court and picnic areas.

It is located in the Tysons Corner area of McLean (Fairfax County) at the intersection of I-495 and Chain bridge Road (Rt 123). It is about 2 miles from West Falls Church metro station. MetroBus is available from Chain Bridge Road and you can expect a 10-15 minute ride to the metro. Superb shopping is right up the road in Tysons Corner. The Tysons Corner Mall is right up the road and major employers like Capital One and MITRE is right across the street.

There is a new metro stop under construction almost next door – it is scheduled to open fall of 2013. So, if you plan to stay put for a while this location will just keep getting better and better.

758 Jackson St #11, Herndon VA 20170

Wonderful, recently renovated 2br/1ba townhome style condo in great condition in Herndon listed at $1,300. This unit is available 10/15/2012. 

All newer appliances, like new kitchen with gas cooking. Main level is fully tiled, upper level has carpet.

Pimmit Hills Home Sales 2012

Real estate in the Pimmit Hills subdivision in Falls Church is doing well in 2012. About 30 homes have sold so far this year with high demand for homes. As usual  anything listed in the $300s sell very quickly.  

The foreclosures and short sales in the community keep going down – so far this year there has been a few short sales but no foreclosure.

Prices in the neighborhood have stabilized and there is great construction activity throughout Pimmit Hills.

8 homes are available for sale in Pimmit Hills as of today. The lowest priced one is a 3br/1ba listed at $450,000 and the highest is priced is a 5br/3.5ba at $749,999. All of those properties are regular resales. You can see what is currently for sale in Pimmit Hills here.

To get a better understanding of the overall price level in the neighborhood we need to compare apples to apples. I have therefore tracked sales of the 884 sq/ft 3br/1ba 1 level ramblers in the neighborhood over the last 14 years. We have tried to exclude homes with rear extensions, basements, attached garages and so on but we don’t account for interior condition etc.

Our “similar home average” makes it much easier to see what the price trend is in the neighborhood. Otherwise the mix of homes sold would continuously skewing the min, max and average sales price.

As you can see from the above graph the prices in Pimmit Hills have been pretty stable since 2009. The Tysons Corner area is seeing a great transformation and Pimmit Hills will continue to be the best deal for single family homes in the area.

The number of rentals this year is way up – only 18 homes rented in 2011 versus 27 YTD in 2012!  The low supply in 2011 likley accounted for some of the increases in 2011 (the limited supply of rental homes makes the 2011 rent statistics a bit unreliable.) In 2012 it seems the rents are back to its general upwards curve (but down from 2011.)

For investors the GRM has been getting better and better since 2005. As the prices stopped going down in 2010 the rents have started creeping up. That has kept making the Gross Rent Multiplier more attractive almost every year since 2005. Investors are buying in the neighborhood – especially foreclosures and tear-downs.

Pimmit Hills is a great neighborhood in a fantastic location. Interest rates and prices are both still low. If you would like to discuss selling or purchasing in Pimmit Hills please give us a call at 703 560-3424 or contact us online.

Are Andresen
Broker, Soldsense Realty LLC
“Your sixth sense in real estate”

Disclaimer: The data above is not guaranteed in any way and may contain errors and omissions and is based on MRIS data only. The analysis is my opinion only – always do your own research.

What To Do About Dangerous Trees

After the severe thunderstorm that took place in July there has been concerns from many homeowners regarding their own and the trees of their neighbors. The storm caused a number of trees to fall completely and also left others in a damaged and potentially hazardous state.

If the tree is on public/county land, contact the following agencies:

• Near public streets and roads: Call VDOT at 1-800-FOR-ROAD (367-7623), TTY 711
• Fairfax County Parks: Call the Park Authority’s Operations Division at 703-324-8594, TTY 711
• Northern Virginia Regional Parks: Call the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority at 703-352-5900, TTY 711.
• Stormwater management ponds: Call the Maintenance and Stormwater Management Division at 703-877-2800, TTY 711
• Public school property: Call the Fairfax County Public Schools at 571-423-2350, TTY 711.

If the tree is on private property, the property owner is responsible for maintaining their trees. Fairfax County has no authority to force a tree removal on private property unless it is  a public hazard. See our article from last year called “My Neighbor’s Tree is Ruining My Driveway“.

In general a homeowner can remove a tree on their property as they wish. However, conservation easements are common in Northern Virginia (may also be called things like  Resource Protection Area – RPA, or an Environmental Quality Corridor.)  See our article called “What RPA means and why you should care.”

If the tree is in a conservation easement, you will need contact the Urban Forest Management Division at 703-324-1770 for them to come by and take a look before you do anything.

Pimmit Hills Pushing Prices!

The market in Pimmit Hills has been going strong this spring and prices have worked their way upwards. For a standard 3/1 rambler the average price is now about $340,000. The last sale on Magarity Road of a basic rambler was $350,000 (and it sold in 2 days.) It was a corner lot on a busy street – Magarity is a popular street for teardowns though. It was also close to the new metro station.

On average ~4 homes are selling per month – many in a week or less. While there are some million dollar homes listed for sale, the homes that are really selling are ones listed at $500k and below. That end of the market is really driving the sales.  

 Here are the last sales:

We know Pimmit Hills – please give us a call if you are interested in selling or buying there – 703 560-3424.