MyLife in Metro DC – Movin’ On Up!

April 26, 2011 will mark my official one-year anniversary of living in Metro DC.  And after one year, it is once again time for me to sign a lease or look for a place to buy.

While both my roommate and I absolutely love our condo, David has started to consider the idea of purchasing his first home and I’ve realized that if I want to start saving for my first home, I needed to find a place to rent priced closer to my realistic “housing budget.”

And so the search began…again.

I came into work and talked with a few of our agents, asking what prices they were seeing for rentals in the Arlington area. They gave me the overwhelming response of, “Oh Arlington, yeahhhhh, {insert high rent price here} that’s what you are going to pay to live there.  If you are looking to save, you should try Falls Church.”

Move out of Arlington?!  The idea was hard to process. No metro outside my door? No walking to my favorite stores and bars?  Could I do it? All hesitations aside though, “responsible Kristin” told me to give it a chance and take a look.  So just like last year, I started with Craigslist…

This time, instead of only looking for apartments and condos for rent, I expanded my search to include rooms for rent.  I had been looking for a place to rent on my own but was open to the idea of moving in a house with roommates already there.  If you are new to the area or looking to have one or more roommates I recommend this as a great place to start.

A few days and a few hundred posts later, I found something.

A mid-twenties female was looking for a roommate to live in her 3 bed 3.5 bath townhouse. It was located just minutes from where I live now, offered the entire first floor to the renter (room, bathroom and own living room), and was over $400 less than my current rent!

While it wasn’t right IN Arlington, it did happen to be on the same street as some of my friends!  It seemed too good to be true, so I contacted the owner right away to find out more.

I’d compare the process of finding a good fit with a “random roommate” online to that of someone seeking a relationship from an online dating site.   It’s important to make sure that your personalities complement each other, you have some interests in common and that you have similar views on living etiquette (such as paying rent on time, who takes out the trash, house guests, and so on) before you commit to anything.  Knowing this, when I emailed the owner, I included a bit about myself.  I told her about my career, interests and what I expect when living with someone.  Then I sat back and waited.

She contacted me less than an hour later (Phew! Craigslist rejection can happen frequently and make you start to question if you really ARE that good of a roommate) and was excited to meet up.  We scheduled a meeting for her to show me the townhouse and to see if we would be a good match.

A few more emails and two visits later, I was convinced this was the place for me.  The owner couldn’t be nicer, and her home (complete with an adorable backyard/patio area) was perfect.  Yes, I’ll be living outside of Arlington, but the additional space and added savings are worth it.

Success.

So here I am, one year later, moving again. But this time I’m feeling much more confident in my knowledge of Metro DC, and that my decision to move out of Arlington will put me one step closer to one day being a home owner.

My first year in Metro DC has been a whirlwind of visitors, vacations, new experiences (I finally made it to the Cherry Blossom Festival this year –See below!), new friends and… good news. I am excited to share that I have recently been promoted and am now Avery-Hess, Realtors Marketing Manager.  It’s a great honor to be moving forward with a company I love and I can’t wait to see what opportunities the new position will bring.

I thank you for reading along this year, it’s been an incredible opportunity to learn my new city and share what I’ve found. Though my duties with this new position will increase, fear not, you’ll still be hearing from MyLife in Metro DC.  I’m even going to start including some “guest” spots from other young professionals in the area to make sure you stay informed on ALL the fun things to do around our city.

With my "Maine" Family at this year's Cherry Blossom Festival

-Kristin

Arlington County Market Report – 3/14/11

The 2010 year end statistics for Arlington County show an upswing over 2009 and the outlook going forward seems to be positive as well.

The total number of units sold was down about 2% but the average sold price was up 4.25%. The average time to sell these units dropped by 14%. This reflects a slight decrease in inventory which of course, causes prices to go up.

2011 began very strong with solid numbers in January, and February continued to show improvement.

Based on the number of pending sales it appears that as we begin the Spring Market the increased activity in February will bear fruit in March and April, and as the weather warms up the real estate market will also heat up. With inventory shrinking and prices going up, take advantage of the still low interest rates and find your dream home in one of America’s most vibrant cities.

Market data and commentary by Charlie Carroll, Managing Broker at Avery-Hess, Realtors.

Search for homes in Arlington County, and the rest of the DC Metro: www.averyhess.com

Washington Ways to Celebrate an Irish Holiday

Today marks one week until one of America’s most celebrated holidays, a day when just about everyone claims to have a little Irish in them — St Patrick’s Day, of course! And while the best way to celebrate would be to hop on a plane to Dublin, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy the holiday locally.  St. Patricks’s Day might be known best for boisterous revelry, but it can still be fun for everyone, young or old.

St. Patrick’s Day, celebrated March 17^th every year, honors the memory of St. Patrick, who according to legend brought Christianity to Ireland. He passed away on March 17^th, over 1,500 years ago, and people have been celebrating on that day ever since.

One of the most common family-friendly ways communities celebrate St. Patrick’s Day is by hosting a parade, and there are plenty all over the area to kick off the festivities.

In Maryland, for starters, you can attend the Gaithersburg St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  This year it will be hosted by two Irish artists: Alice McDermott, an author who won the 1998 National Book Award for Charming Billy and Danny Costello, a musician. The parade will be held at the Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, from 10 a.m. until noon on Saturday, March 12^th .

On the other side of the Potomac River, in Manassas, Virginia, there is the Manassas St. Patrick’s Day Parade, also on Saturday. It starts at 11 a.m., at the intersection of Quarry Road and Prescott Avenue and winds south through the town. The parade prominently features bagpipe bands, an homage to Irish culture. Among the many different bagpipers playing at the Manassas parade are the Northern Virginia Firefighters Emerald Society Pipe Band and the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Coalition Pipes and Drums.

If music is your idea of a good time, but bagpipes aren’t to your liking, there is always Shamrockfest. Held annually on the grounds around RFK Stadium in D.C., Shamrockfest is one of the area’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Going on all day this Saturday, Shamrockfest is an eclectic mix of famous artists, from the popular Irish punk rock band Dropkick Murphy’s to Jersey Shore’s infamous record spinner, DJ Pauly D. Tickets start at just $24.95 (plus a five dollar fee) for nearly nine hours of music featuring over 50 acts.

Of course, all these events occur before the holiday. So if you’d like to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on the actual day, Thursday the 17^th, the best way to do so is to head to any of the area’s numerous Irish bars.

In Fairfax City, Virginia, one of the more popular pubs is Auld Shebeen, on Chain Bridge Road, right in the middle of town. All day and night the bar will have authentic Irish dancing and music. If you’d like to join in the festivities, be sure to get there early, the bar gets crowded quickly.

Closer to the city, but somewhat off the beaten path, is the small and charming Kitty O’Shea’s in Arlington. While the area has plenty of Irish bars, like RiRa and the Four Courts, Kitty O’ Shea’s remains under the radar. Located on Wilson Boulevard, between the Clarendon and Courthouse Metro stations, Kitty O’Shea’s is the perfect place to tip back a pint of Guinness and pretend for the evening that you are just a little bit Irish.

After all, everyone is on St. Patrick’s Day.

-David

Arlington’s “Center” for Modern Art

Washington, D.C. has a number of wonderful galleries, museums stocked with hundreds of classical paintings: Picassos, Renoirs, Van Goghs. What, though, is there to check out if you are looking for art with a much more modern flair?

You would have to leave the city, but you wouldn’t have to go far, just head to North Arlington for a trip to the Arlington Arts Center.

The Arlington Arts Center is a combination gallery, art school and residency program, located in Ballston.

The Center is housed in the Maury School, one of the oldest buildings in Arlington, at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and Monroe Street. The sandy brick building was built in 1910 and has one of the prettier facades in the area. The entrance is framed by a white portico. Windows abound, and the top of the building has matching blue gables on either side. In contrast to the old exterior, a giant swooping pink neon light sits atop the portico.

Every part of the building, from top to bottom, involves an aspect of art. On the first floor there is a rotating gallery, which mostly consists of works from contemporary Mid-Atlantic artists. The second floor houses the residency program, where local artists are given studio space to work. In return, the second floor also has a gallery displaying the recent work from these residents.

Lastly, in the basement of the building, you’ll find classrooms where the Arlington Arts Center offers educational classes for local adults and children.

The first place to check out when you head to the Center is the main exhibit on the first floor. Currently, the exhibit, “On the Road,” is featured and will be showcased until April 3^rd. The exhibition features works from artists leaving the comfort of their studio and heading out into the world. The results are fabulous.

In the Charles E. Smith gallery, which is an open hallway right beyond the entrance, are striking works by Gregory Thielker, who traveled to Norway to complete a series for the exhibition. There Thielker painted small landscapes of a single road in Scandinavia, Gamie Strynfjellsveg. The artist drove the road every day and stopped every couple of kilometers at dusk to paint the highway and its surroundings. The works, done using oil paints on aluminum panels, are haunting images, colored in silvers and faint blues, depicting a desolate, snow-swept world.

Also showcased in the “On the Road” exhibit is a piece by Michael Ruglio-Misurell, entitled “Project Number 10.” It’s a tattered camping tent wedged under a wooden staircase made from inexpensive two-by-fours. The work symbolizes the life of vagrants. The tent is filled with trash, mimicking the possessions of a homeless person. Adding a local slant, all the garbage was collected from the streets of Arlington.

On the second floor, among the artist studios, are presentations of their current work. Among the more impressive pieces is a wood panel painting by Danielle Mysliwiec. In “Untitled,” Mysliwiec uses oil paints, painstakingly and thinly applied, to give the appearance of string. From afar, and even close up, the work appears to be made from an enormous number of tightly-knit strings. It’s only when you get very, very close that you realize the work is crafted from raised paint, left from the gentle stroke of a brush.

In the basement of the Center, work from a recent photography class is on display. The course was offered at a local high school, and students took photos all around their hometown of Arlington.  The shots are so impressive, you’d only know it was captured by high schoolers by reading the description.

A trip to the Arlington Arts Center does not require setting aside a whole afternoon or evening. The space is not large, and all the exhibitions can be seen in an hour, making it a nice, brief way to indulge in some art, as well as an excellent opportunity to support the local community.

-David

Arlington County Market Report – 1/19/11

The end of the year came to Arlington with a little more than a whimper, but certainly not a bang. Statistically December 2010 was almost identical to December 2009.

The good news is that during the year, although prices continued to drop, December’s average sold price was $592,267 compared with $548,048 in November.  But, where there’s good news you can usually find some cautious news as well.

While the overall average sales price is up, the detached homes are up by 9% but the attached homes (condo’s/coop’s) are down by 6% and they make up about 56% of the active listings. So the lower end home prices are what have been keeping the prices down.

The outlook for 2011 is favorable for 1^st time homebuyers.  As the general real estate market improves people who have been waiting for the bottom will realize that it’s time to make a purchase decision while prices and interest rates still favor the buyer.  Rents are starting to increase as inventory begins to decline so the traditional renter may see the benefit of ownership. The spring market is on the horizon. Look for a shift in market conditions and don’t be left wishing you had bought when the price was right.

Commentary and analysis provided by Charlie Carroll, Managing Broker, Avery-Hess, Realtors
Find Your Home. Plan Your Life. www.averyhess.com

Maryland’s Magnificent Chicken

Many Washington, D.C. residents bemoan the fact that this area doesn’t have an indigenous cuisine to its name. Because of the transient nature of this town, it seems there isn’t a food for Washington to call its own.

That may be a blessing in disguise. Because of the constant influx of newcomers, the D.C. Metro area has a great number of ethnic restaurants.

From authentic Thai to fantastic Middle Eastern food, there is no dearth of meals from any different country.

The best though, might be in a little shop on a main drag in Wheaton, Maryland that channels the flavor of Peru.

El Pollo Rico serves just one dish, which reflects its nomenclature: the most delicious, decadent chicken in town.

The décor in the restaurant is sparse, with white vinyl floors, plain tables and chairs and bright walls, painted in red, yellow and green.

However, when one first walks into El Pollo Rico, the simple decorations are the last thing that people notice. Instead, it’s the overwhelming smell, a combination of sweet and savory spices that please the senses.

The scent comes from the store’s secret spice rub, which is heavily patted over the hundreds of chickens that are roasting in plain sight. Just behind the register sit large brick rotisseries. Sunk into the walls these ovens hold massive heaps of ashen coals, fires that have been going all day and are constantly being stoked.

Above them are approximately fifteen spits, all sitting on a giant wheel. Each is laden with ten to fifteen birds. Each row spins on its individual spit, while the entire contraption constantly rotates, bringing the birds to within inches of the scorching flame then whisking them away. It creates a crisp and crackling skin, but prevents them from being burnt.

These chickens are the only item on the menu and they come in only three portions. A quarter chicken, a half or a whole.

And while all those portions may seem large, the birds are too irresistible to stop eating. The flesh inside is thick and juicy, and a quarter chicken goes down faster than you think. With any order comes a choice of sides: a soupy coleslaw, steamed white rice or thick cut French fries.

Order the fries — they pair amazingly with the restaurant’s two wonderful dipping sauces.

The two sauces come complimentary with any order, and are an exercise in contrast. One is a thick, mayonnaise-based sauce; the other, a biting, vinegary blend of diced jalapenos. Stir the two together for the perfect match, a smooth, creamy yet spicy sauce that tastes wonderful slathered on top of fries or chicken.

El Pollo Rico has one other location in Arlington, VA. At either restaurant, be sure to bring cash. It’s not that the meals are expensive, fifteen dollars will get you a whole chicken and two sides, it’s that neither location takes credit cards.

And even if it requires a trip to the bank, it is worth it to enjoy an out-of-this-world bird.

-David