Tom Robinson Team Northern Virginia Home Values

Although I see 2011 as an improving market in my local area, it's difficult to dispute the facts from the markets noted in this marketwatch.com article. I think the driving force behind stability in my own market is that the lack of affordability of housing outside of this current downturn that a...

It is often said that word of mouth is the best way to get business (i.e. referrals). My job is to convert leads into clients and then clients into referrals whether they are initially from a referral, Zillow, Trulia, or Active Rain, etc. Please don't misinterpret this as an assembly line philoso...

My gut, I hope, serves me right. I have been optimistic about 2011 and business has been good (better than expected) lately. My only concerns would be higher interest rates, a slow employment recovery, and longer term, the repeal of the 80+ year old mortgage deduction. Other than that, I am extre...

It looks like folks are already heading out of town for the holidays. I have just one more settlement before the end of the year and it is just about ready to go. This morning I had four emails when I logged on. What am I going to do? Two of them were marketing emails (basically junk) and two wer...

The Winter usually sees lighter traffic and fewer homes on the market. Many would prefer to wait until Spring to put their homes on the market or to look for one because of the holidays, the weather, the shorter days (harder to look at a home at night), etc. Here are a few reasons why you should ...

Fraudsters can use scanners to get your credit card number by walking past you. A simple piece of aluminum foil in your wallet can thwart the scanners. This is not a lucrative way of stealing for most thieves. The most common I have experienced is the dishonest waiter noted in the article.  http:...

Front Page, Metro Section, The Washington Post Today. Headline "Shortage of drivers has Metro in a bind." Ralph Kramden, we have a job for you! Metro is having a tough time keeping trains and buses operating due to a shortage of personnel. The staff of drivers and personnel needs to be increased;...

If you noticed in your paper recently (or online, etc.) the interest rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage is up to 4.6+ percent, a bump up from the historic low of 4.1+ percent in mid-November. Rates are expected to continue to go up as is inflation. For now, the increase will likely be gradual. Con...

...And that I had better be nice to him so he can buy me a fine car or home on the beach. I tell him what my father told me "I hope you will but I don't need a fine car or a home at the beach. I only ask one thing and that is that what you do is legally right, morally right, and you can make a fa...

My neighbor, a competing real estate agent, dropped by this morning and brought me an article on seller financing from last June from the Washington Post. We had discussed the topic one afternoon this Fall. I have a property in Florida, a nice single family home in a sought after neighborhood in ...