I was interviewed along with Bob Carney of Long & Foster for the Solutions are Power Blog of Network Solutions this week.  They wanted to know how we used Web 2.0 in our Real Estate Businesses.  You can read the interview here.

The short answer is that I use the web to connect with people and share information.  The interview list some sites where I do that, but I want to add links here where you can directly connect with me or see what I have been up to on various sites:

Twitter–for general conversation

Facebook–mainly to connect with friends

Flickr–for photos of life and neighborhoods in Northern Virginia

LinkedIn–for Business Connections

Zillow–for sharing info on houses and neighborhoods

Trulia–for asking and answereing Real Estate questions

Picasa –here you can see pictures of most of the houses I’ve seen recently

If you are part of one of these networks or want to be, feel free to add me to your friends or contacts.  If you use different sites to connect with people, I’d love to hear which ones and how you use them in the comments.

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What do various counties and cities charge for property taxes on homes in Northern Virginia?

The following figures are per $100 of assessed value in the tax year 2008:

Arlington County:  81.8¢
Alexandria City:  84.5¢
Fairfax County:  92¢
Falls Church City:  $1.03
Fairfax City:  79¢
Loudon County: $1.14
Prince William County:  97¢

Most of the rates I have listed above are “base rates.”  Most counties and cities in Northern Virginia have special tax districts that will raise the tax rate in certain areas for a certain purpose.  These tend to be a fairly small, but important for individual home owners.  If you are planning on buying a home, check out the website of the county or city in which you plan to purchase to see if you will be in a special tax district.  Also, if you own a home in a town, there will be a town tax levied on top of the tax the county charges.

The Northern Virginia Real Estate market continued to be strong in July. This was the best July in several years, both in terms of units sold and percentage of units sold. There were 2056 in Northern Virginia (Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church City, Fairfax City, Fairfax County) in July. Typically sales fall off substantially this time of the year, but the market showed no signs of slowing in July. On a percentage basis, 20.56% of the homes on the market sold, which is the highest percentage of homes to sell since April of 2007.

Below are the statistics for home sales for the last two and a half years. Note the strength of sales over the past four months. This implies that it is taking the typical listing 5 months to sell at this point.

The real estate market in Fairfax City was solid in July with 31 0f the 176 houses (18%) going under contract in the month.  This is slightly better than last July when 16% of the houses on the market sold, and way better than July of 2006 when only 8% of the homes on the market went under contract.

Below is a spreadsheet showing home sales in Fairfax City for the last two and a half years: