Just a few miles outside the gates of Fort Belvoir visitors and residents of Fairfax County can find some of Virginia’s finest historic homes and our nation’s treasures. For their time these homes were the envy of the neighborhood and the owners most certainly among the richest families in Fairfax County.

Sitting on the best piece of property that any colonist could have imagined is Mount Vernon the home of George Washington. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to picture the prominent colonist in the 1770’s sitting on the back porch watching the large mast ships headed into the docks in Alexandria. With the distinguished white frame home, stone fences and outbuildings wandering through the grounds is a great way to get a feel for how life might have been like so long ago.

Just a short hop down the road you will enter the gates to Woodlawn Plantation. Looking at this stately brick home built between 1800-1805 you have to be amazed by the construction and architecture that created a home that has stood for 200 years. Built for George Washington’s grand-daughter Nelly Custis-Lewis on a 2,000 acre site, the property the home is a beautiful example of the Federal style popular with mansions at the time. Designed by the same architect, William Thornton, who created the US Capitol the home was furnished with many of the original pieces from Mount Vernon. Situated at the top of a hill known as Gray’s Hill the back porch of the home has a view of the Potomac River and was the first property owned by the National Historic Trust formed in 1951.

Both homes are great places to visit in the fall when crowds are low.   If you live close to Fort Belvoir stop by and check out the homes of your famous neighbors. Then you can stop by my house to borrow that cup of sugar.

Mount Vernon Photo-istock.com
Woodlawn Photo ©Cindy Jones 

In the mid 1970's my college roommate and her husband settled into their first apartment in West Springfield.  A few years later those apartments became part of the condominiums that make up the Cardinal Forest neighborhood.  Still welcoming newlyweds, military families and retirees the community has matured and maintained its charm.  Buyers and owners can say thank you to a diligent homeowners association which makes sure that the neighborhood has been well taken care of over the years.

Buyers may be surprised when they drive through the neighborhood at the wide variety of condominiums available in the Cardinal Forest neighborhood.  There are 1, 2 & 3 bedroom single level units, two different models of two level townhouses and a 2100 square foot three level townhouse as well. There are a total of 68 buildings and 1050 units that make up the neighborhood.  The condominium fee in Cardinal Forest includes everything but your "plug ins" and whatever internet/cable/phone bundle you may choose.  

If you are looking for outdoor recreation you can walk to the back entrance of Lake Accotink Park or take a short drive to Hidden Pond Nature Center.  With two swimming pools, multiple tot lots and easy access to shopping you can't find too much to complain about.  Metro buses, Fairfax County Connector buses and drivers looking for slugs run right through the community so you can leave your car at home if you work in DC or at the Pentagon.  The neighborhood is also convenient for any one stationed at Fort Belvoir.  Multiple roads will lead you to the base in less than 30 minutes.

When our family lived across the street in the Charlestown subdivision we walked to the Giant, Whole Foods, Starbucks and the Washington Sports Club, all within a mile.  Cardinal Forest is just one of the many terrific West Springfield neighborhoods you might want to call home.

If a move to Northern Virginia is in your future give me a buzz.   Let's talk about how we can find the best home for your needs.

Just a few minutes from the main gate of Fort Belvoir is the quiet neighborhood of Harbor View.  If you are looking for a Lorton neighborhood with mature trees, large half acre (or more) lots and no cookie cutter homes then Harbor View is a neighborhood you want to check out.

The community offers something unique in Northern Virginia.  For boaters the neighborhood features a boat launch ramp and storage facility in the community.  With direct access to the Occoquan River from Massey Creek the boat launch is a popular place for residents to gather.  Harbor View Recreation Club works to keep the channel to the river open, which has required dredging on more than one occasion.  Recent improvements to the tot lot and addition of fire pit means residents will be drawn to the harbor even with the cool fall weather. 

Besides easy access to Fort Belvoir the neighborhood is also conveniently located to the Lorton VRE station and I-95 for access to DC and the Pentagon.  Enjoy an afternoon at the Accotink Wildlife Refugee or historic Mount Vernon.

If you are headed to Fort Belvoir consider Harbor View as one of the many great close by neighborhoods in the area to consider.

Did you like to trade baseball cards when you were a kid? Did you flip over the back of the card to read your favorite players stats from last year?  If so then before you list your home with a Northern Virginia Realtor ask to see their listing statistics for 2008.

This has been one of the toughest real estate markets our area has ever seen.  Hundreds of homes come on the market everyday and hundreds go unsold.  One of the major reasons a home in our area doesn't sell is due to improper pricing.   If you overprice your home with the idea that you can just lower the price later you have lost critical marketing time and the sharks start to circle to see if you get desperate.

Some Realtors® will still tell you whatever you want to hear to get your listing.  A few years ago you could throw a price up against the wall and it didn't matter.  Someone would buy your home faster than you could put the sign in the yard.  Today buyers are smarter, loans are harder to get and appraisers are looking at every detail.

Besides all of the terrific internet marketing, multiple MLS photos and color brochures you also need to ask the Realtors® you are considering hiring to show you their list to sales price statistics for 2008.  How have they done with pricing their listings this year?  Not last year or 10 years ago but this year in a market where every day counts.  If they don't come prepared to show you the numbers for 2008 then you need to question why and ask for the report before you sign a listing agreement

The saying "you only get one chance to make a first impression" can in Northern Virginia be extended to say "you only get one chance to price your home right" to sell.

If you are looking for a Realtor who isn't afraid to you show you their listing stats for 2008, give me a call.   I'd like to show you how to put the SOLD sign in your yard.

The first question you might ask is why would a Realtor® write about base housing?   Don't you want to sell me a house?  Certainly it would be nice if everyone who moved to Fort Belvoir would buy a home but in reality many families make the decision to live on base for a variety of reasons.

Our family had to make the same decision both in the US and overseas.  We lived both on and off base depending on what housing was available for us and our location.  Our 700 square foot house in Okinawa with neighbors who owned a water buffalo was an experience you don't have everyday and one I won't ever forget. 

Anyone headed to Fort Belvoir will discover a wide variety of housing options.   Recent construction has replaced many of the older duplexes with new townhouses and detached homes.  Add in the town center and you might have a hard time distinguishing the neighborhoods on post with some outside the gates of the post.   Obviously the Fort Belvoir housing office will be the official place for you to learn about which neighborhood and type of house you may be eligible for should you decide to look at post housing.

Driving around post you will find the base housing divided into 12 villages with homes ranging from the historic older brick homes in the Gerber and Belvoir Villages to the brand new "green" homes in Fairfax Village.  Fairfax Village is the site of a LEED-Platinum certified neighborhood center.  Platinum LEED-Certification is the highest award and the neighborhood also features a native species butterfly garden.

With the close by Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge for families to enjoy, aFairfax County elementary school on post and multiple recreation centers, living on post has certainly improved.  If you decide that off post housing is a better fit for you please give me a call.  I'd be glad to help you look at nieghborhoods that will meet your needs.

Just a stoplight away from the Pentagon and tucked in the trees off of I-395, sit the seven neighborhoods that make up the community of Fairlington. The connection between military families stationed at the Pentagon, Fort Meyer or other Military District of Washington facilities remains as strong today as it did in the 1940’s when Fairlington was first built.

If you are considering buying a home while you are stationed at the Pentagon you might want to dust off your VA Certificate of Eligibility. If you find yourself headed to the Pentagon give me a call at 703-346-2213. We can talk about your housing needs, financing options and get your started towards buying your new home in Northern Virginia.

© Cindy Jones All Rights Reserved "Fairlington and Pentagon-A Long History in Northern Virginia"

Perched high overlooking the Potomac River the Fort Belvoir's Officer Club has one of the best views in all of Northern Virginia. 

The Officers Club isn't the only place to enjoy time with Mother Nature on post.  In fact Fort Belvoir which is comprised over 8,500 also has over 1,300 acres of dedicated wildlife refuges as part of the base property as well.  The largest piece of the refugee established in 1980 is the Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge on the north post.  The trail offers nine miles of walking paths through a variety of wildlife habitat and includes a handicap accessible Pohick Trail.

On the south post of Fort Belvoir is the Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.  Established in 1988 to protect a local wetland area the refuge is a great spot for local fisherman (with a valid VA fishing license) to cast a line in the pond. With a one mile paved walking trail and places to picnic it makes a great spot to exercise during lunch.  

Both of these wildlife areas can be accessed by civilians as well as military families with proper identification and are open dawn until dusk all year.  If you have orders to Fort Belvoir and are looking for an agent who knows their way around both inside and outside the gates of the post give me a call.  I'd be glad to lend a hand with your relocation.

©2008 Cindy Jones All Rights Reserved "Fort Belvoir-Enjoying Mother Nature on a Military Post"

Tucked away among all of the traditional homes, both old and new on Fort Belvoir stands a home that isn't like any of the others.  Just as the Lustron homes on Quantico were a response to the US Government's need for quick delivery homes after WWII, the Thermo-Con house on Fort Belvoir stands as a reminder of the Army's attempt to use alternative building materials in the 1940's.

Situated next to the traditional Cape Code homes of Gerber Village, the Thermo-Con house looks more like Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighy House just a few miles down the road than it does its traditional brick neighbors. 

The house derives its name from the material that was used to create the home a mixture of "Portland cement, water and a patented formula of mineral origin."  Completed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1949 it was one of only two buildings built on Fort Belvoir from this material.  The second building has been destroyed.

The home was added to the Virginia Landmarks Registry in 1997 and is currently used as a guest house.  With the new housing being built at both the North and South Post of Fort Belvoir it is nice to see something a bit different still standing as a testament to the resources of the Army Corps of Engineers.  It was an idea and building material ahead of it's time.  Today the idea of building anything but a well insulated and moisture resistant home just wouldn't be considered.

In a post written back in July "Condo Special Assessments-A New Twist in Today's Market"  my warning to buyers who were considering buying a condo in Northern Virginia was to pay careful attention to the association budget.   In our current market and with the changing lending environment it seemed like good advice.  Sure enough one of my buyers just found out what lenders think of underfunded association budgets.

In a condo developments completed in the last three years in Northern Virginia it isn't unusual to find a high investor to owner ratio.  Contracts written in 2003 with high hopes of a flip in 2005 were smashed when the housing market started its downward slide.  As a result flippers found themselves as landlords losing hundreds of dollars a month and with adjustable rate mortgages resetting in 2008 and 2009.   As a result the perfect storm was brewing on the horizon for condo budgets to take a beating. 

The first thing most lenders in Northern Virginia do is look to see if the condo you are buying is on the "approved" list for funding.  If not they will request the completion of a condo questionnaire by the association management to determine whether the building should be approved for your loan.  The first red flag the lender looks for is the investor to owner occupied ratio.  If the number of investor owned units is high they may flat out reject the loan application or for my buyers they took it one step further.

In this case the next step was to ask to see the actual condo association budget to determine if they had the reserves required in order to cover expenditures.   What the examination of the budget uncovered was a significant number of owners behind on their association dues, an underfunded budget for normal maintenance and a budget that would leave a majority of the owners in the hot seat should a major expense occur.   Foreclosures were on the rise in the building, evident by the number of liens on units and as a result the buyers heard the dreaded words.......

The 8,656-acre tract of land along the Potomac River which now makes up Fort Belvoir was once part of a land grant from a 17th century English king to Lord Fairfax.  For over 100 years the land was passed through the Fairfax family and other land sales until in 1912 the War Department acquired the land and established Camp A.A. Humphreys later renamed to Fort Belvoir.

Today you find a thriving military and civilian community that is a significant presence in Fairfax County.  Most people think of Fort Belvoir as a huge Army base which is true but it is also home to over 100 organizations including the Army, US Army Reserve, Army National Guard, Department of Defense and Department of the Treasury among others.  Within the 8,656 acres that make up Fort Belvoir you will find an 1,360 acre wildlife refugee,  142 miles of roads, 1,275 buildings and 22,154 working military and civilian personnel. 

Many recent improvements to the roads, housing, shopping and recreation are clearly evident to anyone who takes a tour inside the gates.  When you first arrive at Fort Belvoir's gates you will be surprised to find the new town center an urban town center the same as would find in the nearby neighborhood of Kingstowne.   Fort Belvoir's town center features the offices of the residential community director, a Starbucks, a Rent-A Center store, a day spa, restaurants and residential units located above the stores. 

Ground has been broken for the new state of the art hospital to replace DeWitt Hospital.  The new hospital will have 1.2 million square feet of space and have the facilities to support all of the new technologies needed for a leading medical facility. The new hospital will open in 2010.   The National Museum of U.S. Army  is slated to be built on the North Post of Fort Belvoir and estimated to bring close to 1 million visitors a year to the site.  Slated to open in 2013 it will highlight the history of the Army from Colonial times to present day.

With the upcoming move of 20,000+ jobs to Fort Belvoir and surrounding area as part of BRAC, Fort Belvoir's importance to Fairfax County and Northern Virginia as more than just an Army base will be apparent to everyone who currently lives in the area or finds themselves relocating in the future.

Map image and design registered with US Copyright Office 2008.  All Rights Reserved.