Rent Move Buy - Ep. 45: How I Purchased My First DC-Area Home

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 45: How I Purchased My First DC-Area Home with Guest Michael Fowler

Buying a home in the DC-area can be scary and intimidating for lots of reasons, but something that’s been said a lot, especially lately while there is low inventory and high home prices, is that buying your first home is impossible.  Of course, REALTORs will tell you that it IS possible… but sometimes that might come off as salesy and insincere.  So in today’s episode, guest Michael Fowler and Alison share their experiences with how they purchased their first homes in the area, how those purchases helped them with subsequent home purchases, and where they are now in the home owning journey.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 44: How to be a Landlord in DC, MD, or VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 44: How to be a Landlord in DC, MD, or VA with Guest Barry Lieberman

Frequently in the DMV area, buyers purchase a home they know they’ll only live in for a few years, and when they are able to upgrade, they’re sometimes in a position to rent their first home out instead of selling it. Other times, people decide to buy a property with the sole purpose of renting it out as an investment. But being a Landlord in DC, MD, or VA isn’t necessarily a simple process that one can haphazardly jump into. Barry Lieberman is a Property Manager with over 15 years of experience managing, leasing, and selling homes for his clients. In this episode, Alison and Barry discuss the ins and outs of what’s necessary to being a Landlord in the area and how one can navigate becoming a landlord in the DMV for the first time.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 43: Tiny Homes in the DMV

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 43: Tiny Homes in the DMV with Guest Lee Pera

Pre-pandemic, nomadic lifestyles weren’t something many residents in the DMV region often considered, but since the covid19 pandemic and the subsequent ease of working from home or in some cases, from anywhere, people have started reconsidering how much room they need, where and how to live. Add to that the issue of housing affordability in the area, and maybe you decide you want to build a tiny home… so where do you start? Where can you keep it? Lee Pera is a geographer and tiny home consultant who in 2012 built her own tiny home and started the nation's first urban tiny home community in Washington DC. In this episode, Lee and Alison discuss navigating tiny homes in DC, MD, and VA and outline best first steps for one to take.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 42: How to Get Solar Power in your Home When Living in DC, MD, and VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 42: How to Get Solar Power in your Home When Living in DC, MD, and VA with Guest Aliza Vaida

In recent years, DC, MD, and VA have established new goals and targets for responding to climate change, including a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Solar energy is emissions free, and installing solar panels on your home is one clear way that one can help us all achieve these goals. In this episode, Alison is joined by Aliza Vaida of EnergySage, a company that offers valuable educational resources, calculators and marketplaces to help people learn about and shop for solar with confidence. Together they discuss how solar can work for homeowners and renters in the area, and how one can go about figuring out what options are best for each person.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 41: How to Get a Mortgage When You Are Self-Employed

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 41: How to Get a Mortgage When You Are Self-Employed in DC, MD, and VA with Guest John Downs

If you are self-employed, want to buy a home, and would like to get a mortgage, the process is not the same as when you are an employee and have a steady paycheck and known salary. In this episode, Alison is joined by John Downs, a mortgage lender with over 20 years of experience lending in DC, MD, and VA who has an incredibly successful track record in helping self-employed people obtain loans. Together they discuss how the process works in general for non-W2 employees and changes that have happened in the process since the covid-19 pandemic.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 40: All About Home Warranties in DC, MD, and VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 40: All About Home Warranties in DC, MD, and VA with Guest Tory Hunnicutt

What are home warranties? Do they really work and what do they cost? In this episode, Certified Home Inspector and Owner of Protect the Investment, Tory Hunnicut, and Alison discuss much of the details of home warranties that Buyers should know as they consider if getting one is right for them from pros & cons, when they make sense, and when they don’t.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 39: How to Pick Your Real Estate Agent in DC, MD, or VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 39: How to Pick a Real Estate Agent in DC, MD, or VA with Guest Host Michael Fowler

When there seems to be dozens of people you know or meet in the real estate industry, how do you choose who to work with to represent you in a transaction?  In this episode, Alison and Guest Host Michael Fowler tackle some Agent basics, like the difference between an Agent, REALTOR, and Broker, and discuss things you can do to find the right person to entrust with the awesome responsibility of guiding you through your home purchases and sales.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 38: Running Short Term Rentals, AirBnBs, VRBOs in DC, MD, and VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 38: Running Short Term Rentals, AirBnBs, VRBOs in DC, MD, and VA (Part II) with Guest Zac Rushton

In Episode 31, our Part I episode about short term rentals, we discussed the market for AirBnBs and VRBOs with Karl Scarlett, the Founder and Owner of Great Dwellings, a Washington DC-based property management company that helps homeowners manage their long and short-term vacation rentals. In this episode, Karl’s Partner, Zac Rushton, delves into the specifics of how one runs a successful and popular rental so that hosts can maximize their returns and keep customers coming back time and time again.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 37: Estate Planning and Passing on Real Estate in DC, MD, and VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 37: Estate Planning and Passing on Real Estate in DC, MD, and VA with Guest Marissa Bagasra

Your house is one of your most valuable assets so making sure you have a plan for how it will be taken care of after you pass is something all homeowners should consider and understand. 

Marissa Bagasra is an attorney who practices and specializes in estate law in DC, MD, and VA. In this episode, we discuss the process of what happens to one's home when they pass away in all three jurisdictions so you can plan for the unexpected and hopefully make these decisions ahead of a time when they need to be made.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 36: Listing Price and Offer Price Advice and Theories for DC, MD, and VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 36: Estate Planning and Passing on Real Estate in DC, MD, and VA with Guest Amit Bhuta

Figuring out how much to list a home for or price at offer at is far from a perfect science, and picking the wrong price can set up a real estate transaction well or on the wrong foot.  Amit Bhuta is the leader of a top-selling Miami FL Real Estate team that prides themselves on thinking like a consumer and not like a typical real estate agent. In this episode, we discuss things to consider when pricing properties and offer prices that can help you make sure you arrive at a place that you’re happy with in the sale or purchase of your home.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 35: Top 10 Mistakes First Time Home Buyers Should Avoid when Buying in DC / MD/ VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 35: Top 10 Mistakes First Time Home Buyers Should Avoid when Buying in DC / MD/ VA with Guest Michael Fowler

Buying your first home is an exciting and sometimes overwhelming process, so it’s important to make sure you don’t go down some paths that may make the process harder for you in the long run. Michael Fowler is a real estate Agent at Compass in the DC Metro region with over 10 years of experience helping clients rent, sell, and buy real estate. In this episode, he and Alison go through their list of top 10 mistakes to avoid when purchasing your first home so that when you’re ready to jump in, that you can go in with eyes open and with your best foot forward.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 34: Basic Home Maintenance that All Homeowners Should Do

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 34: Basic Home Maintenance that All Homeowners Should Do with Steph Toler

The 1% rule of home maintenance budgeting says that you should plan to spend at least 1% of a home’s purchase price for regular home maintenance per year, but what are all of the tasks that should be done regularly to ensure your home stays in tip-top shape? Steph Toler is a Senior Vice President at Flock who’s charged with running the company’s maintenance, client experience, leasing divisions, and Birdwatch, a monthly management service that tracks and coordinates annualized preventive maintenance tasks and repairs. Proper maintenance of a home is extremely important and can be stressful, especially in a metropolitan area where it’s always go go go, so in this episode we aim to give you a place to start when figuring out what needs to be done in a home you already own or one that you may consider buying in the future.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 33 Aging in Place Homes and ADUs in DC, MD, and VA

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 33 Aging in Place Homes and ADUs in DC, MD, and VA with Guest Florence Macauley

As baby boomers continue to age, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that people over the age of 65 will outnumber those under the age of 18 as soon as 2034. With this being the case, multi-generation housing and so-called aging in place homes are in higher demand and homes with Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are being considered more and more with Buyers. Florence Macauley is a Geriatric Physical Therapist, and CEO & Founder of AgeWise Home, an innovative aging in place consultancy business in the DMV. Plenty of people can’t  or don’t want to move as they age, and in this episode we discuss how to tackle this topic in general and some helpful ways to get started planning for aging in ones home, should that be what they choose to do.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 32: How to Own or Foster a Dog While Navigating Breed, Size Restrictions, and More in DC, MD, and VA

Ep. 32: How to Own or Foster a Dog While Navigating Breed, Size Restrictions, and More in DC, MD, and VA with Guest Liza Malnik of P.A.W.

In 2020, the United States saw a massive rise in dog adoption and fostering and the DC Metropolitan Area was no exception. This growth in interest led many people in the area to start considering how a dog would fit not only into their lives, but their homes, which oftentimes were rental buildings or where they would be sharing floors, walls, and common areas with other people. Liza Malnik is the Outreach Coordinator for Partner for Animal Welfare (P.A.W.), a nonprofit organization serving DC, MD, and VA whose mission is to facilitate the rescue of homeless dogs and cats and place them in loving forever homes. In this episode, we break down all of the things to consider when looking to foster, adopt, or take a new pet into one’s home, whether you are renting, moving to the area, or own here already.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 31: Owning and Operating Short Term Rentals, AirBnBs, and VRBOs in the DC Area

Owning and Operating Short Term Rentals, AirBnBs, and VRBOs in the DC Area (Ep. 31)

AirBnBs and VRBOs were already widely known as short term housing options by travelers before the pandemic, but since Spring 2020, there has been an even bigger uptick in non-hotel short term rental use (and hosting!) in the DC-area.  Karl Scarlett is the Founder and Owner of Great Dwellings, a Washington DC-based property management company that helps homeowners maximize their homes long and short-term vacation rentals. In this episode, we discuss the interest that short term rentals in the DMV have received both before, during, and after the pandemic along with our predictions for how they'll do in the future.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 30 NYC Style in DC Homes: Staging and Design Tricks

Ep. 30 - NYC Style in DC Homes: Staging and Design Tricks with Guest Jason Saft and Guest Host Michael Fowler

It’s a Seller’s Market currently in the DMV, but that doesn’t mean that a Seller doesn’t have to do anything in preparation for sale.  Some listings still sit on the market because they didn’t receive the proper TLC needed to get the listing noticed and under contract quickly. Jason Saft is a real estate industry veteran with over 15 years of record breaking sales and is the creator of “Staged To Sell,” a 30-point action plan that he applies to all properties he transforms.  This creative vision organically led to the growth of Staged To Sell which has become a go-to resource for other real estate agents and their sellers.  In this episode, we discuss how Jason reinvents and reintroduces properties that have failed to sell in the past, along with some new ways of evaluating what a home needs before hitting the market.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 29: Should You Live in DC, MD, or VA? Key Differences Between the Three.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 29: Should You Live in DC, MD, or VA? Key Differences with Guest Charles Huang

When looking to purchase a home in the DMV, Buyers usually consider multiple neighborhoods to buy and live in. Rosslyn vs Foggy Bottom, Brightwood vs Silver Spring… but the fact that these different neighborhoods aren’t always in the same state or jurisdiction means that they’ll have different taxing structures, laws, and regulations that can affect which place really makes the most sense to buy in. Charles Huang is a real estate attorney with KVS Title who has worked in real estate law since 2015. In this episode, Charles and Alison break down some of the key distinctions between DC, MD, and VA, from taxes, level of disclosure, and rental laws so Buyers can consider more than one jurisdiction with eyes open and be aware of the differences.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 28: Home Flipping in the Washington DC Area

Ep. 28: Home Flipping in the Washington DC Area with Guest Jordan Ghrist

With the rise of HGTV and various television programs that tout the fun, enjoyment, and value that comes out of home flipping, people all over the country have had a dramatic interest in trying out their luck with a flip. But is it as straightforward and easy as it’s often made to look on tv? Especially in the DC metro area? Jordan Ghrist is a seasoned residential developer working in the DMV who has directed the building process of over 80 homes throughout his career. He has experience in all areas of the home flipping process, from evaluation, acquisition, development, sale of homes, and of varying complexity and cost throughout DC, MD, and VA. In this episode we talk about what it takes to flip a home in the area and the considerations a newbie home flipper should consider before trying it out on their own.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 27: Homebuying Virtually or From Abroad

Whether it’s buying a home from another state or from abroad, there are certain disadvantages to searching and buying when a person isn't currently living in the place where they want to move to.  So what do you do when you find yourself in this position? Jocelyn Lederman is a top Realtor with Compass in DC, MD, and VA whose commitment to seamless communication has led to a large number of successful client home purchases from abroad. In this episode, Jocelyn and Alison discuss the hurdles Buyers from overseas may encounter, and how to work through them effectively.

Rent Move Buy - Ep. 26: So You Want to Buy a Home in DC | MD | VA...?

Ep. 26: So You Want to Buy a Home in DC | MD | VA with Guest Karen Ringo

What do you really need to do if you want to buy a home in the DC-area?  Is there a simple list you can follow? In this episode, Alison and guest, Karen Ringo, tackle that question and give a how-to breakdown along with some tips that Buyers or soon-to-be Buyers can follow to help them confidently start and move through what can often be an intimidating process.