Ask Eli

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at Eli@EliResidential.com.

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

TL;DR Video Summary (5:18)

There is a fierce battle raging in the real estate industry over private/off-market listings, with two distinctly different opinions on consumer fairness.

Private/Off-Market Inventory is Back with Force

Between late 2019 and early 2020, MLS platforms (what is the MLS?) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) introduced Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) that required brokers to enter a property into the MLS within one business day of any public marketing (e.g. public-facing website, email blast, for sale sign, mailers, etc).

The idea behind CCP was to bring more fairness and strength to the market by eliminating numerous private and off-market channels so that buyers could rely on a single data source of homes for sale (from the MLS to consumer sites like Zillow and Homes.com) and sellers would receive top dollar by maximizing their exposure to buyers.

A by-product of last year’s class action settlements related to real estate commissions was the dismantling of CCP policy, leading to a rapid return to private/off-market inventory battles between agents, brokers, and online platforms. Buyers and agents can no longer get a full picture of the market by hoping on MLS, Zillow, Redfin, Homes.com, etc and must gather that information continuously from a more fragmented arrangement of public and private channels.

Consumer Fairness, For Sellers

CCP was eliminated from the weakening of “organized real estate” (rule creation and enforcement entities at the national and local level like NAR, local Associations, and MLSs) that resulted from recent class-action lawsuits and anti-trust pressure from the DOJ. In their eyes, CCP forced consumers and the brokers they hired through a single channel to sell a home and thus created an anti-competitive environment and anti-trust concerns.

Opponents of CCP (proponents of private marketplaces) believe that consumer fairness is about giving homeowners and the brokers they hire the freedom to market their homes in whatever way they believe will produce the best results. They argue that the best results are not always about price and sometimes about privacy, ease, and flexibility.

They also argue that private channels can produce better negotiation leverage and, sometimes, a better sale price than public markets, despite less exposure, because it creates demand through limited, VIP-like access and doesn’t burden sellers with days on market and price change tracking.

I have experienced first-hand, on multiple occasions, private/off-market listings create wins for sellers (and buyers) that were not possible through standard public MLS channels.

Consumer Fairness, For Buyers

CCP was established primarily as a standard of fairness for buyers. Home ownership plays such a critical role in the financial and emotional aspirations of Americans, one can reasonably argue that fair and organized access to for sale housing inventory is crucial to the American Dream.

Proponents of CCP (opponents of private marketplaces) believe that consumer fairness if about ensuring consumers can rely on a single source of data for all homes being offered for sale (MLSs are that source of record).

Proponents of CCP also argue that exposing listings to the full market via public channels will most often generate better results for homeowners and should not be diminished by infrequent use cases. They also argue that the aggregation of private listings is more beneficial to the broker/agent in the long-run than to the consumer and that private channels are too often recommended out of (brokerage) self-interest than consumer (seller) benefit.

The Fair Housing Component

There is an important conversation about fair housing (equal access to housing for those who meet equally applied financial requirements) in the CCP/private listing debate. When homes are listed on the MLS, everybody always has equal access to the listings, websites that receive MLS feeds are completely non-discriminatory.

When homes go through private channels, it is easy for those channels to be distributed to a homogenous group of people, even if the source (broker, agent, private platform) is not intentionally discriminating, it’s too easy for limited-access distribution channels to be unintentionally discriminatory which reduces equal access and brings about fair housing concerns.

Zillow Going to the Mat

The most significant escalation of this battle recently came from Zillow. Zillow has built a ~$17B business by publishing MLS listing feeds nationwide and repurposing them in a consumer-friendly, public format. A big part of Zillow’s success (it commands about half of real estate search traffic) is that buyers can trust they’re seeing close to 100% of the for sale market, but Zillow can’t capture private listing channels and the more those grow, the less buyers can rely on Zillow’s inventory, and the weaker its business gets.

The elimination of CCP and expansion of private listing channels presents a significant risk to Zillow’s business so they recently published their own standards for marketing homes for sale that are very similar to those of CCP – brokers must enter a listing into the MLS within one business day of public marketing. Zillow is threatening to ban a listing for the life of that listing if it determines pre-MLS marketing is in violation of these standards.

I have read/heard that Zillow has started issuing warnings and that they intend to enforce this new policy, setting of a potential knockdown battle between Zillow, anti-CCP brokers/agents, homeowners, and other industry players.

Is Consumer Fairness About Buyers or Sellers? My Opinion

When I think about issues like this, I try to look at them as an educated consumer, not as a self-interested Realtor. Like most issues, there are wide ranging trade-offs on this debate and there will always be strong arguments and use cases for both sides, but I prefer to form my positions based on which option produces the largest net benefit for everybody (most people will be buyers and sellers more than once in their lifetime).

While I feel strongly that sellers and their agent should have the flexibility to choose the marketing approach that works best for them, I think that the fragmentation of the for sale real estate market is a net negative for American consumers and the fundamental concept of CCP produces the highest net benefit. I think that the DOJ is anti-CCP for the right reasons (supports monopolistic brokerage and real estate industry structures), but the elimination of it produces the wrong results.

What do you think? Should consumer fairness in housing favor sellers or buyers? I’m not sure there’s a way to accomplish both.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

Upcoming (pre-market) ERG Listings, Details and Additional Listings Available by Request

• Reston – 4BR/3.5BA/3,000 sqft – End-unit townhouse (1993) – Hollow Timber Ct Reston VA 20194
• Falls Church City – 4BR/4.5BA/3,000+ sqft – End-unit townhouse (1995) – Rees Pl Falls Church VA 22046
• Rosslyn – 3BR/2.5A/2,400 sqft – Condo (2022) – 1781 N Pierce St Arlington VA 22209
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3BR/2.5BA/2,450sqft – Detached Single Family (1961) – S Grove St Arlington VA 22202
• Lorton – 3BR/1.5BA/1,120 sqft – Townhouse (1981) – Sheffield Village Ln Lorton VA 22079

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

Question: We would like to stay in our home for a few weeks after we settle, can you explain the rent-back concept?

Answer: A Seller’s Post-Settlement Occupancy, more commonly referred to as a rent-back, allows a homeowner to sell their home, collect the proceeds, and continue living in the home for a pre-determined period after closing.

Some common scenarios for a rent-back are:

• You need the sale proceeds for the purchase of your next home
• You want to ensure the sale closes before you move out
• You want to wait-out the end of the school year or last day at a job

How Rent-Backs Are Structured

The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors contract (as well as other regional contracts) provides a standard form for a Seller’s Post-Settlement Occupancy Agreement so you don’t need to worry about hiring an attorney. It functions as a short-term lease including:

• How much the seller will pay the buyer for the rent-back
• How long the rent-back lasts
• A security deposit
• A penalty for staying past the rent-back period
• Who is responsible for utilities and maintenance (sellers)
• Who is responsible for major issues from flood, fire, acts of God (buyers)
• Requirement for buyer and seller to maintain property insurance coverage

Pre-Settlement and Post-Occupancy Walk Throughs

Buyers will conduct a pre-closing walk-through before they purchase the home where they have all the rights provided to them in a normal sale. At the end of the rent-back, the new owners will conduct another walk-through once the previous owners move out, which is like that of a walk-through at the end of a normal rental period. If the previous owners cause damage during the move-out, leave junk behind, or fail other property delivery requirements, the new owners can make a claim against the security deposit, which is generally held by the Title Company who handled the sale.

Time Limitations

If the home is being purchased as a primary residence and the buyers are taking out a mortgage, most loans require that the buyer intend to move into the property within 60 days of the closing and thus any rent-back is limited to 60 days (I usually recommend 59, just to avoid an issue with underwriting).

If a home is being purchased with cash or as a secondary home/investment property with a loan, the 60-day limit doesn’t apply. However, the contract form you’ll use explicitly states that it’s meant to give the seller the temporary right to use the property after closing and not subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord Tenant Act, so avoid using this form in place of a legitimate lease if the Buyer/Seller intend on a long-term rent-back.

Not Without Risk

For the new owners, a rent-back carries with it some of the same risks as being a landlord. Disputes over security deposit, damage in excess of the security deposit, or trouble with the previous owners moving out on time are all realities that buyers need to consider.

As with many decisions in a real estate transaction, a buyer’s willingness to agree to a rent-back is a matter of risk and benefit. The risk of issues arising like those mentioned above versus the benefit of offering the seller a rent-back can be the difference between the seller accepting your offer or taking somebody else’s.

Free Rent-Backs?

In a normal market, the fee for a rent-back is usually calculated using the buyer’s carrying costs (mortgage + taxes + insurance), but in competitive markets, many buyers offer sellers a free rent-back to increase the competitiveness of their offer. A free rent-back isn’t worth much if the seller is asking for an extra week, but it adds up if the buyer has a mortgage and the seller is asking to stay for a few weeks or more past closing and can be a highly valued term in the offer.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

Upcoming (pre-market) ERG Listings, Details and Additional Listings Available by Request

• Reston – 4BR/3.5BA/3,000 sqft – End-unit townhouse (1993) – Hollow Timber Ct Reston VA 20194
• Falls Church City – 4BR/4.5BA/3,000+ sqft – End-unit townhouse (1995) – Rees Pl Falls Church VA 22046
• Rosslyn – 3BR/2.5A/2,400 sqft – Condo (2022) – 1781 N Pierce St Arlington VA 22209
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3BR/2.5BA/2,450sqft – Detached Single Family (1961) – S Grove St Arlington VA 22202
• Tara Leeway Heights – 7BR/7.2BA/8,000sqft/half acre/pool – Detached Single Family (2026) – 1500 N Harrison St Arlington VA 22205
• Highland Park/Overlee Knolls – 6BR/5.5BA/5,000+ sqft – Detached Single Family (2025) – 22^nd Rd N Arlington VA 22205

Question: Have you noticed more price reductions on homes than usual for this time of year?

Answer: Across the country, the number of homes with price reductions is on the rise. Zillow recently reported that nearly one in four homes listed on its website had a price cut in April. The markets seeing the highest rate of price cuts tend to be markets that saw the most significant appreciation during the COVID era housing boom like Phoenix, Tampa, Nashville, and Salt Lake City.

Price Cuts Increasing Across the DMV

The chart below shows the number of price cuts per month in the DC area. On one hand, it’s alarming to see the sharp increase in price cuts this year compared to previous years – it’s an accurate reflection of how the market has shifted this year. On the other hand, the first six months of the last three years (’22-’24) have been exceptionally strong markets that can make a normal market appear weak in comparison.

What Does the Summer Hold?

If you look at the pattern of price reductions through May compared to previous years and look at the seasonal pattern of higher rates of price reductions from June through October, one can easily forecast a significant rate of price reductions in the DMV on the horizon.

That may very well be our future, but it’s also possible that we’ve seen sellers in the DMV cutting prices faster than usual this year because of the onslaught of news about federal workforce and spending cuts. This could mean that spending cuts have been more front-loaded than usual, and the rate of price reductions may slow down (but will remain higher than previous years).

Will Seller Optimism Drop?

So far, sellers in Northern VA and the DC Metro have been optimistic going to market, with the average asking price of new listings up 1-4% year-over-year each of the last three months, per the chart below.

 

The chart below shows that some of those sellers have been rewarded for their optimism, with the average price of homes under contract with an asking price 1-5% more year-over-year (TBD what these properties actually sell for, but likely close to asking price).

On the flip side, the chart below shows us that many sellers are being punished for being overly optimistic, with the average list price of homes sitting on the market in April down 7% and 12% in the DC Metro and Northern VA, respectively.

If sellers become less optimistic and start going to market with lower asking prices, that may lead to fewer price reductions through the summer.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

Upcoming (pre-market) ERG Listings, Details and Additional Listings Available by Request*

• Reston – 4BR/3.5BA/3,000 sqft – End-unit townhouse (1993) – Hollow Timber Ct Reston VA 20194
• Highland Park/Overlee Knolls – 6BR/5.5BA/5,000+ sqft – Detached Single Family (2025) – 22^nd Rd N Arlington VA 22205
• Rosslyn – 3BR/2.5A/2,400 sqft – Condo (2022) – 1781 N Pierce St Arlington VA 22209
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3BR/2.5BA/2,450sqft – Detached Single Family (1961) – S Grove St Arlington VA 22202
• Tara Leeway Heights – 7BR/7.2BA/8,000sqft/half acre/pool – Detached Single Family (2026) – 1500 N Harrison St Arlington VA 22205

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at Eli@EliResidential.com.

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

Question: We are having trouble finding a lot big enough for our family in Arlington. How difficult is it to find a home with an acre or more?

Answer: Before you jump into an Arlington home search hoping to find an acre of land walking distance to the Metro, it’s important to understand what size lots you can expect to find on the market. I reviewed sales of detached single-family homes in Arlington, going back to 2022, and summarized that data below.

The data is based on total square footage of a lot, including the land the home sits on. Most people think about lots in terms of acres, so here’s a quick conversion key:

Arlington Lot Size Highlights (sales since 2022):

• Average lot = 8,336 SqFt
• Median lot = 7,214 SqFt
• A ¼ acre lot is in the top 85% largest lots
• 1.1% of lots had ½ acre or more
• Just four homes sold with 1+ acre lots and none with more than 1.75 acres

Most Common Lot Size is 6,000-8,000 SqFt

The charts below show the breakdown of lot sizes for all homes sold in Arlington since 2022. 70% of homes sit on lots with 5,000-9,999 sqft and 39% of homes had a lot size of 6,000-7,999 sqft.

The Largest Lots are in North Arlington

The smallest lots are in South Arlington and along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor with larger lots found further north. 22213 is the only zip code with a majority of lots being over 10,000 sqft.

Below you can see a distribution of lot sizes by zip code, first as a percentage of sales in each zip code and then by number of sales in each zip code.

If any readers would like to see pricing data for certain lot sizes, I’m happy to pull that for you, just send me an email.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

Upcoming (pre-market) ERG Listings, Details and Additional Listings Available by Request

• Ballston – 5BR/3.5BA/4,000 sqft – Detached Single Family (2004) – N Wakefield St Arlington VA 22203
• Reston – 4BR/3.5BA/3,000 sqft – End-unit townhouse (1993) – Hollow Timber Ct Reston VA 20194
• Rosslyn – 3BR/2.5BA/2,400 sqft – Condo (2022) – 1781 N Pierce St Arlington VA 22209
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3BR/2.5BA/2,450sqft – Detached Single Family (1961) – S Grove St Arlington VA 22202
• Ballston – 2BR/1BA/919sqft – Condo (2005) – 1001 N Randolph St Arlington VA 22201
• Tara Leeway Heights – 7BR/7.2BA/8,000sqft/half acre/pool – Detached Single Family (2026) – 1500 N Harrison St Arlington VA 22205

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

Question: How much are Arlington’s most expensive homes?

Answer: The first $1M sale in Arlington (recorded in the MLS) was a 4,300 SF penthouse in a Rosslyn condo building, The Atrium, in 1996. Last year, 727 homes sold for $1M or more and there are currently six homes for sale with an asking price over $4M.

Arlington is a very expensive housing market by most measures, except for the “missing ultra high-end,” but just how much money does it take for a home to be considered expensive in Arlington?

Let’s look at how the price of an expensive home in Arlington has changed over the past 25 years. In the first chart, I define an expensive home as homes that fall in the top 10% of sale prices in a given year.

The most notable data point in these charts is that the average price of an expensive home increased by 89% from 1999 to 2004, compared to 38% from 2019 to 2024.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

Upcoming (pre-market) ERG Listings, Details and Additional Listings Available by Request

• Rosslyn – 3BR/2.5BA/2,400sqft – Condo (1986) – 1530 Key Blvd Arlington VA 22209
• Yorktown – 6BR/6.5BA/6,000+ sqft – Detached Single Family (2026) – N Greencastle St Arlington VA 22207
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3BR/2.5BA/2,450sqft – Detached Single Family (1961) – S Grove St Arlington VA 22202
• Ballston – 2BR/1BA/919sqft – Condo (2005) – 1001 N Randolph St Arlington VA 22201
• Tara Leeway Heights – 7BR/7.2BA/7,500sqft/half acre/pool – Detached Single Family (2026) – 1500 N Harrison St Arlington VA 22205

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

Questions: Do you have any advice for somebody who needs help improving their credit score to qualify for a better loan?

Answer: This is not the time or place to air my grievances with the US credit score system, but as it stands today and for well into the future, your credit score plays a significant role in your ability to get a mortgage and cost of your mortgage.

There are some strategies for to marginally increase your credit score over a short period of time, but the best thing you can do for a future home purchase is develop strong habits that lead to a great, long-term credit score.

For years, I have valued the wisdom and education of Paul Nagel, an excellent mortgage lender with Main Street Home Loans ([email protected] or 703-201-5147) and he recently shared an excellent article with me that he authored on the five habits of people with high credit scores that I thought was valuable to present to you in the form of a guest post.

Here is what Paul has to say…

Before going further, I’m required to state that I am not a credit repair professional, and this is based on my observations while helping clients obtain home financing over the past two decades. I’ve never seen anyone have these habits and not have excellent credit scores, and I hope the following observations can benefit you.

Habit #1: Micromanage your bills during atypical life events

Late payments hurt your credit score, but it’s surprisingly uncommon that late payments caused by a lack of available funds. Most often, late payments or collections are the result of poorly monitored bills during atypical life events.

There are two life events you should pay attention to that most often lead to mistaken late payments or collections:

• Medical Emergencies: The complexity of our healthcare system often leads to late or missed payments so be proactive in asking for bills and making sure treatments are completely paid off
• Moving: Late payments and collections associated with a move often happen for two reasons. First, a utility (or similar) bill may have an outstanding balance that goes unnoticed after the move, and this overlooked balance becomes a collection and large negative event on a credit report. Second, you forgot to notify a vendor of your new address and bills get sent to your old address and missed in your busy inbox. Find a moving checklist that contains reminders of all the different vendors/bills people usually have to help you remember who to notify.

Habit #2: Keep credit card balances under 45% of each card’s maximum limit

A computer program called the FICO Scoring Model accumulates your credit information and generates a score based on this information. One of the inputs is the current balance on each of your credit cards relative to the maximum credit limit for each credit card. Rightly or wrongly, this computer program will reduce your credit score if the balance of any credit card is over 45% of the maximum line of credit.

Should you have unusually high expenses one month that exceed the 45% balance, the score will adjust and improve once the algorithm is re-run after paying it down, but there will be a period of time prior to when your score is lower because of the high balance.

Habit #3: If a negative event happens, fix it right away

It’s nearly impossible to live a life free of negative credit events, but people with consistently high credit scores make fixing these issues a top priority when they happen rather than letting them linger (and possibly forgetting).

Your credit score will begin to “heal” as soon as the negative event is corrected, but it can take time for the score to fully recover so time is of the essence.

Habit #4: Keep it simple with 2-4 cards from large institutions

Rewards and perks are tempting, but the more cards you have in use, the higher the chance you have of missing a payment or mistakenly exceeding the 45% balance rule. Keep it simple to maximize the life-long benefits of a high credit score.

Typically, store credit cards have a lower credit limit and are easier to exceed the 45% balance rule with. Larger banking institutions tend to offer the highest credit limits and thus allow you to more easily stay under the 45% mark.

Habit #5: Avoid frivolous credit card inquiries

Be thoughtful and infrequent with credit card inquiries (applications for new lines of credit), this includes rewards cards from a store or airline. All credit inquiries lower your credit score, but not all inquiries are created equal.

A credit card inquiry is much more harmful and longer lasting than a mortgage inquiry. You can also have multiple mortgage application inquiries within a two-week period and it will only count as one inquiry.

Limit your credit card inquiries to times when you know you are ready to open a new line of credit, have done your homework on the card, and are confident that it will be a long-term card for you.

One final tip from personal and professional experience – occasionally we are improperly billed a small, frustrating amount from a vendor. If you are unable to correct it in a timeline manner, consider cutting your losses and paying it, rather than fight it all the way into collections. The cost of having a small, albeit improper, bill getting sent to collections can be much greater than the cost of paying it off. You can continue to fight it after paying it off.

I hope you find Paul’s guidance helpful. If you have any questions about good credit practices, ideas for short-term boosts to your credit score, or anything mortgage lending related you can reach Paul Nagel of Main Street Home Loans at [email protected] or 703-201-5147.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

Upcoming (pre-market) ERG Listings, Details and Additional Listings Available by Request

• Yorktown – 6BR/6.5BA/6,000+ sqft – Detached Single Family (2026) – N Greencastle St Arlington VA 22207
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3BR/2.5BA/2,450sqft – Detached Single Family (1961) – S Grove St Arlington VA 22202
• Ballston – 2BR/1BA/919sqft – Condo (2005) – 1001 N Randolph St Arlington VA 22201
• Tara Leeway Heights – 7BR/7.2BA/7,500sqft/half acre/pool – Detached Single Family (2026) – 1500 N Harrison St Arlington VA 22205
• Highland Park/Overlee Knolls – 6BR/5.5BA/5,000+ sqft – Detached Single Family (2025) – 22^nd Rd N Arlington VA 22205

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

Question: How did the Arlington and Northern VA housing market perform in the first quarter?

Answer: Remember two months ago when social media and various media outlets announced the DC area housing market was collapsing? I wrote at length why they were wrong then (link) and through the first quarter of 2025, they’re still wrong. There’s no doubt that the market is fragile and more favorable for buyers than it’s been in a while, but there is nothing in the data or my experience in the market to indicate anything extreme is happening.

The Q1 Market Shift is Significant

There is no doubt that we are seeing significant market shifts across the region – we can feel it within the industry and we can see it in the data (illustrated below). Within our team, we see the fragility of the market in real-time with some homes getting multiple offers and six figure escalations and others cutting prices after unexpected days on market, offering buyer incentives to put a deal together.

The two charts below show the year-over-year (YoY) quarterly change in the number of homes for sale in Northern VA and Arlington, over the last ten years. Q1 2025 was the largest YoY quarterly increase in the past decade and 5^th largest for Arlington. The four quarters with a higher YoY quarterly increase in Arlington were driven purely by the historical surge of condos for sale in 2020 and 2021 in Arlington.

This is NOT a Fire Sale

One of the more ridiculous storylines floating around when DOGE started cutting federal jobs and spending was that everybody was putting their home up for sale and fleeing the area. That was objectively false then and it remains false as we collect more data.

According to Redfin’s Data Center for all US Metro areas, new listing volume in Q1 2025 was up 5.2% nationwide. Arlington County is up 5.5%, Fairfax County is up 8.3%, and Loudoun County is up 21.4%. I suspect that the higher increase in Loudoun is correlated to new Return-to-Office mandates, causing more homeowners to sell to shorten their commute.

Keep in mind that these YoY increases are coming from years if massive drops in new listing activity, so we are still seeing a small number of homes coming to market relative to the ten-year average. New listing activity in Loudoun County needed to increase by 76.1% YoY in Q1 2025 to match the listing activity from Q1 2018.

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This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

On March 11, I moderated a panel discussion featuring a custom home builder, architect, renovation specialist, and construction lender to help homeowners and buyers better understand what it takes to build a new home or take on a major renovation or addition.

Our conversation covered a wide range of practical topics, including:

• The key phases, timelines, and costs of remodeling and new construction
• The role of an architect vs. design-build firm, and how to engage each
• How to finance construction projects, including options that preserve your current mortgage
• Differences between spec, semi-custom, and fully custom homes
• The economics behind large new builds, $/sqft expectations, and demolition costs
• A breakdown of common project costs like kitchens, bathrooms, pop-tops, and additions
• Navigating zoning, setbacks, and stormwater regulations
• Insights on value-adding renovation choices and how to decide between building new vs. renovating

We also discussed real-world challenges, such as managing neighborhood concerns, understanding today’s material costs, and aligning expectations with reality throughout the process.

The entire panel is available on YouTube, linked here, or Podcast, linked here.

Our panelists were fantastic and shared wide ranging, in-depth answers to my questions, without the fluff you often get from panel discussions. The panel was made up of the following local experts:

• Chad Hackmann, Regional Partner/Owner, Alair Homes Arlington
• Matt Rzepkowski, President/Owner, MR Custom Homes
• Tripp DeFalco, President/Owner, DeFalco Home Design
• Brad Pace, Wealth Management Mortgage Banker and Construction Builder Specialist, US Bank

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

Upcoming (pre-market) ERG Listings, Details and Additional Listings Available by Request

• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3BR/2.5BA/2,450sqft – Detached Single Family (1961) – S Grove St Arlington VA 22202
• Ballston – 2BR/1BA/919sqft – Condo (2005) – 1001 N Randolph St Arlington VA 22201
• Rosslyn 2BR/2BA/1,600sqft – Condo (1986) – 1530 Key Blvd Arlington VA 22209
• Courthouse – 3BR/2BA/1,400sqft – Condo (1992) – 1276 N Wayne St Arlington VA 22201
• Tara Leeway Heights – 7BR/7.2BA/7,500sqft/half acre/pool – Detached Single Family (2026) — 1500 N Harrison St Arlington VA 22205
• Highland Park/Overlee Knolls – 6BR/5.5BA/5,000+ sqft – Detached Single Family (2025) – 22^nd Rd N Arlington VA 22205

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at Eli@EliResidential.com.

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

On Monday, April 28 I’ll be hosting another Ask Eli Home Buyer Workshop with a special focus on how federal job and spending cuts by DOGE are changing the local housing market. I’ll be joined by my business partner, Jean Ropp, and local Loan Officer, Matt Ropp, with Atlantic Coast Mortgage. Food and drinks will be provided!

The workshop is a free and will cover:

• How federal job and spending cuts by DOGE are changing the local housing market
• New(ish) laws affecting buyer agent representation and commission
• How to use data and strategy to maximize your home purchase
• How to use market trends to your advantage
• The latest on interest rates and mortgage programs/products
• Common mistakes to avoid and some tips for success

Who is it for?

• Any buyer type from first-time buyer to experienced buyers
• Ready to purchase now or planning 12+ months out
• Home buyers in Northern Virginia, DC, or the Maryland Suburbs
• You or anybody you know who would benefit

Where and When?

• Monday, April 28 from 6-7:30 p.m.
• Arlington Central Library (1015 N Quincy St), Bluemont Room

Registration is now open and space is limited. Click the graphic below to RSVP.

Bring your appetite and your home buying questions! I’d love to see you there. Feel free to email me at [email protected] with any questions about the event.

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at Eli@EliResidential.com.

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

Question: Do you recommend staging for vacant homes?

Answer: When you stage a home, you are putting temporary furniture and accessories in a home while it is being marketed for sale. In most cases, I strongly encourage staging a home instead of leaving it empty.

The value of staging shows up in two critical parts of the selling/marketing process:

1. It improves the quality of the photos by helping people understand the scale and purpose of a room. Better photos lead to more showings.
2. Good staging also improves the way Buyers experience the home in-person during a showing. Better showings lead to better/more offers.

In my opinion, the three main benefits to staging a home are:

1. Add Life to Empty Homes: Walking into an empty house can be eerie and makes a home feel lifeless. Those are not feelings you want potential Buyers to have while walking through your home. Good staging can add energy and life to a vacant home.
2. Help Rooms Feel Larger: This is counterintuitive, but most people perceive empty rooms as being smaller than they really are. I’ve experienced this on numerous occasions walking through empty rooms with Buyers who have trouble understanding how a bed or couch can fit into an empty room that is more than big enough for their furniture.
3. Engage the Eye: Well staged properties keep Buyers engaged with room layout and functionality, but unstaged empty rooms allow Buyers to focus on flaws like paint scuffs, separating trim, poor lighting, and other things you’d prefer Buyers to overlook during their visit.

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This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at Eli@EliResidential.com.

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

Question: How many different real estate agents are doing business in Arlington?

Answer: There were 2,189 real estate transactions in Arlington last year, totaling $1.97B in sales volume, very similar to last year’s totals of 2,239 transactions and $1.91B in volume.

There were 2,058 licensed real estate agents involved in at least one sale in Arlington in 2024, compared to 2,136 agents in 2023. Each transaction usually includes two real estate agents — one representing the buyer and another representing the seller.

I looked through the 2024 Arlington transaction data and pulled out some interesting highlights below. I removed a few agents whose business is all in-house sales (for a builder or building). There are some real estate teams that enter all sales under one agent’s name, so in these cases, individual numbers represent the production of many agents rolled under one agent’s name, but I don’t have transparency into that data to parse it. Here’s a link to an article I wrote in 2019 explaining how different agents/teams are structured.

NOTE: All data and rankings are based on sales entered into the MLS and does not include off-market sales, which may make up a larger percentage of some agent business and is not reflected in the table below

• 65% of agents who did business last year in Arlington had just one sale in Arlington and accounted for 28% of the total sales volume
• 6% (33) of agents handled 10+ transactions in Arlington
• 3% (7) of agents handled 20+ transactions in Arlington
• 1,336 different agents represented buyers, 4 represented 10+ buyers
• 1,157 different agents represented sellers, 14 represented 10+ sellers
• 20 agents handled 5+ buyer transactions and 5+ seller transactions
• The top 10% producing agents in Arlington accounted for 31% of sales volume
• The highest average sale price with at least three transactions in Arlington is Robert Hryniewicki with an average price of nearly $4.35M across 3 listings. The highest average sale price with at least ten transactions in Arlington is Sheri Grant with an average price of nearly $2M across 7 listings and 4 buyers.
• Congratulations to Betsy Twigg for a second straight year with the highest sales volume in Arlington and to the Keri Shull Team for regaining their spot at the top of the total transactions ranking

Most studies suggest that consumers are less concerned with measures like sales volume and more focused on the strength of communication and trustworthiness of the agent they’re working with, but market expertise and experience are still important considerations.

Many people see the low barrier to entry for real estate licensing, and the resulting high volume of agents, as a negative, but it also means that you have a lot of choices as a consumer and, with some effort, can make sure that you’re working with somebody who provides the type of service you’re looking for and the experience to match.

If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].

Upcoming (pre-market) ERG Listings, Details and Additional Listings Available by Request

• Courthouse — 2 BR/2 BA/950 sq. ft. — Condo (2006) — 2001 15th Street N., Arlington VA, 22201
• Courthouse — 3 BR/2 BA/1,400 sq. ft. — Condo (1992) — 1276 N. Wayne Street, Arlington VA, 22201
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills — 3 BR/2.5 BA/2,450 sq. ft. — Detached Single Family (1961) — S. Grove Street, Arlington VA, 22202
• Yorktown — 6 BR/6.5 BA/6,000+ sq. ft. — Detached Single Family (2026) — N. Greencastle Street, Arlington VA, 22207
• Highland Park/Overlee Knolls — 6 BR/5.5 BA/5,000+ sq. ft. — Detached Single Family (2025) — 22nd Road N., Arlington VA, 22205

This regularly scheduled sponsored column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at Eli@EliResidential.com.

Eli and his team believe that your real estate needs should be managed by advisors, not salespeople. Their mission is to guide, educate, and advocate for their clients through real advice, hands-on support, and personalized service.

Question: Have you seen the effects of the DOGE workforce and spending cuts showing up in the housing market data?

Answer: I’ll be answering “how’s the market” for you throughout the year while we absorb the effects of DOGE and the seesaw of critical decisions being made about Federal jobs and spending.

Headline Summary: Demand is down, inventory is up (clearly DOGE-related), but most of the D.C. area housing market is performing well for sellers because inventory levels are still well below current demand (in most sub-markets).

Now for those of you who want more than a one-sentence summary, let’s look at some of the underlying data that I’m watching and what it means for forecasting…

Demand is Down, Modestly

There is no doubt that demand is down, you can feel it in the market and see it in the data, but it’s a modest decrease and there are still plenty of motivated buyers across price-points and property types in the market.

You can see the drop in demand in the two charts below. Showings are trending lower year-over-year by about 10% (and last year was already well below average) and pending contracts have trended below last year’s numbers most weeks, despite this past week jumping to +1.5% year-over-year. While pending contracts are only marginally lower on the year, there are currently more homes for buyers to choose from (detailed in the next section) so contract activity to available supply (absorption) is much lower than last year, indicating lower demand than what we see in pending contracts data.

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