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.

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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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 do County assessed values for property taxes compare to actual market values?

Answer: In January, Arlington announced that residential property tax assessments increased by 3.7% across the county (changes to individual home/land values will vary significantly). This change is meant to align with the increase in market values of Arlington homes, but it falls below actual 2024 market performance for detached and condo properties (good for homeowners paying property taxes).

Tax assessed values remain well below actual market values for most homes in Arlington. In fact, 86.4% of homes sold in 2024 sold for more than their most recent tax assessed value. Nearly the same number of homes sold for 20% or more than their assessed value than those that sold for less than their assessed value.

Homes that sold in 2024 sold for an average of 9.7% (median 9.1%) above their most recent tax assessment.

Those who own homes in the 22205 and 22207 zip codes (most of North Arlington) benefit the most by underassessments, with the average 2024 sale coming in13.2% and 13% over their assessed value, respectively, which translates to under assessments of roughly $1,700 and $2,000 annually. Owners of detached homes and townhouses benefit more from underassessments than condo owners, with a 11.8% average under assessment compared to a 7.1% average difference.

If County assessments were representative of actual market values, the average Arlington homeowner would pay over $1,000 more per year in property taxes, so don’t forget to send the Department of Real Estate Assessments a thank you card!

The following chart shows how much more the average home sold for in 2024 compared to its most recent tax assessed value (note: I’ve done some data clean-up like removing sales of new homes where the assessed value is still based on the original home’s value).

If you believe that the County’s assessment of your home’s value is too high, you have the right to appeal the assessed value; the deadline is March 1 each year

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

• National Landing – 1BR+den/1.5BA – condo (2023) – 737 Swann Ave Alexandria VA 22301
• Rosslyn – 2BR/2BA 1,050sqft – condo (2007) – 1800 Wilson Blvd Arlington VA 22201
• Rosslyn – 1BR+den/1BA/900sqft – Condo (2007) – 1800 Wilson Blvd Arlington VA 22201
• Courthouse – 2BR/2BA/1,100sqft – Condo (1992) – 1276 N Wayne St Arlington VA 22201
• Courthouse – 3BR/2BA/1,400sqft – Condo (1992) – 1276 N Wayne St Arlington VA 22201
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3BR/2.5BA/2,450sqft – Detached Single Family (1961) – S Grove St Arlington VA 22202

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Eli Residential channel.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. (703) 390-9460.

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: What design trends have you been seeing in the residential market lately?

Answer: Every year our marketing department does a deep dive into home design trends that multiple local and national design experts say to look for each year. Some of these trends last just a year or two, others take hold for years. Often, these trends reintroduce styles from decades ago (e.g. wallpaper resurgence) with small tweaks.

You can click this link to browse the full 2025 Design Trends e-booklet from RLAH Real Estate. I’ve pulled out a few highlights and personal favorites below…

Colors of the Year

Color trends have recently shifted towards an organic, natural look and all three 2025 Color of the Year selections from Pantone, Benjamin Moore, and Behr reflect that trend.

Return of the Formal Living Room

After years of buyers seeing formal living rooms and saying “what am I supposed to do with this room” we are finally seeing preference shift away from fully open spaces to more use-specific rooms like a formal living room free of TV and full of comfortable, elegant furniture to spend time with friends and family. It’s a room that can have its own unique personality where homeowners can take some design risk.

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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.

In two weeks, on Tuesday, March 11 from 5:30-7:30 p.m., ARLnow is hosting a public, educational panel discussion that I’ll be moderating focused on new construction (process, financing, challenges, options, etc) and remodeling/adding-on to an existing home.

The panel will be highly educational and informative for anybody who is curious about the topics, but especially for anybody who is struggling with the decision many local homeowners face trying to decide whether to improve and expand their current home or move to a larger existing or new home.

This is a 100% educational event — you will not be marketed to or contacted afterwards unless you request follow-up.

The panelists are some of the top local professionals in the business:

• Matt Rzepkowski, President/Owner of MR Custom Homes (new construction expert)
• Chad Hackmann, Regional Partner/Owner Alair Homes Arlington (remodeling/expansion expert)
• Tripp DeFalco, President/Owner of DeFalco Home Design (architect)
• Brad Pace, Wealth Management Mortgage Banker and Construction Builder Specialist with US Bank (lending expert)

The event will be hosted at the Arlington Central Library Auditorium, is free, and will include a panel discussion, moderated by me, followed by an audience Q&A session, and a chance to talk to the panelists individually afterwards or schedule a follow-up meeting.

You can RSVP using this link or clicking on the graphic below.

Feel free to share the invitation with anybody you think might find it useful. If you have questions or are interested in the discussion, but unable to attend, feel free to email me at [email protected].

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

• Williamsburg – 6 BR/6.5 BA/6,000 sq. ft. – Detached Single Family (2025) – 6580 Williamsburg Boulevard, Arlington VA, 22213
• Courthouse – 1 BR+den/1.5 BA/850 sq. ft. – Condo (2007) – 2220 N. Fairfax Drive #308, Arlington VA, 22201
• Cherrydale – 2 BR/2 BA/1,150 sq. ft. – Condo (2013) – 2101 N. Monroe Street, Arlington VA, 22207
• Stonegate/Alexandria West – 4 BR/3.5 BA/2,800 sq. ft. – Townhouse (built in 1999) – Lambert Street, Alexandria VA ,22311
• Arlington Ridge/Aurora Hills – 3 BR/2.5 BA/2,450 sq. ft. – Detached Single Family (1961) – S. Grove Street, Arlington VA, 22202
• Island Creek/Kingstowne – 3 BR/3.5 BA/2,185 sq. ft. – Townhouse (built in 2017) – Parrish Glebe Road, Alexandria VA, 22315

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.

Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Eli Residential channel.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. (703) 390-9460.