September 6th, 2009:
Abingdon Row in Old Town Alexandria.
Abingdon Row condominiums are located along Royal St just a block away from the Potomac waterfront.
Built in 2007, Abingdon Row’s location gives ready access to the GW Parkway, bike trails, the nearby Montgomery Park, and the bustling night life. Within two blocks you’ll find the Fishbowl, The Perfect Pita, and Bastille Restaurants as well as the local Giant.
The closest metro station, Braddock Rd, is about two-thirds of a mile to the west.
The condos here feature a wide variety of sizes and layouts with everything from basic one bedrooms, to amply spaced three bedroom units. The garage has controlled access to underground parking, and many of the units sport beautiful views of the river To learn more about what’s available at Abingdon Row contact us anytime at Condo Alexandria. The condos here are one bedroom, two bedroom and three bedroom units. Although there are only 53 residences at Abingdon Row there are over thirty different floorplans! These condos are scaled from a modest 720 square feet to a very generous 1,900 square feet layout. Abingdon Row has secure underground parking (a true luxury in the tight streets of Old Town). Most of the parking in the garage is unassigned, but a few units have reserved spaces.
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About the Author — Ben Fornshell is a licensed real estate agent with Condo Alexandria. To learn more about available rentals and purchases in the area check out our free search. |
Overview of the Exchange at Van Dorn
Entrance to the Exchange
The Exchange at Van Dorn is a condominium community located in the Eisenhower Valley inside the Beltway between the Eisenhower Metro and the Van Dorn Metro. The community is near the Eisenhower Connector, a short road that connects Eisenhower Avenue to I-495. Between the Eisenhower Connector and Van Dorn, the Exchange has easy access to the Beltway. Van Dorn also provides relatively easy access to I-395. The community is a long walk to the Van Dorn Metro, but the community boasts a free shuttle to the metro.
Exchange at Van Dorn
The buildings themselves are fairly new, most being built in the last 5 years or so. These are garden style condos of brick and siding. There are three floors and elevators on the parking side of the building. The community has a parking garage with plenty of resident parking, but a limited amount of visitor parking.
View to courtyard of the Exchange
Most units here have nice carpeting but many have wood floors in the living and kitchen areas. The kitchens are nice and modern, but most are not luxury level. Black appliances are common. Most units have Formica countertops.
Kitchen at the Exchange
The Exchange amenities are found in the building closest to the entrance. There you will find a very nice business center, party room and media room. There is a basketball court here if you want to shoot a few hoops. The fitness room is modern and well-kept. The condominium offices are found in this building. Behind this building is the pool of the Exchange. Click Exchange at Van Dorn to view listings and prices of homes for sale near Exchange at Van Dorn.
Exchange at Van Dorn
Lobby at the Royalton
Just inside the entrance to the Royalton there are two separate lobby areas. One is open with large modern furniture that quite frankly sort of reminds me of some of the pieces from Pee Wee’s Playhouse. But to the right behind a pair of glass doors is a great lobby that encases some of the best of modern stylings.
The customer is always right … but the client is not.
It doesn’t happen often, but about once a year I anger a potential client. Usually it’s a prospective renter. I throw this story out to my fellow realtors and real estate agents, because I don’t like it when people get mad at me and I like to re-examine what I did so that the next time this won’t happen.
About Me and My Business
Will Nesbitt Realty LLC focuses largely on condominiums. We sell all types of real estate, but a large part of our business is condominiums. As I often tell people,
Dairy Queen sells hamburgers and McDonald’s sells ice cream. Once
you’re in the door, they’ll sell you what you need. It is the same with us. We are focused on condos because our office is located on the first floor of a residential high-rise condominium community called River Towers.
To folks who don’t know anything about condominiums or real estate,
River Towers looks a lot like an apartment building. About a year and a
half ago—the last time I dealt with an angry renter—I followed up with an article that explained the differences between apartments and condos,
and I posted it prominently on our website. Because our building looks like an apartment building, our office might seem like a rental office to some people.
I say all that in fairness to the prospective renter that I angered. We look like a rental office, but we’re not a rental office.
As for my personal state of mind, I’ve been working back-to-back-to-back seven-day weeks for a pretty good stretch now. I purposefully did not schedule any appointments yesterday because I’ve been so busy and wanted a little break. However, without any appointments scheduled and with the phones a little quieter than usual, I slipped into the office to get a tiny bit of work done. I didn’t shave. I was wearing shorts. I even paused to play a computer game. It was quite nice.
Enter Jane
That’s when this lady, we’ll call her “Jane”, walked in. I was a little surprised to see her because visitors at our building have to be buzzed in. Jane said, “I’m here to take a look at rentals.”
I said, “When are you moving?” Jane said, “November or December.”
This is September. I told her, “Anything you will see now will be rented before November or December. This is a condominium community, not an apartment complex—” I wanted to explain to her why we only
assist prospective renters who have an immediate or very specific need. We’re not in the business of giving world tours to renters who might rent a few months. This might sound tough to some, but many agents won’t help renters at all.
Jane didn’t want to hear about this or why we do business the way we do business. Instead, she interrupted me. What she wanted me to know as that she was here to look at places and by golly she wanted to see some places.
I was too exhausted, too tired, to really sugar-coat my response. I told her, “I’m happy to answer all the questions you’d like. I’ll tell you prices. I’ll show you pictures, but I’m not going to wander around showing you places that you won’t rent.”
Jane was indignant and shocked. I tried to explain to her more. I tried to explain to her why I was telling her this but she didn’t want to hear it. She demanded to see some “samples”.
I replied, “There are no samples. These are condominiums.” Condominiums are individually owned and thus each condo is unique.
Because she was so insistent, I agreed to show her around, “I’ll be happy to show you something but you’ll have to pay a $100 retainer. If you rent something you can apply this money to your rent. If you don’t rent that’s the charge for seeing a unit.”
Jane gets angry
That was enough to push Jane from upset to angry. She crossed her arms and demanded to see units in River Towers. My wife, who has a desk nearby injected herself into the drama. Julie told her, “I’m sorry for him. He’s been working for more than 30 days straight, what’s he’s trying to say is — ”
Jane cut her off. My work schedule is not her problem. In fact, Jane wanted me to know that she works hard too. 
I understand that sentiment and I don’t blame her for feeling that way. In fact, I told my wife, “She doesn’t care how hard I work. Nor should she. The important thing to understand is why this business works this way.”
The resolution
I then tried to begin to explain how rental agency works, but Jane was too angry at this point to listen. She demanded to speak to my boss. I was perhaps a bit of a smart-ass when I reached across my desk and handed her one of my cards. Jane said, “I don’t want to talk to you! I want your boss.”
If I wasn’t so tired, I would have thought fast enough to refer her to my wife, but instead I told her the truth. “I own the company, ma’m.”
Well, this is an outrage. She’s never seen anything like this in her life. She was now tirading.
But at this point, it was my turn to interrupt her, “Ma’am if you really are off from work, you’re just wasting your precious time by yelling at me. That shopping center over there has a Wiechert office with agents that will be glad to help you.”
I sort of felt guilty for the newbies working desk duty at Wiechert, but maybe she will rent something off of them so maybe I did them a favor.
The lesson
In retrospect, I know where we had our disconnect but I’m not sure how to avoid it in the future. Jane had been trained by her experience in retail to believe that the customer is always right. What she doesn’t understand is that the customer is always right, but the client is not always right.
By that I mean, customers make purchases from retailers. I am not a
retailer. I am a professional providing a service to my clients. My clients come to me because they want my advice and expertise. I often give my expertise away, but I am not required to give my expertise away. Furthermore, I can’t give you the benefit of my expertise if think that I’m a retailer.
Whether they are renters, buyers, sellers or landlords, I provide my clients with honest, direct and factual advice. I explain to them as best as I can the facts as I understand them. I let my clients make their own decisions. I can’t make their decisions for them. But I have been around too long to have a client use me as a personal door-opener in their quest to find what they seek.
I’ve learned the hard way that folks who insist on seeing things that aren’t what they want are a waste of my extremely valuable time. If you tell me you want something specific and then I tell you that what you want to see isn’t what you want, then I know that you are either not telling me the truth about your needs or you have no respect for my opinion and time. I cannot help a client who wants to use me as a tool rather than as a professional. This is most especially true when that potential client is a renter, which means they are very small
potatoes for me.
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About the Author — Will Nesbitt is the principal broker of Condo Alexandria and Will Nesbitt Realty. Will specializes in condos, townhouses and single family residences in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax County, Crystal City, and Kingstowne. Will resides in Belle Haven Estates just outside Alexandria VA in Fairfax County. |
What every renter should understand about condominiums.
This is a repost of an old article of mine, but still bears an important message.
As the primary mover and shaker in Condo Alexandria, I field calls every single day from renters who are interested in condominiums. The names and locations change, but there are a few fundamental misconceptions that are so common, I feel the need to write this note for the general benefit of the world at large.
It looks like an apartment, but it’s not an apartment.
First of all, a renter needs to understand the difference between an apartment and a condominium. An apartment, or any multi-family dwelling, is owned by a single entity. Most usually the owner is a company, but more rarely an individual owns the property. Employees of the apartment complex, or the owner himself, manages the property.
A condominium is different because there are many owners, meaning each unit is individually titled. The owners of a given condominium complex make up something called a condominium association. The
association jointly owns the common areas such as the lobby and the lawns. The association oversees the management of the property.
There is no rental office: you need an agent.
When you rent at an apartment complex, you’ll see a big sign that says “RENTAL OFFICE”. That office is staffed by folks whose job it is to explain to you why that particular building is the greatest place to live in the world. They are generally helpful and pleasant and they will gladly show you a model apartment and give you an idea of what is “coming available”.
A condominium complex is completely different. The condo office is filled with employees of the condominium association. The employees at the condo office are concerned with the maintenance and security of the building. They couldn’t care less where you rent or where you live. In most condominiums in Northern Virginia, staff won’t allow you to enter the property and they won’t show you any rentals here or anywhere else. The staff has no idea what is available or what is “coming available”.
A condominium complex looks like an apartment building on outside,
but it’s more like a neighborhood full of townhouses or houses. In a
neighborhood everyone lives in the same place with similar housing but
each person owns his own house. If you want to rent in that neighborhood, you CAN’T do so by banging on people’s doors and asking them to see their house. Nobody in the neighborhood knows “what’s coming available”. If you want to tour a house in a neighborhood, you need a real estate agent.
It’s the same in a condo. If you don’t have an agent you can’t see a condo, or any private residence. Homeowners don’t want strange people walking through their house and they don’t want to make allowances unless a real estate agent knows their is a possibility that you can afford the rent.
There are always other options.
If you don’t want a rental agent, you do have a choice. You can rent from an apartment complex—less hassles on the front end, more hassles on the back end. Or, you can take your chances on Craigslist. My advice: Craigslist is great for room shares, but doesn’t work so well for grown-ups.
The most important thing every renter should know about condos.
Then, the last and most important thing any renter should know about
condos: in today’s market purchasing a condo will cost you a few dollars more each month than a renting a condo. But buying a condo will cost you less on an annual basis.
How is this possible? Condo owners pay association fees and mortgage. Taken together, a first time buyer with a low down payment will have payment slightly higher than a rental. But each year we all file taxes. Renters take a standard deduction. But, property owners can deduct real estate taxes, mortgage interest, depreciation and certain other expenses from their taxes. This can amount to thousands of real dollars in your pocket each year.
Don’t forget, next year, the renter will get a rent increase. Next year, the mortgage will be the same.
It’s your choice, but this is the best time to buy in the last 5 years.
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About the Author — Will Nesbitt is the principal broker of Condo Alexandria and Will Nesbitt Realty. Will specializes in condos, townhouses and single family residences in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax County, Crystal City, and Kingstowne. Will resides in Belle Haven Estates just outside Alexandria VA in Fairfax County. |
