I’ve recently had two great homes for sale in Arlington 22207 and each one was practically sold coming out of the gate. Granted, there was a lot of prep work that made each one practically perfect and very appealing. Each home had multiple offers, so each time we left some buyers disappointed.

That’s the news from the trenches. Here are the stats for Arlington VA 22207. The first graph shows the general trend. Look at that dip from 2007 to 2009!  And then the steady rebound.  A picture really is worth a thousand words.  Those who are still looking for the bottom of the market can find it in the year 2009,  at least for the Arlington VA 22207 real estate market.

Compared to a year ago, volume is up, prices are up, the ratio of sales price to list price is up, and days on market is down.  I’m seeing a rebound for sure.

The sad side effect? Lot’s of unhappy buyers, who are having terrible trouble finding a great house in 22207 for a good price. If you have one to sell, now’s the time.

4512 Dittmar Road in Country Club Hills, Arlington VA 22207

6 bedrooms, 6 full bathrooms, 4 finished levels, the list goes on…. currently offered at $1,649,000, for well over 5000 square feet of beautiful living space in one of Arlington’s most desirable neighborhoods.

Typical Beautiful Fall Colors in Arlington 22207

Chain Bridge Forest is probably just about the most residential neighborhood you can find in North Arlington, Virginia.  If you want a house with huge rooms, a rolling, wooded setting, and a short commute to DC to Tyson’s Corner, this is the neighborhood for you.

According to the Arlington County tax records there are 205 homes in the Chain Bridge Forest neighborhood, which is located just on the border to McLean, Virginia.  What that number doesn’t tell you is that there is such a wonderful variety of home styles in that number of 205.  California contemporaries, Colonials, ramblers, custom designs.  You find them all here, and amazingly it works.

The homes in Chain Bridge Forest were built in the 1960′s and 70′s.  If the interior of the home is a little outdated, it’s usually easy (and economical) enough to renovate within the existing footprint of the home in order to have the space the way you want it.  

This neighborhood does have one quirk, though.  It actually goes into Fairfax County also.  Some homes have a portion in Arlington County and another in Fairfax County. When that happens, you get separate tax bills from each jurisdiction.  Certainly not a problem if that’s the price you pay to live in this terrific neighborhood.

Over the past 6 months, only two homes have been listed for sale in Chain Bridge Forest, and they each sold relatively quickly.  One was a huge Colonial, the other a huge Contemporary.  Both were priced at over $1 million, and offered a lot of value for the money.

Lee Heights Shopping

Lee Heights is a wonderful neighborhood located on the north side of Lee Highway in North Arlington, 22207. The great thing about living right here is that you can enjoy the calm nature of the neighborhood streets, while have all kinds of great shopping and activities very close at hand. In this small, local shopping area you have a wine shop (with great bread and cheese), clothing stores, a Starbucks (yes, of course), a wonderful pastry shop that I’ve already written about, and an outpost of that yummy Arlington restaurant the Lebanese Taverna.

According to the Arlington County tax records, there are 46 homes in the Garden City neighborhood, tucked in behind the intersection of Lee Highway and North George Mason Drive, just northwest of that intersection.  Garden City is also often referred to as Milburn Terrace, which is actually just up the street, and is part of the Yorktown Civic Association.  These boundaries between Arlington locations and neighborhoods are so often ill-defined and vary according to purpose, whether for taxes, civic associations, and of course just how they are commonly referred to.

The colonial below is fairly representative of homes in the neighborhood.  What you cannot see in this particular home is the beautiful addition to the side and off the back — the common Arlington solution for creating more space in the original home.  This home is not yet on the market, but when it hits the MLS it will be listed around $700,000.  3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms.  Big space, though.  Relatively speaking. 

Other homes down the block in Garden City look like this:

Garden City has a nice residential charm, is relatively affordable for a single family home, and walking distance to businesses up and down Lee Highway and Harrison St, where you can find two grocery stores and a handful of terrific restaurants.  Like all things Arlington, it’s a very convenient neighborhood to live and play in.

This is what some of the streets right on Powhatan Street in Minor’s Hill look like:

You see big, wide open streets with very little traffic. Like many Arlington Virginia neighborhoods, smallish ramblers are mixed with new construction, because the value is very much in the land. This section of Arlington is very residential, with relatively little business located within walking distance. McLean Virginia is just up and over the hill.

Minor Hill is also a legal designation for a neighborhood in Arlington that cuts across the two zip codes of 22213 and 22207, but more of it is in 22207. Across those two zips, the real estate activity has been very solid over the past 6 months: 7 homes have sold, 3 are under contract, and only one is currently active on the market. The average price for these homes has been just over $1 million. This average indicates that there is new construction or beautifully renovated homes such as those found here.

The community of Cherrydale was settled after the Civil War and was named as such when an early resident made application for a Post Office at the corner of North Pollard
Street and Lee Highway. It was named after the beautiful cherry orchards that dotted itslandscape.

What put Cherrydale on the map was the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railway, which ran from Rosslyn, through Cherrydale, along the present-day Old Dominion Drive, and on through to Great Falls.

Today, Cherrydale has maintained the small-town feel despite being less than 4 miles from Washington DC. The neighborhood’s centerpiece is Station 3, Arlington’s oldest standing firehouse, erected in 1919. It still serves as a central meeting place for Cherrydale residents.

The Cherrydale Hardware Store is a popular landmark for Arlington residents, and sells just about anything you might need to take care of your Cherrydale home.

Residents are very active in the Cherrydale Residents Association, and in 2003, the entire Cherrydale neighborhood was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

If you love Cape Cod homes, you would love living here. For the most part, homeowners have very tastefully renovated their Capes in order to achieve additional living space that is more fitting for today’s notions of space and function. Taking a stroll through the blocks that make up Waycroft/Woodlawn is entertainment, as you take in the wonderful homes, beautiful gardens, and fun parks that comprise this area of Arlington.

Walkable is actually a very fitting word for this neighborhood. Though it has such a residential feel, this neighborhood is actually quite walkable to many things:

• Ballston Mall is about a mile away, give or take, from most of the homes in this neighborhood. There you can find shopping, restaurants, ice skating, and a movie theater.

• Glebe Elementary is the community school here, and many children walk to school with a parent.

• Waycroft Park offers the children of the neighborhood a terrific playground, sandbox, and big wide open field for sports.