This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Val Sotillo, Northern Virginia-based Realtor and Falls Church resident. Please submit your questions to her via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!

Question: GreatSchools.org changed the ratings for Fairfax County schools. How important is it to consider school ratings when buying a home?

Answer: This summer, the popular school rating website GreatSchools.org made major changes to their ratings for most schools in Northern Virginia for the second time in less than a year. The changes resulted in a drop of 1-2 points for nearly every school.

According to GreatSchools.org changes in ratings are based on student progress (or “growth”) and college readiness data (SAT/ACT participation and/or performance and/or graduation rates).

Their school profiles now include factors such as how much a school helps students improve academically, how well a school supports students from different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups, and whether or not some groups of students are disproportionately affected by the school’s discipline and attendance policies.

Many of these important themes now have their own rating, and these themed ratings are incorporated into the school’s overall GreatSchools Summary Rating.

School Ratings Influence Home Prices

Many property search websites such as Zillow and Trulia include GreatSchools information at the bottom of each listing. The ratings issued by GreatSchools.org heavily influence where people buy and how much they’re willing to spend. You can debate the merits of these ratings systems all you want, but the fact is that they play a significant role in real estate.

While Niche.com generates the most traffic, I find that GreatSchools.org is much more popular locally and I think it’s due to the fact that they grade harder than Niche (Niche gives out a ton of A-, A, and A+ ratings).

What Changed?

GreatSchools does not provide historical ratings, so I compared scores I had recorded for clients from Fall ’17, March ’18, and September ’18 to the current scores.

The Decision Is Yours

Looking only at test scores won’t tell you what the real-life environment is like. That’s why so many people rely on reviews. GreatSchools’ reviews can be written by anybody (parents, teachers, students, and even people not familiar with the school).

To make a decision based on a reliable rating, you can go directly to the Virginia Department of Education, where you can find detailed spreadsheets on pass/fail rates for every school, every grade, every subject, and every demographic.

If you’re considering moving to a new school district, I advise you to take the time to visit the school and take a tour; talk with the principal if possible. Talk to neighbors and join online forums. Take in as much information as you can and dismiss what’s not particularly informative.

I’d love to hear from readers in the comment section who purchased or are in the process of buying a home in Fairfax County, who placed a lot of weight in the GreatSchools rankings — how would these changes have impacted your decision when you bought or how are these changes impacting your current purchase strategy?

If you would like to discuss how the new GreatSchool rankings impact your upcoming plans to purchase or sell a home in Northern Virginia, reach out to me at [email protected] to set-up some time to meet.

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column, please send an email to [email protected].

Val Sotillo is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with Real Living At Home, 2420 Wilson Blvd #101 Arlington, VA 22201, 703-390-9460.

Laura Schwartz is a licensed Realtor in VA, DC and MD with McEnearney Associates in McLean. Reach the office at 703-790-9090.

On Wednesday, October 24, the town of Vienna will celebrate the 72nd annual Halloween Parade. The parade begins at 7 p.m. and starts at the corner of Branch Road SE and Maple Avenue E before ending in front of Patrick Henry Library on Center Street SW.

If you’ve never been, here are some tips to help you make the most of the experience!

• People set out chairs and blankets early in the day to reserve their spot. If you want a front row view, I suggest you do the same. The town asks that no one does this before noon on the day of the parade and that revelers stay clear of the sidewalk and benches during the day.
• If you have a flat bed truck, you can back into parking spaces at the shopping centers and sit high to get a better view.
• In the parade, there are walking groups and floats with some walking groups giving out candy.
• Some of the groups in the parade are very loud. If you have someone who is noise sensitive, consider bringing something to help them enjoy the parade without the noise.
• There are no food vendors except for the nearby restaurants so plan to bring food if you need it or support a local restaurant.
• Kids in costumes can walk in the parade with an adult if they want to. Participants meet at 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot at United Bank (374 Maple Avenue E).

Pro Tip: The Weichert Realtors office at 156 Maple Avenue E holds a haunted house every year from 5:45-7 p.m. They have a designated area for small kids, but they also have a scarier “Haunted Room” if you are looking for bigger thrills. They also give out candy.

The parade is one of my many favorite Vienna events! You’ll find me there with my 4 and 6 year old boys so please say hi!

(Updated at 9 p.m.) Some 425 people attended today’s Social Media Week Fairfax event in Tysons, absorbing insights and ideas for anyone working in social media, marketing or startups.

The event, hosted by Fairfax County Economic Development Authority at Capital One headquarters, was a one-day convention of panels and networking that primarily focused on how businesses, large and small, engage on social media.

The keynote speaker and celebrity for the PR world was Judy Smith, a crisis management expert and the inspiration for the show Scandal. The biggest points Smith highlighted were speed and tone of responses to calamity.

“There’s an appreciation of mistakes when you embrace it and you own it,” said Smith.

Smith said organizations often wait more — sometimes much more — than 45 minutes before responding to an incident, by which time public opinion has already started to form.

One cause, according to Smith, is that companies can get tangled up in communications between different departments. Companies can also be slow to admit the whole truth, while Smith says the best answer is usually just to let all of the bad news come out at once like tearing off a Band-aid.

“You also have to pick the best time and vehicle to respond,” said Smith. “There was a CEO who apologized in 15 posts on Twitter. Given the seriousness of the matter, I would not have responded to that on Twitter. If a food company has a massive recall where people are sick or dying, I wouldn’t tweet ‘sorry about the bad food.'”

Smith said part of working in crisis management is working on controlling the narrative. In her own life, when the producers on Scandal approached her about adding in an intimate relationship between her character and the President, Smith said she got on the phone with President George H.W. Bush, for whom she had worked as a press secretary, to let him know.

Smith said when President Bush called her back and left a voicemail, joking that “you called me” and “you left me,” she fired back that he couldn’t make jokes about that.

“If you don’t follow these talking points,” Smith recalled telling Bush, “I will call Barbara.”

These days, Smith said things are moving faster in social media, saying her largest concern is that the population seems to have increasing difficulty discerning fact from fiction.

“One year ago, there was something I was looking at on social media and it was trending too fast,” Smith said. “When my team checked, it was because the other side had hired two bot companies to tweet about it. That’s how it went from zero to five million tweets in two minutes.”

Despite the prevalence of untruth on social media, Amanda Waas and Tammy Abraham from National Geographic emphasized the importance of being genuine.

“People can see right through anything on social media,” said Tammy Abraham. “If you’re not authentic, if it doesn’t feel true, everyone knows it.”

To this end, Abraham said that the National Geographic’s Instagram account is handled almost exclusively by photographers in the field. There are general guidelines, but Abraham said letting photojournalists have unfiltered access to the social media has helped build a following for the brand.

This extends to working with sponsored content as well.

“We’re not just going to post an ad,” said Waas. “Even for branded content, it needs to follow certain guidelines.”

“We have to find a common place to tell an authentic story,” said Abraham. “We can’t tap into an authentic story without something meaningful to tell.”

Alarm.com, a Tysons-based home protection system, started as one of the pioneers of remote home security management. Today the company is fighting to hold its own in a market becoming increasingly saturated with smart home technology.

The company was started in 2000 as an innovation project within MicroStrategy, a business intelligence company based in Tysons. Matthew Zartman, the company’s director of communications, said Alarm.com has benefited from the technology talent pool in the Washington, D.C. area and that Tysons serves as a good central office location for employees living throughout the region.

Part of the company’s core model has been working with authorized dealers to install the products in client’s homes.

“The smart home can be pretty complicated and daunting to the typical consumer,” said Zartman. “There are a ton of options out there, and consumers want help understanding how they can get value from this new technology, and how they can get it installed and working properly.”

Investor’s Business Daily reported that the company took a stock market hit as a result of worries about competition from Amazon and Google’s smart home technology. Both companies offer smart home technology that customers self-install, while Alarm.com distributes its product through home security dealers.

“They are smart home security experts,” said Zartman. “They can provide advice for getting the right system, and they can provide installation and ongoing support. We believe that the combination of our solutions and our service provider partners’ expertise has been key to driving the mass market adoption of smart home technology.”

While smart home technology often focuses on entertainment and other home amenities, Alarm.com’s technology has remained focused on security. Recent moves into business protection and international coverage could help the company carve out a new niche.

In April this year, Alarm.com announced that it would be adding a new service for protecting small and medium-size businesses. Alarm.com for Business offers intelligent intrusion detection, video surveillance, access control and energy management

The company has also been making moves internationally. Alarm.com announced on Aug. 2 it was partnering with European insurance provider Aviva to offer Alarm.com coverage under the banner of Aviva Smart Home.

Every week the Eli Residential Group scours our network for off-market and pre-market homes to give home buyers and investors access to properties they can’t find anywhere else online. If you are interested in a property you see here or have specific needs you cannot find on the market, please reach out to us at [email protected] to talk to a real person, not an automated response system.

If you are a homeowner, investor, builder or agent who would like your off-market or pre-market property featured for a half million local readers on PoPville, ARLnow or Tysons Reporter, please email us at [email protected].

Historical North Falls Church Home
Wren Dale Acres

Description: Beautifully updated 3 BR/2.5 BA homes of historical significance with nearly 3,200 sq. ft. and just over 1/2 acre of private land. Includes sunroom, extensive landscaping, unfinished basement and an attached 2-car garage.
Price: Most recently offered at $1,075,000
Courtesy of FSBO

To view all of our off-market or pre-market properties, visit the off-market section of our website. We add new properties every week.

The Eli Residential Group is a real estate team with RLAH Real Estate, (703) 390-9460, operating in Virginia, Washington D.C., and Maryland. Contact the team directly at [email protected].

This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Val Sotillo, Northern Virginia-based Realtor and Falls Church resident. Please submit your questions to her via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!

Question: Are there any residential properties for sale at The Boro?

Answer: Verse, a 25 story luxury condominium building that will be finished by late fall of 2019. I visited the construction site to preview their model and meet with their Sales Manager, Jennifer Harlow who shared all the details with me. I’m excited to tell you all about it.

But first, what is The Boro?

If you have visited Tysons lately, chances are you have noticed the massive construction of The Boro. Located between Route 7 and Greensboro Dr, it’s the first walkable community with mixed use residential, retail, entertainment and office environment. Coming in 2019, The Boro (you guessed it, short for Greensboro) will be a whole new downtown.

Verse Condos

Verse is the first condominium built within the last decade in the Tysons area. It offers 23 different floor plans ranging from one bedroom to three bedroom with a den units. It is 40% sold out and sales prices range from $500,000 to $2.8 million. The 25th level has three Penthouse units, each with a private terrace, and they all have sold out.

What I Like About Verse

• Modern convenience of having everything at your fingertips

It is located steps away from Greensboro Metro. That is a 20 minute commute to Dulles Airport, and 30 minutes to D.C. on the Silver Line. Properties include garage parking (additional parking can be rented for $95 a month) but the goal is for residents to enjoy the local businesses without even leaving their community.

Residents are walking distance to approximately 17 restaurants (one of them is a sister restaurant of True Food!), high-end shops, state of the art movie theaters, Bluestone Lane coffee, dry cleaners, a nail salon, fitness studios, the biggest Whole Foods in the east coast and even a pet spa for Fido!

Click here for the latest update on businesses opening in The Boro.

• Perfect balance of luxury and function

These condos start on the 10th floor and all units have floor to ceiling windows. That means natural light and amazing views. On top of that, all corner units have a wraparound balcony that allows for some alfresco dining on nice weather days.

A clean and sophisticated floor plan. The chef’s kitchen has a gas stove that vents out to the top, quartz counters, Italian integrated cabinetry (plenty of cabinet space), concealed Bosch appliances and an under-counter wine cooler. Appliances are included in the sales price.

The master suite in the corner two bedroom unit has access to the balcony, a walk-in closet, marbleized floors in the bathrooms, architectural lighting and a spa shower with integrated bench. All cabinets are spacious and soft close.

There’s generous space throughout, plenty of storage closets and additional storage available for purchase.

• Amenities

Other than the 24-hour concierge service and the entry lobby lounge with a fireplace, there’s a club room available for rent for private parties with double height ceilings, fireplaces, billiard tables, TVs, kitchens and terrace access. Residents can also rent a hospitality suite for their visitors.

The building has a 3,000 sq. ft. fitness studio with top of the line equipment connecting to a Zen terrace and a rooftop pool.

The outdoor space includes access to Sky Park, an impeccable landscaped rooftop park where residents can lounge, grill, play bocce ball and enjoy the inviting green space.

Condo fees go for $0.65 per sq. ft. and include water and gas.

An Ideal Place to Live, Work And Play

The Boro will be a vibrant community with many walkable amenities, including pedestrian-friendly roadways, bike lanes and open greenspaces designed to bring people outside.

If you’d like to schedule a tour or discuss Verse Condominium as a primary residence, secondary residence or investment please reach out to me at [email protected]

For part two of this video, click here.

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column, please send an email to [email protected]. I hope to hear from you soon.

Val Sotillo is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with Real Living At Home, 2420 Wilson Blvd #101 Arlington, VA 22201, 703-390-9460.

Finding a place to live in Tysons can be difficult, even outside of the problems with affordable housing.

Jonathan LaCroix from the Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce noted that the ratio of jobs to housing units in the area is lopsided, with roughly 100,000 jobs but only 19,000 residents. So for those hoping to live a little closer to where they work the housing market can be scarce and expensive.

To help, Tysons Reporter has put together a list of apartments and condominiums available to rent or buy currently and a look at housing coming down the pipeline over the next few years.

According to apartments.com and other sources, these are the places in Tysons that are available for rent:

• The Adaire (1521 Boyd Pointe Way) – Price range from $1,723 to $3,445
• The Ascent (8421 Broad St) – Price range from $1,753 to $3,509
• The Commons of McLean (1653 Anderson Rd) – Price range from $1,585 to $3,450
• Eaves Tysons Corner (1723 Gosnell Rd) – Price range from$1,655 to $2,100
• Dolley Madison Apartments at Tysons (1805 Wilson Ln) – Price range from $1,695 to $2,195
• Haden (1575 Anderson Rd) – Price range from $1,569 to $6,370
• Highgate at the Mile (7915 Jones Branch Dr) – Price range from $1,610 to $4,889
• The Kingston (7480 Birdwood Ave) – Price range from $1,965 to $4,500
• Nouvelle (7911 Westpark Dr) – Price range from $1,709 to $8,282
• Post Tysons Corner (1526 Lincoln Circle) – Price range from $1,600 – $3,330
• Vita Tysons Corner (7902 Tysons One Pl) – Price range from $1,654 to $7,965

Several apartments and condominiums are clumped together at Park Crest just north of Tysons Galleria:

• Avalon Park Crest (8250 Westpark Dr) – Price range from $1,785 to $2,470
• Ovation at Park Crest (8231 Crestwood Heights) – Price range from $1,833 to $5,185
• The Lofts at Park Crest (8210 Crestwood Heights Dr) – Price range from $2,270 to $5,471
• One Park Crest (8220 Crestwood Heights Dr) – Price range from $499,900 to $1,050,000

Other existing condo buildings include:

• Lillian Court (1635 International Drive)
• Westwood Village (1500 Northern Neck Dr)
• The Rotonda (8352 Greensboro Dr)

There are several apartment complexes currently in development:

• Westpark Plaza – Four planned buildings with a planned 1,300 residential units in two of them
• The Boro – Several mixed-use development buildings — including the “Rise” apartment tower and “Verse” condominium tower — near the Greensboro Metro station
• The Monarch – A planned luxury condominium building
• Tysons West Phase III – A planned development hub that will include 669 residential units
• Residences at Tysons II – A planned pair of 30-story residential towers adjacent to Tysons Galleria
• Lumen – A 32-story residential tower with 398 apartment units planned for completion by the end of 2018 and open for renting spring 2019.

Apart from the above list in and around central Tysons, there are also a number of other residential options just east of the Beltway with McLean and Falls Church mailing addresses, including but not limited to: Tysons View, Tysons Glen, Eaves Fairfax Towers, the Oaks at Falls Church, PeachTree of McLean, Tysons Landing Apartments, Regency at McLean condos, Encore of McLean condos, the Colonies of McLean condos, the Commons of McLean, the Gates of McLean condos, McLean Chase condos, Renaissance 2230 condos, and the Fountain at McLean condos.

This is a sponsored column by attorneys John V. Berry and Kimberly H. Berry of Berry & Berry, PLLC, an employment and labor law firm located in Plaza America in Reston that specializes in federal employee, security clearance, retirement and private sector employee matters.

By John V. Berry, Esq.

Many Virginia employees have come to us to discuss the reasonable accommodation process when they develop a medical condition or disability that requires a change in their duties or other workplace adjustments. We advise and represent private, federal, state and county sector employees throughout Virginia in reasonable accommodation cases.

What is a Reasonable Accommodation?

A reasonable accommodation is an employee’s request to modify their employment conditions, assignments, hours, etc. to allow them to continue working in a position despite having a disability. Notably, the reasonable accommodation process applies to both employees and job applicants in all states, including the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Primarily, under federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which applies to most employees, encompasses and outlines reasonable accommodations. More specifically, federal employees are also covered under the Rehabilitation Act, which incorporates similar protections as the ADA.

According to these laws, employers are required to engage in the reasonable accommodation process with qualified employees unless it would create an undue hardship for them.

In Virginia, many employees are also covered under the Virginians with Disabilities Act, which applies to most employers. Under both the federal and state laws, the goal of the reasonable accommodation process is to enable employees with disabilities the opportunity to enjoy an equal opportunity in employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides guidelines for reasonable accommodation requests.

Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation

The most typical type of reasonable accommodation involves an employee that has developed a medical condition or disability that requires some modifications or adjustments to their working arrangements.

Usually, an employee will ask for a reasonable accommodation by approaching their supervisor or human resources department, depending on the employer, and asking for one. Accordingly, a request for reasonable accommodation can be either formal or informal. For instance, depending on the employer, some have created specific forms covering reasonable accommodation requests; whereas, other employers simply involve informal verbal discussions between the employee and their immediate supervisor.

Regardless, once requested, there is usually a discussion about the reasonable accommodation requested. The discussion between an employer and employee is often called the “interactive process,” which simply means that the employer must engage the employee in attempting to resolve the reasonable accommodation request.

This process does not mean that an employer has to grant every accommodation sought (or even the specific one requested by the employee); rather, the employer is only required to make a good faith effort to accommodate a disabled employee.

There are far too many examples of reasonable accommodations to list here as they significantly vary based on an employee’s specific disability and their particular needs. However, the Job Accommodation Network provides examples of reasonable accommodations regarding specific medical conditions.

Conclusion

When an employee in the Commonwealth of Virginia needs to request a reasonable accommodation due to a medical condition, it is important to obtain legal advice and/or legal representation. Our law firm is ready to advise and represent Commonwealth of Virginia employees in the reasonable accommodation process.

Should you need assistance in this process, please contact us by telephone at 703-668-0070 or through our contact page. Please also visit and like us on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Affordable housing in Tysons is different than the rest of Fairfax County.

Affordable housing across the rest of Fairfax County, and much of the region, is grouped into apartment complexes with units set aside to cater to those at the lowest income levels. But in Tysons, affordable housing is filling the new high-rises.

Abdi Hamud from Fairfax County’s Affordable and Workforce Dwelling Units Program met with the Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce earlier today (Friday) to explain the state of affordable housing in Tysons.

Starting in 2010, the Board of Supervisors adopted a policy that would create workforce dwelling units (WDU) in the mid- and high-rise buildings except from other local affordable housing programs.

In total, there are nearly 500 total WDU in Tysons, according to Hamud.

On the rental side, the WDU program covers area median incomes (AMI) at a broader level than other affordable housing programs. The cost of living in Tysons often exceeds the AMI. While Fairfax’s primary affordable dwelling unit (ADU) program serves those at 50 or 70 percent of the AMI, in Tysons the WDU covers incomes from 60 percent through 120 percent.

At least 20 percent of the rental units inside the new mid and high-rise apartments in Tysons must be WDU, with specific percents broken up by income brackets.

• Two percent of all units must be accessible to those at 60 percent of AMI
• Three percent of all units must be accessible to those at 70 percent of AMI
• The remaining 15 percent of  WDU units must be broken equally into 80 percent, 100 percent and 120 percent of AMI

A policy is also in place for WDU in units that are for sale, but Hamud said there haven’t been any yet and none are planned for the near future.

Hamud said one of the largest problems facing Fairfax is the demand for affordable housing far exceeding the supply. According to Hamud, other affordable housing waitlists in Fairfax and across the state are so full they are being closed. But in Tysons, with new projects constantly in development, Hamud said the waiting lists are substantially shorter and easier to access.

Even with this affordable housing program, Larry Rockwell from The Arc of Northern Virginia noted that “affordable housing” can still be too expensive for many living in the area.

The Arc helps support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, many of whom Rockwell said struggle to find affordable housing because the stigma of disabilities leaves higher paying work inaccessible to them. With the expenses many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities face, or for students getting started in the workforce with loan payments, even the affordable housing in Tysons can exceed the advised 30 percent of a salary that should go to housing.

Still, in a region with rents of $2,000 or $3,000 per month, Hamud said it’s important to have tools available to try and help the new workforce of Tysons find a place to live. The county is currently looking at what has been working with the WDU program and what hasn’t, he said.

Every week the Eli Residential Group scours our network for off-market and pre-market homes to give home buyers and investors access to properties they can’t find anywhere else online. If you are interested in a property you see here or have specific needs you cannot find on the market, please reach out to us at [email protected] to talk to a real person, not an automated response system.

If you are a homeowner, investor, builder or agent who would like your off-market or pre-market property featured for a half million local readers on PoPville, ARLnow or Tysons Reporter, please email us at [email protected].

Potomac Yard Townhouse w/ 2-car Garage
700 Block of Annie Rose Avenue

Description: 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath townhouse with rooftop terrace. 2-car garage, 2,500 sq. ft., built in 2012, covered front porch. Walk to huge playground, courts, Old Town and Pentagon City. Updated and move-in ready.
Price: Upper $800’s
Courtesy of RLAH Real Estate

To view all of our off-market or pre-market properties, visit the off-market section of our website. We add new properties every week.

The Eli Residential Group is a real estate team with RLAH Real Estate, (703) 390-9460, operating in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland. Contact the team directly at [email protected].