I am a native of Northern Virginia, and a current resident of Loudoun County; as well as a real estate consultant.
Whether you currently live in Loudoun (affectionately referred to in my family as LoCo), or if you're considering moving to the area, I hope you'll enjoy the information you get here! For information on our local real estate market go to http://therealestatewhisperer.blogspot.com/
Well... actually, if you own a home in Leesburg or Loudoun and you'd like to sell, please call me so we can talk! I'd love to help you sell it. But, today, I am actually in search of something in particular.... and I am hoping to find it in the neighborhoods listed above.
The good news, if you're planning to sell this year, is the market is looking good. Buyers are out in force.
In the meantime, feel free to make sure of these online resources:
Another resource you might enjoy is http://www.salesinmyneighborhood.info/ - there you can order an automated Market Snapshot showing the homes near you that have recently sold and are listed for sale.
There's a little hill a few blocks southwest of downtown Leesburg, located on what's left of a farm - a GREAT SLEDDING HILL!
And there is a lovely little sign that reads:
"The Meadow Hill
Private Property.
The children of Leesburg may use this hill, if...
RULES:
1-Sled at your own risk.
2-Small children must be attended.
3-Don't bother the livestock.
4-A wood fire only. Do not burn tires."
The rules seemed reasonable to me... so my kids, my neighbors and I greatly enjoy free use of this hill. The hill is surrounded by townhomes, and a few small single family homes with very little yard of their own. None of those homes have any space of their own to sled, so the hill offers a special kind of wintertime fun to the neighborhood children.
Although my home is on the opposite side of the farm, and we "could" sled in our our yard, this is way more fun. There are more friends to play with, and the snow is well packed by the time we get there, which makes sledding awesome!
The younger children enjoy the sledding. The older kids tell mom and dad they are watching their baby brothers and sisters....but they are really there to flirt. Younger siblings don't much like this, and I have witnessed more than a few snowball fights as a result.
Oh, to be a kid again!
My family missed the bonfire "they" had the other night (I don't even know who "they" are, since it seems permission to burn a fire is granted widely). Although I am not sure if burning an open fire inside the Town of Leesburg is legal, I'd have risked it; and I bet we would have had a great deal of fun. Hopefully, we'll catch the next one.
I'd like to thank the Cook Family for "lending" us the use of Meadow Hill!
It's become a wonderful addition to our community ammenities!
Looking for more things to keep kids occupied on snow days? Check out some of these posts:
I've posted before about how much I love my neighborhood.... and I REALLY REALLY do.
When we chose the place, we picked it like all other buyers pick homes. General area, conveniences, value, home style and condition... and it had a lot of kids, we could tell when we saw them in the neighborhood and we saw all the basketball hoops on the streets (which are actually prohibited by our HOA, by the way). So, we bought.
I continually become overwhelmed, though, as things happen and I have opportunities to realize how truly wonderful my neighborhood is.
Recently, a man in our neighborhood passed away. I didn't know him. He had 2 boys in elementary school, but they are older than my kids and my kids don't know them. I learned through the grapevine that the boys were staying with their grandparents, also in our neighborhood. We don't know them either. I asked "what about the mom?". It turns out she died 5 years ago.
Yeah... let that sink in for a little bit.
Many of us reached out to those that know the family better and asked if there was something, anything, we could do. We begged to help somehow.
After some brainstorming we came up with a plan. Twice a week, every week for the next three months, we would alternate cooking and bringing them dinner. We would put together a list of stay at home moms or others with flexible schedules who might be able to help grandma get the kids to and from activities, or to run necessary weekday errands, as she doesn't drive and her husband is still working until the end of the year.
We had so many volunteers, we had to turn away offers of help.
We simply have the most wonderful community here. I feel so blessed to live here, and can't imagine a better place to bring up my children.
We don't have much turnover here, but it is worth waiting to find a home that comes available in this neighborhood. If you'd like more information about Ashton Downs, don't hesitate to contact me.
Update: Today, October 8th is my turn! I've stressed and stressed (really, does it matter that much?). I didn't know what to bring. I finally settled on a simple chicken pot pie recipe (see pic). Mmmm... They smell so good.
There's an ice cream social at the school tonight, so I opted not to bring dessert, in hopes that the boys will be going. Just in case I am wrong, I bought a cookie and decorating kit - pumpkin shaped sugar cookies with icing, spinkles and such. My kids always liked doing stuff like that, hopefully these boys will, too. It also happens to be International Childrens Day. So, I bought two gift bags and filled them with magic trick "toys".
I imagine these boys are tired of mourning and people sending their sympathies. They probably just want to be kids again. I am making a lot of assumptions here.... hopefully I am guessing right. These boys need to figure out what their "new normal" will be. Sadly, life won't go backwards for them, but it must go forward. I pray my gifts and efforts are received well.
On Halloween night, I lost my keys. I was in the Leesburg Parade, and was convinced I had lost them somewhere along the parade route. After days of trying to find them, I finally resolved myself to the thought that they were gone forever. I was thinking of the hassle and money it would cost to replace those silly fobs and tokens, car remotes, changing the locks on my house...ugh.
This morning, my husband came back from taking my daughter to the bus stop, and he had a notice in his hand. It was a posting about a set of keys that had been found. Even though I was convinced that the keys had not been lost in my own neighborhood, I called. Sure enough, a neighbor had my keys! Coincidentally, it was the neighbor that moved into a house on the other end of my street, one I sold just a few months ago. In talking to her, she said she had newspaper ads coming out this week... she was so worried about returning those keys to the rightful owner (who she assumed was a stranger). Knowing what is involved with losing a set of keys like that, she was determined to find the rightful owner. Wow, these are the kinds of neighbors you want.
I was really touched... you simply don't see people taking that much time to worry about a stranger. Yet again today, I had another reason to be thankful for the people that touch my life.
It reminded me of our first weekend in this neighborhood, 8 years ago. We didn't have cable hooked up yet, so we had rented movies from Blockbuster. Apparently, while getting the kids in the car to run errands, my husband placed the movies on the top of the SUV, and forgot them. When he drove away, they fell into the street behind him. After getting to Blockbusters, and realizing he didn't have the movies, he was confused. He returned to the house to search high and low for the now missing movies (and, remember, we'd just moved, so the house was total chaos). He found them nowhere. Retracing his steps, we realized he must have left them on the top of the SUV, but they were gone now.
On Monday, my husband went to Blockbuster with his tail between his legs to beg forgiveness and pay the fine. Imagine our surprise when he was told someone had returned them, and on time! (This was amazing because in those days, the movies had to be returned by noon to be "on time" and we didn't leave the house until 11 that morning.) A random person, a stranger to us then (years later we found out who it was), had gone out of their way to return the movies on our behalf.
In the 8 years we've lived here, many such episodes have occurred. And, yet, when I am selling homes in my very own neighborhood, I've yet to figure out how to truly convey to people that, somehow, we here in Ashton Downs live in a sort of oasis. Everyone - and I mean EVERYONE here is just good. They're the kind of neighbors you want. How can you put that into a property brochure or explain it to a buyer? I still haven't found the right approach, but I am trying.
