Dan Thiewes • Selling Northern VA

11/14/2025

I have a client that is interested in renting a bedroom and full bath in her basement. The house is in Oakton. They may rent out the whole basement. Let me know if you have someone that may be interested.

12/20/2024

Merry Christmas to all. May the spirit of the season be with you all year long.

10/01/2024

A happy client is what it is all about. Thank you Craig and Kelsey for taking the time to share like this.

We retained Dan's services about ten years ago to help us buy a rental townhouse in Chantilly. He was thorough, responsive, caring, and effective in all aspects of his service. With his expert assistance, we were able to buy a property that exactly fit our needs in a great location and at a great price.

Fast forward to 2023, and our goals had changed after a decade of profitable rental income. Hiring Dan to help us sell the property was a no brainer. He provided extensive guidance regarding even the smallest details to get the property ready to sell, and as usual was responsive and supportive throughout the sale process. He somehow is able to make us feel like we are his only clients.

Dan brings a vast base of knowledge and experience about the northern Virginia real estate market and home buying and selling in general. Dan is especially savvy at knowing how buyers look and think about a home purchase, and uses that knowledge to get the most for his sellers. And despite his low key manner, he is tenacious in getting the best possible outcome for his clients.

Dan's advice about setting the right asking price in a very hot seller's market was spot on. That, combined with his guidance on properly preparing the property for sale, produced 9 competing offers and a sale price well above the list price.

Finally, Dan is just a genuine honest, caring and good person who truly loves his work and connecting with people. He was a joy to work with every step of the way, and we give him our highest possible recommendation if you are looking for a top notch agent.

If you are thinking of buying or selling, reach out and let's get the ball rolling.

Send a message to learn more

09/20/2024

The FED rate cuts - what do they mean for you?

On Wednesday, the Fed lowered the Fed Funds Rate by 0.5%. This impacts all loans, including home mortgages, as we look toward the end of the year and into 2025.
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My friend and long-time lender, Tom Reed of Intercoastal Mortgage, passed along plenty of detail about what this could mean if you are looking to buy soon.

To start, the Fed controls short-term borrowing rates, which directly impacts credit cards, HELOCs and a number of other short-term debts. If you have a credit card or a HELOC, the rate went down 0.5%. It does not mean that longer term debts like auto loans and mortgage rates dropped 0.5%. Why?

Mortgages are long term debt and do not move directly based on the Fed moving rates. Mortgage rates are set by investors and bond traders who purchase these loans. They have been expecting the Fed to drop rates now for a while; nearly 62% of traders surveyed expected the 0.5% cut prior to the fed meeting, which is why we saw improvement in the rates over the last 90 days.

They really look at two parts of every Fed meeting: what do they do (interest rate decision) and what do they say that will indicate what they will do in the future.

What they did – the .5% cut was very close to expectations of the market.

What they said – this is what caused mortgage rates to worsen slightly after the announcement. Traders were looking to hear that the jobs market was not doing well and the fed would aggressively cut rates in the future to combat a weakening economy. Powell essentially said, he doesn’t think it’s that bad. There is nuance in there, but that is the general tone of what he said. Traders were not thrilled with this, so they pulled back their pricing. If they had mentioned that they were seriously concerned with the health of the labor markets and that they would aggressively be cutting rates in the future to combat this, we would have seen rates come down further. But they didn’t.

While the Fed cutting rates is a good start to having mortgage rates trend downward in the long term (6-12 months), it just wasn’t the party bond traders wanted to see right now.

I have also attached a chart to show the movement of mortgage bond prices from yesterday to today. You can see as soon as they announced the 0.5% cut the market reacted positively to the news, then Powell opened his mouth and pricing tumbled down the hill! As it stands now, we are sitting at similar levels to pre-meeting activity.

We do believe mortgage rates will continue to fall over the next several months. We may be at 5.75% by the Presidential election and 5.5% by the end of the year… If all goes well!

As mortgage rates fall, Home prices will climb! Studies say that for every 0.5% drop in mortgage rates, 10 million buyers nationwide will jump into the market. These buyers, with stagnant inventory, will drive up home values as they all begin to compete for the available housing!

The answer: Buy now, take a mortgage that you can live with for 6 months to a year, then refinance when rates hit bottom!

02/21/2024

Do you need to sell house A in order to buy house B? There is a financing option called "bridge loan" that can make this happen, especially in a very competitive market. Watch Tom's video and then give me a call so we can start the ball rolling for your new home. , ,

12/08/2023

What do these pictures have in common? They all should not be used when selling a property. While they do tell the story of what is being offered, perhaps a little attention to the image might enhance the salability? Why show the dirty mop head? Why not trim the excess carpet under the door? Why is there a fan laying on top of the compressor? Why isn't the bath towel folded nicely so it's not laying on top of the toilet paper roll? Why isn't the toilet paper rolled neatly? Pictures of a house for sale are meant to put the best foot forward, while being honest.
My recommendation would be to get rid of the mop, trim the carpet, fold the towel, neatly roll the paper and replace the compressor before taking pictures. That's just me.
If you are thinking of selling your house, give me a call. Let me put my observing eye and years of knowledge to work for you. Little things do make a difference. Everyone gets the big things because they are big.

10/12/2023

As expected, this one did not last long on the market. It only took 2 days to get a great contract that both the seller and buyer could be happy with.

If the start of your "must have" list included the words; Special, Wonderful, Complete, First Class ..." this would've been your new house. The original owners selected the largest model in the community with 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms, then increased the size with a three-level, 4' bump out.

From there, they added the extras that make a house special. The rear of the house faces a serene, grassy common area rain garden and the paver patio is the perfect place to be one with nature. The whole main level and upper hallway features engineered hardwood floors, and the larger floor plan allows a walk-in pantry along with a butler's pantry. In todays' world, the buyers will appreciate the private, main level home office.

8214 Skystone Loop, Manassas Park
Offered for $785,000 / Sold for $785,000.
4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, built in 2017
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08/29/2023

1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, private balcony, covered parking and elevator!

This may have everything that you want in a new place to call home. This nicely sized community is closed to major roads and has accessibility to everything.

The covered garage parking space means that you don't have to worry about the weather when you are coming or going. An elevator will take you to the fourth floor (no one above you!) and then a short walk down the hallway to your home.

This freshly painted condo is move-in ready. Move in on Saturday and then enjoy your balcony on Sunday afternoon. Hurry and schedule your showing. Properties this nice don't come around that often.

5563 Seminary Rd, #411
Falls Church, VA 22041

Offered at: $290,000

See 58 more photos here:
https://danthiewes.idxbroker.com/idx/details/listing/b004/VAFX2134890/5563-Seminary-Road-411-Falls-Church

07/05/2023

This fabulous townhouse didn't last long.

Multiple contracts, a quick settlement and $30K above list price

Besides checking all the boxes - great kitchen, wonderful bathrooms and a special yard - this townhouse has 4 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It's truly move-in fresh.

3997 Flagg Ct
Chantilly, VA 20151
Offered at $449,900

Thinking of buying or selling soon? Call or email me so we can discuss the finer points of being successful in today's market.

05/19/2023

Pictures are worth a thousand words. What message is this picture sending?
a) Look at this large closet-like space that is next to the kitchen.
b) We got a great deal on bottled water at Costco that we just couldn't pass up.
c) 15 cases of water means that the well water is not good/safe to drink?

I'm voting for "c". If I'm right, I would strongly suggest to the sellers to take care of the issue pronto and make it known in the listing that the water tastes fine.

05/16/2023

Congratulations Dan and Barb on the sale of your house! Your wonderful house now has a new owner that is going to cherish it every bit as much as you did.
Best wishes on the next chapter in your life. I know its going to be great.

05/02/2023

SOLD and settled in 3 weeks.

The contract was 100% fantastic! Are you thinking of selling, now or within the year? If so, give me a call, text or message.

There are many, very important things that need to be done before going on the market that make the difference in getting an OK contract vs a FANTASTIC contract. We will be better served to start our prep work now and make sure that we leave nothing to chance. Let me put my 30+ years of experience to work for you. Call me.