Joshua Stearns

My first piece of advice would be to narrow down your criteria a little. Arlington is within 25 miles of just about the entire greater DC metro area. You have hundreds, if not thousands of listings that meet the criteria you give here. You and your agent would be completely overwhelmed. Have you visited a lender yet to find out how much you can afford? If not, that's step number one. Having a good price range in mind will help you to narrow down your choices a lot. After that, you should probably come to town, if you haven't already, to take a look at some of the different neighborhoods, etc. What kind of lifestyle do you want? Are you willing to have a long commute? Twenty five miles might not sound like a lot by car, but if you are commuting from say, Manassas, to Arlington, then it's going to take over an hour.
As far as deals go, they can be had everywhere. Different places will have different kinds of deals. You really ought to focus your search criteria a bit first and then you can go after the deals in the particular place or places you want to live in. - Fri Jul 4 2008, 13:48

Christine -

Do you mean Falls Church City or the part of Fairfax Co known as Falls Church, or both? Also, what size and type of property are you looking for?

In any case, there are only two listings in Falls Church City that right now are both for sale and for rent. They are both short sale condos in the newly built Byron on Broad St. Since they are short sales, it is pretty unlikely you'd be able to work a rent to own deal.

However, my own personal philosophy would be that if you see a rental property you like, it can't hurt to inquire about rent to own. Some owners have never considered it, some are just waiting for the right tenant, some may be getting tired of being a landlord but haven't had time to put their place on the market, etc etc etc.

You can also approach the situation from the other side. If you see a desirable property that has been on the market for awhile, it might be worthwhile to ask them about rent to own. Perhaps they are getting anxious. Perhaps it is vacant and they are getting tired of paying a mortgage on an empty house. Again, it can't hurt to ask. This approach probably won't work unless it has really been on the market for awhile. - Wed Jun 25 2008, 11:03

I'd be happy to rent your home for you. Would you also be looking for property management services? Weichert can do both for you.

Please don't hesitate to call me so we can get started. (571) 271-1543. - Fri Jun 20 2008, 12:34

I don't see any 2 bedrooms for rent on that street. However, there are plenty of 2 br and larger units for rent in that zip code. - Mon May 19 2008, 18:05

There are really too many unknown variables here to give a truly relevant answer. I think the most important is whether or not you are renting it at a loss. If not, why sell? Perhaps you don't like being a landlord, which is certainly understandable. But the occasional inconvenience may be worth it. Especially if you are considering selling at a loss. If you are literally looking at a short sale, meaning that the sales price would be less than what you owe on the mortgage, then this could have seriously negative consequences on your credit rating for years to come. This is really a worse-case scenario. (Unless you have the cash to make up the difference. Still painful, but at least your credit is not damaged.)
But I think it comes down to questioning what in the status quo might be pushing you to make a change. If your rent covers your mortgage (or even if it comes close) you might very well stand pat until something changes to push you to sell.
And I 100% agree with Danilo - if you had it on for more than 200 days without an offer, then it was definitely overpriced. - Sat May 10 2008, 08:10