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This column is written and sponsored by D.C. real estate agent and Edgewood resident Jessica Evans. Email her questions at  [email protected].

5 Mistakes That are Costing Sellers Money in Today’s Market

1. Not Preparing
2. Overpricing
3. Skipping Easy Upgrades
4. Not Compensating for Negatives
5. Selling Off Market

Prepare For the Worst, Hope For the Best

In today’s sellers market, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you don’t really have to do much to prepare your home for sale, because there will be plenty of buyers. In reality, while buyer demand exceeds supply, there are no guarantees that your home is going to sell instantly or for the price that you want without proper preparation.

Your home may never be a 10/10 and that’s OK, but you should put some time and effort into making sure that it shows its best. The little things can add up and impact a buyers impression of your home, don’t skip on repairing anything not in normal working order, thorough cleaning, de-cluttering and de-personalizing and staging — these can all make a difference.

Overpricing

This time of year it is especially easy for sellers to look at similar homes in their neighborhood that have sold and think they can sell for more.

It’s true that prices have been going up, but a solid pricing strategy includes pricing at the market value, not above. It is important to be honest about property condition. If your kitchen is 10 years old, it does not have the same appeal to buyers as a newly renovated kitchen.

Similarly, a 1st floor location in a building is not going to sell for the same price as the 5th. It’s as important as ever to really analyze the differences between your home and the other homes that have sold recently, and price accordingly.

Overpricing can have dramatic effects on the end sales price, in as little as 14-21 days a buyers mindset is likely to shift to thinking that your home is overpriced (which it probably is if its under $1m and sits on the market for that long) and offers will reflect this. Pricing appropriately for the market value is the surest way to get the highest possible sales price.

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By Virginia criminal defense attorney Patrick Woolley with Price Benowitz, LLP.

The opioid epidemic across the country has led to millions of overdoses and thousands of deaths. Virginia is not immune to the crisis, which is why the state is looking to open a needle exchange site later this year in an effort to curb the spread of diseases, specifically hepatitis C.

The needle exchange site will more than likely open somewhere in Wise County, which has been devastated by the opioid epidemic. The county has seen 120 deaths related to opioid overdoses from 2007 to 2017. The hepatitis C rate is almost double the 141 per 100,000 people in a county of 40,000 residents.

“I think it’s really exciting that they have been the leaders in this and are showing the state the way to go and are jumping right in,” Elaine Martin, the director of HIV prevention services for the Virginia Department of Health, said.

The program should be approved relatively soon. The department has received the application for the site and has reviewed the proposed site, according to Martin.

The Health Department released statistics related to hepatitis C for the age range of 18-30, the group most likely to contract the disease via drug use. In 2017 alone, there were 2,141 new cases of the disease in the state. This was an increase from just 840 new cases six years ago.

Virginia became the 28th state to legalize needle exchange programs, doing so in July 2017. No more than 55 localities can apply to become exchange sites. So far, Wise County is the only locality that has applied in Virginia.

“Many organizations, especially law enforcement agencies, are skeptical about approving needle exchange sites,” Patrick Woolley, a Virginia drug crimes attorney, said.

The opioid epidemic in Virginia reached new heights in 2017, according to preliminary data from the Health Department. There were 1,227 deaths related to opioid overdoses, which includes painkillers and heroin. The increase in deaths from 2015 to 2017 was more than 50 percent for the state.

When it comes to hepatitis C cases, Roanoke has the highest rate of the disease in the state. Six years ago, there were six new cases. In 2017, Roanoke had 85 reported cases of the disease.

By personal injury attorney Jeff Shiver, co-founder of Shiver Hamilton.

It has become common in the last few years for individuals to claim that vaccinations administered to children early in life lead to certain intellectual disabilities, among other issues.

These claims are based on debunked research that has since been retracted. However, there has been an increase in provable injury claims related to vaccines — all from improper location of the injection.

Shoulder injuries resulting from vaccine administration or “SIRVA” has become a much more commonplace claim due to the increase in the number of vaccinations administered to individuals later in life.

More and more individuals receive the flu vaccine each year. Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that individuals be vaccinated for the seasonal flu every year.

With a push for lower-cost health care delivery, treatments such as vaccinations are being performed by individuals with less training than doctors or nurses. With less training and less experience, the risk of a mistake increases. SIRVA instances are generally caused by administering the vaccine to high on the arm.

This leads to excruciating pain in the arm and shoulder that often results in increased limitations in usage.

“Based on the increase in the number of SIRVA claims that have been filed in Federal court, these mistakes are, in fact, becoming more common,” said Jeff Shiver, a personal injury attorney with the law firm of Shiver Hamilton in Savannah.

All claims for vaccination related injuries have, since 1986, been decided in Federal court. A special court was established to adjudicate all vaccination-related claims after several multimillion dollar vaccination injury awards resulted in all but one of the manufacturers of the Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus vaccination halting production.

In order to encourage the continued production of vaccines, the Federal government agreed to shoulder the liability related to vaccination injuries, hence the establishment of what is commonly known as the “vaccine court”.

The majority of cases that result in payment of claims come from settlement agreements, avoiding an actual finding of fault related to the vaccine or its administration. Currently, the fund from which claims are paid is maintained by a $0.75 cent tax on each dose of covered vaccine administered.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the number of SIRVA claims in vaccine court has doubled in the last year, and now make up half of the claims facing the court. This has led to a backlog of cases and a delay in resolution.

Though claims are designed to be non-adversarial, it is wise for individuals to retain experienced legal counsel. As the court is very willing to grant payment of attorney fees from the fund, even with unsuccessful claims, there is very little reason for a plaintiff to seek restitution or for an attorney to decline to assist a client with no upfront money.

Start your National Rosé Day celebration at Nationals Park.

Purchase an exclusive $35 Rosé All Gameday ticket for Saturday, June 9 at 12:05 p.m. against the Giants and enjoy a complimentary can of Sofia rosé while you watch the game from the special Baseline Reserve or Baseline Box field level sections. Rosé All Gameday fans will:

• Sip Rosé in the pop-up Rosé Garden
• Snap away in the Rosé photobooth
• Snag give-aways all game long
• Swing a ring at the Rosé bottle toss
• See the game through commemorative rosé colored sunglasses!

Keep the rosé flowing at our exclusive pop-up Rosé Garden where rosé and frosé will be available for purchase!

This column is written by D.C. Realtor and resident Sean Forschler.  Licensed in DC, MD & VA, he has been in the business since 2001 and currently works at RLAH Real Estate. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Last week, I described what a co-operative (co-op) is and gave some examples of how it differs from condominium ownership. To recap, it’s a corporation that provides housing for its members as evidenced by shares of stock or other documents.

This week I am going to explain the “underlying mortgage,” a.k.a. “blanket mortgage,” a.k.a. corporate mortgage indebtedness. From here on out, I’ll refer to this large loan as the UM.

In the UM, the land and building are used as collateral. Each residential unit will take on a piece of the loan payment based on their par value. This generally corresponds to the size or square footage of the unit. Therefore, the larger the unit, the higher the piece of this UM the resident is responsible for and vice versa.

The payment of the UM is part of the monthly co-op fee. Therefore the co-op fee is generally comprised of maintenance of the building and grounds, the unit’s portion of taxes and portion of this UM payment.

This is why many co-ops seem to have very high monthly fees but keep in mind that the taxes will pretty much remain stable, unlike a condo, and interest on the UM is tax deductible.

Now, not all co-ops have this UM payment as the UM has been paid off.

When purchasing a co-op, you must take into account the unit’s total remaining balance of the UM. Below is an example of how to calculate how much would need to be financed in order to purchase a co-op with a UM: (more…)

By Washington D.C. Criminal Defense Attorney Shawn Sukumar with Price Benowitz, LLP.

An annual audit revealed that enrollment fraud is increasingly common at a Washington, D.C. high school.

At the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, an acclaimed public school, public residency records point to fraud. According to Hanseul Kang, State Superintendent of Education, the agency that oversees both public schools and charter schools in the District, specific concerns were discovered in public records that were connected to some students’ parents regarding whether they were residents of the District.

Tuition at the school is more than $12,000 for non-residents. By misstating their residence, families can avoid the tuition fee.

Residency fraud has been a persistent problem for many years. It is common for Maryland and Virginia students to attend D.C. public and charter schools, which are funded by D.C. taxpayers.

This practice is illegal and takes away seats from students who live in D.C.. Eligibility is done annually every Spring, with residency proven by utility bills or signed leases.

It is easy to game the system and fake residency, or to use a friend or relative’s address who live in the city. It is also hard to prove residency when there are complicated custody arrangements or situations involving undocumented immigrants.

But public officials have not done anything to fix the problems; in some cases, they are also the perpetrators. Enforcement is not uniform, and it could take years for the District to recover money owed to them for the waived tuition.

In the past five years, 182 fraud cases have been reported to the AG’s office, but only 39 of these cases have been resolved in a settlement or enforcement.

Out of the six current cases in Superior Court, four involve a school employee. Of those cases that were settled, only 20% of the money has been repaid from the families ordered to pay because of court proceedings. (more…)