Arlington moves fast. Close to D.C., tons of jobs, and no shortage of things to do. I’ll walk you through housing trends, commute tips, and why this area stays in such high demand.

 

Chris Colgan portrait

The 7 Northern Virginia Areas I’d Buy In Before Everyone Else Figures It Out

Stop chasing the exact same overcrowded zip codes. Join Chris Colgan as he breaks down seven high-opportunity Northern Virginia markets, including Herndon, Haymarket, Gainesville, & more. 

Nova Listings More Blogs Transcript

Top 7 NoVA Markets: Key Takeaways

  • Herndon (Silver Line Value): Direct Silver Line Metro access and proximity to major Dulles tech employers without paying Reston's $1M+ price tag.
  • Haymarket & Gainesville (Big Land Signals): Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have invested nearly $1B in land acquisitions, paving the way for long-term infrastructure and…

13 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

The move marks a major new chapter for one of Northern Virginia’s most visible real estate teams and social media brands.

I am excited to officially announce that the Chris Colgan Team has joined Real Brokerage.

The move brings our team of 28 real estate agents to Real and expands the company’s presence throughout Northern Virginia and the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

Our team is currently on pace to close approximately $150 million in real estate sales this year, serving buyers, sellers and investors across Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Arlington counties, as well as Alexandria and the surrounding D.C. region.

This is a major milestone for our company, but it is also the beginning of our next chapter.

…

100 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Chris Colgan portrait

Living in Arlington, VA vs Washington DC: Which Is Better?

Most buyers pick DC over Arlington because the median prices look lower on paper, until they get to the closing table. Join Chris Colgan as he breaks down the real differences between Arlington, VA and Washington, DC, covering everything from hidden taxes and true housing costs to lifestyle, schools, and commuting.

Nova Listings More Blogs Arlington vs DC Summary

Arlington vs Washington DC: Key Takeaways

  • The Condo Distortion: DC's lower median prices are heavily skewed by a surplus of condo inventory. Detached homes and rowhouses compete dollar-for-dollar with Arlington properties.
  • Income Taxes:…

90 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Northern Virginia Housing Market Update: Home Prices and Sales Rise in June 2026

Summary: According to Bright MLS’s June 2026 Washington, D.C. Metro Housing Market Report, closed sales increased 4.4% compared with June 2025, the median sold price rose 3.8% to $675,000 and active inventory increased 9%. Northern Virginia was one of the strongest parts of the region, particularly in Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

The short verdict: Buyers have more homes to choose from, but Northern Virginia is not suddenly a buyer’s market. Detached homes are still selling quickly, townhome prices are beginning to level out and condo buyers are gaining more leverage.

There is a lot of bad real estate information floating around right now.

One headline…

441 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Northern Virginia may be getting a glimpse of the future.

According to FOX 5 Washington, autonomous vehicle company Waymo has officially begun mapping parts of Northern Virginia as it explores the possibility of launching driverless ride-hailing services in the Commonwealth.

For most residents, that means you may soon start seeing vehicles equipped with cameras and sensors quietly driving through local streets in places like Alexandria and Arlington. While these vehicles are not operating autonomously today, the mapping effort is a critical first step in preparing for a potential launch of fully autonomous transportation services in the region.

And if you've visited cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Austin recently, you've…

171 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post


Selling Your Home in Northern Virginia: What You Need to Know Right Now

If you're thinking about selling your home in Northern Virginia, the spring 2026 market is sending a clear message: serious buyers are out there, inventory is climbing, and the days of simply putting a sign in the yard and waiting for offers are over. This market is shifting. It still rewards sellers — but only the ones who come in prepared, priced right, and marketed aggressively from day one.

The short answer: Yes, it is a good time to sell in Northern Virginia — but the market has shifted and preparation matters more than it has in years. Across Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Arlington, and Alexandria, homes are selling in 16 to 23 days with median prices ranging from…

95 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Northern Virginia luxury real estate operates as three completely separate markets, not one. The $1.5M to $2.5M entry tier is broad and lifestyle-driven, spread across Arlington, Alexandria, Vienna, and McLean. The $2.5M to $5M core tier narrows to two distinct buyer profiles split between McLean and Great Falls. And above $5 million, one neighborhood, McLean, controls the majority of the market while the rest of Northern Virginia barely registers. If you're buying or selling at any price point and treating this as one market, you're already working with the wrong strategy.

I'm Chris Colgan, a Northern Virginia native who has spent over 20 years and more than $1 billion in closed transactions working these exact markets. I pulled this breakdown…

313 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Overview

In the last few months, Northern Virginia’s housing market has been surprising buyers and sellers alike by acting not as one homogeneous real estate sector, but as many markets, split by each county. This can feel overwhelming for those looking to purchase a new home and those trying to offload an old one. That's why the Colgan Team is breaking down the current market trends pulled from data by Bright MLS — the number one resource for realty companies in the mid-Atlantic.

​

In brief: Inventory is up everywhere, but prices are split, with some counties having rises and others flattening. Days on the market are stretching, and buyer psychology is shifting in a span of mere months. Below is a narrower breakdown of each micromanaged…

728 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Spring finally showed up — and so did sellers, buyers, and some numbers that tell a very different story depending on which county you're watching.

I'm Chris Colgan, Northern Virginia realtor and founder of Real Nova Network. Every month I pull the Bright MLS data across the counties I've worked in my entire career — Fairfax, Arlington, Loudoun, Prince William, Fauquier, Alexandria, and beyond — and translate what it actually means for people buying, selling, and living here. April 2026 had some genuinely interesting crosscurrents worth unpacking.

The headline: the D.C. metro market is healing faster than the headlines suggest, but it is not healing evenly. Some counties are in outright seller's market territory. Others are quietly giving buyers…

1195 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Spring 2026 is not a simple market. It's not the frenzy of 2021, it's not the slowdown some people predicted, and it's definitely not the same story in every county. After 22 years working real estate across Northern Virginia — from Haymarket to Fredericksburg, Marshall to Arlington — I've learned to read past the regional headlines and look at what's actually happening on the ground.

Here's what the March 2026 Bright MLS data is telling me, and what it means for you.

1. Buyers Came Back in March — But Rates Are Fighting Back

The activity numbers for March were genuinely encouraging. New pending sales across the Washington D.C. metro hit 5,213 — up 5.3% from a year ago and a 43.9% jump from February. Right here in the North Central Virginia…

281 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post
Next