Saturday, my wife was out shopping all day with her mother, yes she negotiated well, and I was home with two beautiful ladies, my daughters. The princess’s were not being to lady like with the doors slamming and constant bickering. The feeling in my stomach was not from my daughters fighting over Princess Aurora but the concern on the damage my wife was inflicting on the credit card. With this in mind and an empty stomach, I decided to bribe my kids with ice cream and save myself a few bucks and walk to Vienna. We were headed into town to get ingredients for a fresh tomato pesto Panini.

I threw some shoes on my daughters who were both in their ballerina costumes from a dance recital a few weeks back. I figured we would only be gone for a few minutes and it was not worth the negotiation to get them to change……..Yes, I have taught all the ladies in the house how to negotiate, I obviously didn’t think that one through...

The first stop was the local Giant in the heart of the town of Vienna, VA for some fresh tomato and mozzarella. With my two ballerinas in tow, we quickly checked out in the self serve checkout and headed to a Vienna local favorite, Cenan’s Bakary. We purchased a fresh loaf of San Francisco Sourdough bread, basil pesto spread, and a cannoli that was just made hours ago. (Did you see my last name)

Now it was time to pay up on the bribe so that hopefully the remainder of the day would be quieter, Baskin Robins. Within the matter of minutes we had made our selection of rainbow sherbet and strawberry cheesecake, the girls are all about the color pink. We were on our way home walking past Norms Beer since I still had a refrigerator full from the StoneHouse 4th of July party. Once we returned home, I sat the kids down with their ice cream and then created a most delectable Panini to enjoy in peace and quiet.The question I am sure you are asking now is ….how does this story have anything to do with purchasing a home? That’s a good question………….

I will start by telling you this entire journey took 21 minutes to complete and we walked every step of the way. I believe there is a huge value in living in a walk able community that offers mass transit, restaurants, shopping, and other household business’s. In Northern VA the homes in these communities sell higher and faster than homes with little to know walkability. There are many real estate websites like Trulia.com that are ranking homes so that potential buyers can get a feel if it is walk able. This is best done by a local agent that knows the area and the market. Here are some of the better Northern VA Walkable communities. Town of Vienna, Fairfax City, Arlington, Alexandria, City of Manassas, Falls Church, and Mclean just to name a few.