Janet Caterson Price

Janet Price, a long-time Alexandria resident, began her career in the real estate industry in 1994, bringing more than twenty years experience in marketing to apply to the fine art of promoting and selling residential properties.  With Carlyle Real Estate Services, Janet topped $20 million+ and $25 million+ in ’05 and ’06.   She then joined McEnearney Associates in 2007 and earned the coveted NVAR Lifetime Top Producer award in that same year.  She continues as a Top Producer in market rankings in sales and service to her clients.

Janet hails from a small town in Northeastern Pennsylvania and thrives in taking the best of those traditional, hard working, always-above board roots to serve her clients with the utmost honesty and integrity.   She loves the daily challenge of matching the wants and wishes of buyers and sellers, and bringing those often competing objectives to a common ground.

With a BS in Food Service and Housing Administration from Penn State University, Janet brings the practical experience of small business ownership into play for her clients (as owner of Albert Caterson Distinctive Caterer) and a Business Administration/ Legal Assistant for a mid-sized law firm specializing in insurance defense often representing Realtors in Errors and Omissions claims.  This background combined with 19 years of real estate experience, have been the perfect combination to enhance her burgeoning real estate practice.

“Nothing is more satisfying than being right in the middle of active and aggressive negotiations between parties, and ultimately reaching a compromise at which time both sides come away knowing a “fair deal” was made,” she says in describing her view of her principal professional responsibility.

“Sure it’s great to see the properties and help my clients envision and eventually realize their dreams, but the fun part is bringing people together, finding that magic formula, and watching their faces light up when the deal is struck.  It all comes together then, for them, and for me,” Price explains.

Price says she would not trade her job, or where she works for anything.

“I adore Northern Virginia.  Yes, it is part of a major metropolitan center with all the challenges life in the big city present, but, particularly in Alexandria, one can bask in a small town atmosphere exhibiting small town values while still taking advantage of what Washington DC has to offer.  It’s the best of both worlds.  I love the vast array of architecture and the wonderful, lush environment, but above all, the diversity of its citizens. That’s what makes this place and my profession so rewarding.  Those are the exact reasons why I live and work right here,” she says.

Price’s interests extend well beyond her passion for her work to encompass good literature, especially historical biographies.  Her latest “good read” was the autobiography of Mary Gallagher, her friend and neighbor, who wrote a personal account of her life and times as the personal private secretary to the late former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.  Price is an avid student of interior decorating, and second only to applying her craft in making the “deal”, she enjoys helping her clients “stage” their properties for quick, top dollar sales.  She loves the movies, and records the good stuff on cable television such as “True Detective”, “Downton Abbey” and “Modern Family.”

On the civic front, Janet was a Board Member of Belle Haven Citizens Association for four years; and for two years chaired a major fundraiser at her daughter’s school.  Further as a Girl Scout troop leader, Neighborhood House Tour Chair and six years as a volunteer for the Homeless Bag Lunch program Janet’s leadership abilities become evident as she gives back to the community she so greatly appreciates.

No one is more optimistic about the advancement of the housing market than Price.  With the local residential market rebounding at all levels, now is the time to buy.  Sellers have come full circle to realize where their pricing needs to be to move the inventory.

With interest rates remaining low and values creeping back up, now is the time to buy.  I am busier now than I was in 2006.  Deals take longer to put together, but we seek out the solid ones that go to settlement.

Lenders are shedding the effects of the sub prime drag on the market of 2007, and are now looking for good borrowers with good credit and when they find them, they have plenty of money to lend at historically low rates. With the lenders back, buyers eager and sellers realistic, that’s another great combination for a steady, sustained recovery.

Price resides in the Belle Haven section of Alexandria with her husband Rick, a commercial lender and author; and daughter Sara, a sophomore at Bishop Ireton High School.