Client Appreciation Fall Festival

Having a great time at the Fall Festival!

I recently hosted my annual client appreciation event and had a great time with many of my clients. We had wine, lunch, a hayride and ran wild all over Sharps Farm! Two lucky clients won stays at my beach condos! Hope to see more of you next year!

Click here to see photos - Provided by my good friend Jessica DelVecchio, Wedding & Portrait Photography – 202-744-3746. She's perfect for your holiday cards & gifts!

Special thanks also to those who ensure business runs smoothly:

• Roger Dennis, MetLife Home Loans - With rates this low, it's a GREAT time to buy or refinance! Contact me at 202 904 9573.
• Krauthamer & Stahl, Attorneys at Law - We concentrate in wills, estates, trusts, elder law, real estate and small business representation. Contact us at 301 656 0045 for a consultation.

Contact me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the sub-divisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda & Whitehall Condominium.

5 Free Apps That Will Save You Money This Holiday Season!

Here is a little something that will help you save up for a new house! :-)

A Place to Learn History, Ride a Trolley—and See Santa!

Just outside of Chevy Chase is the National Capital Trolley Museum where history and fun meet for a very good time. A visit here takes you back to a time when the building, maintenance and operation of street cars were the focus of most of the nation’s workforce.

The Museum’s website states that they exist “to collect and preserve artifacts of electrical street railways and to interpret their impact upon the development of communities in the Washington DC region.“ A stroll through this wonderful museum offers lots of interesting information.

In the Main Hall you’ll learn about the street car’s influence on communities and see working models of the street cars in the Chevy Chase of the 1930’s. The Conduit Hall shows off the different parts that made up the cars and how electricity was both made and transmitted so they could move. You’ll see actual street cars in Street Car Hall, with many from this region and some from Europe.

Once you’ve learned some history, you can step outside and take a ride on a real street car. The ride takes passengers into the woods and back in time by a century or so to see how Maryland and Virginia looked to riders at that time.

  

The Museum’s annual Holly Trolley Fest begins on November 26 and runs Saturdays and Sundays through December 18. The kids will love that Santa rides (and sometimes drives!) the trolleys between 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., and there’s also a Christmas Garden with a toy train display set up on Museum grounds. 

You can find the National Capital Trolley Museum in Northwest Branch Park, 1313 Bonifant Road, Colesville, MD.  Adult admission is $7.00, children ages 2-17 and seniors 65 and older pay $5.00. For more information, call them at 301-384-6088 or go to dctrolley.org. There are few other places where you can have so much fun for so little money. Plan to bring a camera!

If you lived here, you’d never run out of things to do! Contact me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the sub-divisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda & Whitehall Condominium.

Bethesda Students Put Kindness into Action

The kids at Bethesda's Carderock Springs Elementary School are learning more than just academics. They’ve discovered how great it is to help others.

It started at the beginning of October with a book called “The Lemonade Ripple: An Adventure in Philanthropy” by Paul Reichert, the father of a Carderock student. The story tells of a young girl who opens a lemonade stand to help get a new wheelchair for her friend, which creates a “lemonade ripple” that draws the whole community to help.

What the book did in Bethesda was to inspire students from kindergarten to the fifth grade to do their own acts of charity all through the month of October, visiting nursing homes or selling items to raise money for charity. One second grader created and sold homemade cards; a fourth-grader donated clothes and toys to the Salvation Army. Others made pictures for teachers or gave toys to the National Center for Children.

At the end of October, the students donated the $1,860.50 they’d earned to a Bethesda organization called “Just Tryan It,” a nonprofit that gives financial assistance to the families of children fighting cancer. And they’re not stopping now that October is over. During November they’ll hold a winter coat drive for the needy, and students plan to adopt families that they can help for the upcoming holiday season. The fourth-grader who gave to the Salvation Army is now getting socks and creams for homeless people with diabetes.

The book shows how small acts of kindness can lead to wonderful things, and a group of elementary school students put the idea into action. Bethesda is filled with great people, excellent schools, and a community that cares for others.

Come join us! Contact me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the sub-divisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda & Whitehall Condominium.

A Small Bethesda Business with a Big Impact

Anyone who lives here knows there’s always great stuff happening in Bethesda. Add to that list Savenia Labs, a small start-up company making a big environmental impact.

The company was started by John Jabara, a Bethesda resident, to provide consumers with the energy cost of operating various household appliances. A few years ago John was in the market for a coffeemaker and wanted to know not only how much energy it used, but also the long-term cost to both himself and the environment of using the different units on the market. Because this information wasn’t readily available, he started a company that could provide it.

Jabara states that an energy-efficient toaster can reduce 1200 pounds of carbon dioxide over six years, and a house filled with such appliances “would reduce the environmental impact by 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide over the same period.” According to Jabara, this equals about 154 tanker trucks full of pollution that won’t get into the environment.

Headquartered at Bethesda Green, Savenia puts products through a 10-step test process to determine the true cost of operating the appliance. This includes market research, how much an appliance is used, and the energy consumption of a typical user. But they then go on to also study how far an item travels to get to a store and if packaging is made of recycled content, which also have an environmental impact. Oh, and they also test that the products perform their essential functions, like making coffee.

Savenia has tested over 200 appliances to date including coffeemakers, toaster ovens and microwaves—items that Energy Star does not cover. Jabara hopes that his energy rating system will push manufacturers to produce products with better energy-saving capacities.

Because the lab is independent and also independently funded, they don’t accept donations from manufacturers and buy all the products they test. Jabra envisions his profits coming from the sale of Savenia’s ratings to retailers, letting them use his labels in their stores.

There’s currently a display of Savenia’s energy-rated products in Bethesda and Silver Spring at Strosniders Hardware Stores, and it’s drawn a lot of interest from the public. Most people are very interested in choosing an energy-efficient product.

Bethesda Green and the College Park area are known for supporting and encouraging new businesses that promote sustainable living practices. This is just another reason why Bethesda is one of the greatest places in the country to call home.

Contact me, Mynor Herrera, today for expert help buying or selling in the DC, MD, & VA areas! I also specialize in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, as well as the sub-divisions of Rosemary Hills, Rock Creek Forest, East Bethesda & Whitehall Condominium.