6 Tips and a New Resident Checklist: Moving to Falls Church, VA

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Falls Church, VA is in close proximity to Washington, DC which makes it a popular place to live and work. If you’re thinking of relocating to the Falls Church area, there are a few things you should know to make your experience a smooth move. Read on to discover six useful tips and a new resident checklist you can use to make your transition to Falls Church a pleasant one.

1. Plan Ahead for Your Moving Truck

The area of Falls Church, in Fairfax County, VA has a lot of homes. With plenty of options ranging from apartments to townhomes and single-family homes – you’ll be sure to find the right sized place for you and your family. But, unfortunately, it also has a lot of restricted parking. When moving day comes around, you’ll need as much space as possible so you can easily load and unload your moving truck.

To ensure you’ll have ample room, request a parking space reservation from the city in advance. This reservation will allow you to park on a city street at a specific date and time so you won’t need to worry about getting towed. If you’re hiring a local moving company, they will be able to help out or take care of this part for you completely.

If you’ll be moving everything with your own vehicles, the city of Falls Church recommends you make your request at least two weeks in advance to allow for proper processing. The police department of Falls Church must issue a parking permit for you to be able to park on specific streets within city limits.

moving truck
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2. Make it a Smooth Move for Your Pets

Have a furry friend? All dogs must have their rabies vaccination and a city license. You should get the license for your dog within 30 days of moving to Falls Church. This applies to all dogs over four months of age.

For your feline friend, all cats over four months old must also be vaccinated against rabies. The good news is that cats don’t need to be licensed in Falls Church. (You’ll be able to save some money there!)

Make sure you contact the Falls Church Treasurer’s Office to obtain your license. This will make the transition for you and your furry friends smooth and seamless.

3. Ensure Your Car is Up to Par

Every vehicle in Virginia must have an annual safety inspection. Your vehicle must pass inspection and have a valid sticker displayed on the windshield.

You must also pass an emissions inspection, which can be done at the same time you get your annual safety inspection. In Falls Church and throughout the state of Virginia, you must have proper auto insurance. This insurance must be effective from the date you register your vehicle forward.

When you move to Falls Church, make sure your vehicle is registered in Virginia within 30 days if you’re coming from a different state. Vehicles can be registered at any DMV customer service center. When your car is up to par, you’ll have a smooth move to the area with fewer hiccups.

4. Turn Your Utilities On

Before your move, it’s a good idea to get all of your utilities turned on in advance (typically 1-2 weeks in advance). Call Dominion Power to turn on your electricity, and you can contact Washington Gas if your home uses gas. The city of Fairfax, VA handles the sewer and water services for Falls Church. You will also want to contact a company for your cable and Internet connections.

In the Falls Church region, you can choose between Verizon, Cox Communications, or RCN for your cable and Internet services. Make a checklist with the name and number of all utilities so you can start getting everything turned on before you move in.

electrical meter

5. Get the Kids Prepared for School

One big draw to the Falls Church area is its exceptional school system, which is considered to be one of the best in the nation. Register your child in advance to ensure that they’ll be ready to start school right away. In Falls Church, school-age children should be enrolled as soon as they arrive. You can call the public school’s main number or visit them online to find out how to register your child.

There are two preschool options in Falls Church along with several private options. Falls Church has a total of five public schools in the area with almost 3,000 enrollees. Get your child prepared by making sure they’re registered before the day of your move.

6. Prepare Your Trash for Pick Up

When you move, you’ll probably have plenty of trash you need to get rid of. The Department of Public Works in Falls Church provides recycling services, bulk pickup, leaf collection, and more for townhomes and single-family houses.

Falls Church also offers weekly curbside compost collection. This service is offered by the Compost Crew at a cost of $6 per month. You can visit them online to sign up for this special service if you desire.

For residential customers, Wednesday is trash pick up day. If you have excess or bulk trash, you will be charged an additional fee. You can call the city to arrange for a special or extra pick up if you need it.

Get Ready for Moving Day

This simple moving checklist will help to ensure that your transition to Falls Church and the Arlington areas of Northern Virginia is a smooth move. From registering your children for the right school to getting your parking permit for the moving truck, scratching items off your list will make the big day a lot easier.

Whether you work in Arlington or Washington, Falls Church is a beautiful place to raise your family. Alternatively, if you are looking for a place to rent, check out our DC rentals.

Get these tasks completed before you move so you can spend time enjoying your new place.

If you need property management services in the DC area, be sure to visit our website for more information and contact us today so we can help you get started with your property needs.

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Enhanced Reporting

Your portal includes a selection of extremely useful reports. Reports are available in the “Reports” section, and are distinct from the financial statements. Unlike financial statements which are static records, Reports are dynamic real-time records that will update with current data every time you view them. 

Scroll down to learn more about Reports:

Navigate to the "Reports" module in your portal:

Owner Portal Reports
  • Keep in mind, these reports are dynamic records. They will refresh to display current information every time you view them. 

Enhanced Rent Roll Report:

Enhanced Rent Roll Report
  • The Enhanced Rent Roll Report will show the rent amount, last payment date, move-in date, lease expiration date, and security deposit amount for each of your tenants. 
  • It will also show a portfolio summary with occupancy percentage, vacancy loss, and more!

Unit Comparison Report:

Unit Comparison Report
  • If you own multiple units (or buildings) with Nomadic, you’ll get access to the Unit Comparison Report. 
  • This report enables you to quickly compare financial performance between your units at a glance without toggling between individual reports. 

Income Statement Month-Over-Month:

Income Statement by Month Report
  • The Income Statement Detail – Monthly Report serves as a month-over-month record of portfolio performance. You’ll see itemized income and expense categories and can track monthly. This report will update with fresh data every time you view it. 

Financial Statements

Financial statements will be published to your portal on a monthly basis. The statements are found in your Documents library, and provide a historical record of all financial performance. The statements serve as a snapshot of financial performance over a given period, and are static documents (unlike Reports, the statements do not update/change in real-time). 

Scroll down for more info about the Financial Statements in your Documents library:

The Documents area contains monthly financial statements:

Owner Portal Documents
  • The statements in the Documents are are static documents. They are posted to the portal once a month to serve as a historical record of financial performance. 

Download a statement to see month and YTD financials:

Owner Portal Property Statement

You'll also find a month-over-month operating statement:

Month over Month Statement

Portal Communication Tool

You can use your owner portal to communicate with our team. Any messages you send through the portal will go straight to your Account Manager. When we reply, you’ll get an email notification and you’ll also see the message in your portal next time you log in. 

Here’s an overview of using the communication platform:

Click "Communications" and navigate to "Conversations":

Commincation Dashboard Screenshot
  • The communications module will contain a record of all messages that you create through the portal. 

Click the "New Message" button and send your message:

Owner Portal New Message Screenshot

Responses will show up in the conversation ticket:

Portal Conversation Response Screenshot
  • You’ll get an email notification whenever you get a response, and you’ll also see the message in your portal next time you log in. 

You can reply in-line using the comment box:

Owner Portal Comment

Each conversation will be logged in its entirety:

Portal Conversation Snapshot

Understanding the Ledger

Your portal includes a ledger with all transactions. The ledger is populated with data in real-time as transactions flow through our accounting software. Much of this information is also available in the Reports area, as well as the Statements in your Documents library, but the ledger is the most comprehensive resource for diving into the details. 

Please scroll through the sections below to get a better understanding of how to interpret the ledger. 

By default, transactions are sorted chronologically:

Owner Ledger Dates
  • The date reflected in the lefthand column is the actual transaction date, not the “bill date”. This is the date the transaction was actually processed. 

If you have multiple properties with Nomadic, you'll see the address for each transaction in the "Location" column:

Ledger Property Column
  • You can filter the ledger to look at just one property, all properties, or specific sets of properties. 
  • If you only have one property with us, you’ll just see the ledger for that property. 

The Description column displays the transaction type:

Owner Ledger Description Column
  • BILL: this is an expense transaction, such as for repair costs or management fees.
  • CHARGE: this is a transaction  billed to the tenant, most typically a rent payment. 
  • NACHA EXPORT: this is a credit we processed to your distribution account. This type of transaction is how you get paid! 

The Amount column shows the dollar value of each transaction:

Owner Ledger Amount Column
  • Positive Amounts: if an amount is positive, it reflects a transaction that is payable to you. Typically, this will be a rent payment that we collected from your tenants. On occasion, a positive number could also signify a journal entry or credit adjustment. 
  • Negative Amounts:  if an amount is negative, this is a transaction that is either payable to Nomadic or is an amount that has already been paid to you. Typically this will be for repair costs or management/leasing fees. Owner draws (net distributions into your checking/savings account) also reflect as negative amounts, since they have already been paid to you. 

The Account Balance column shows a sum of positive/negative transactions at a given point in time:

Owner Ledger Account Balance Column
  • Account Balance should always equal zero after a net distribution has been processed. When the balance is zero, this means that all expenses have been paid and you’ve received the remainder as net operating income, leaving a balance of zero (meaning: no one is due any money, as all funds have been distributed appropriately). 

Navigating the Propertyware Owner Portal

Your portal includes some extremely useful features that help you understand your property’s financial performance at a new level, with real-time transparency into every transaction.

Scroll through the snapshots below for an overview of portal navigation! If you need more help or have specific questions about using the portal, you can reach out to your Account Manager any time for a screen share. 

You can filter all info by date range or property:

PW Portal Filters

View a snapshot of income and expenses on your dashboard:

PW Owner Dashboard View

See every transaction in real-time on your ledger:

Owner Portal Ledger View

Statements and forms will be posted to your documents library:

Owner Portal Document Library

View a suite of real-time financial reports:

Portal Reports View

See a running list of all bills, and drill down for more detail:

Owner Portal Bills View

Under Bill Details, you'll find dates/descriptions/amounts and more:

Portal Bill Details

You can also communicate with your Account Manager through the portal:

Owner Portal Communication Tools

How do net distributions work?

Net distributions keep your accounting clean and simple. Each month we’ll collect rent from the tenants, deduct any repair expenses for the previous month and any management/leasing fees for the current month, and credit the remaining net operating income to your account. 

Net Distribution

You’ll receive a statement via email each time a net distribution is processed, and can view all transaction details in your Propertyware owner portal.