Top Three Takeaway: FOCUS on RPAs vs IPAs
by Tracey Barrett with inspiration from Kirstin Hawthorne
In a recent conversation with Kirstin Hawthorne, the FOCUS on NoVA Real Estate® team‘s Marketing Coordinator, one of her neighbors asked just “what is the difference between an IPA and a RPA?”
FOCUS on NoVA® is here to help!! So grab an IPA and let’s learn about RPAs!
According to Craft Beer and Brewing, an “IPA” is an India Pale Ale beer. “India Pale Ale (IPA) is a beer style characterized by high levels of alcohol and hops. It gained its name thanks to its huge popularity in British India and other outposts of the British Empire throughout the 19th century, a result of its keeping abilities on long sea voyages and its refreshing character when it finally reached its destination.”
Seriously though, for those of you living in northern Virginia, as part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, you need to understand if your property lies within a Resource Protected Area, an RPA. Per the Fairfax County Government website, “RPAs are regulated waterbodies and associated corridors of environmentally sensitive land that lie alongside or near the shorelines of streams, rivers and other waterways which drain into the Potomac River and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay. In their natural condition, RPAs protect water quality, filter pollutants from stormwater runoff, reduce the volume of stormwater runoff, prevent erosion, and perform other important biological and ecological functions.
“In Fairfax County, RPAs include any land characterized by one or more of the following features: 1. Tidal wetland; 2. Water body with perennial flow; 3. Nontidal wetland connected by surface flow and contiguous to a tidal wetland or water body with perennial flow; and 4. Buffer area that includes any land within a major floodplain and any land within 100 feet of a feature listed in 1-4.”
When considering the purchase of a property it is imperative that you work with your real estate agent to research if the property falls into an RPA and what impact that has to the uses of the property. This should be done prior to submitting an offer or during your negotiated due diligence period which can be done as part of the Residential Property Disclosure, Home Inspection, Feasibility Period, and/or the Property Owners Association Resale Package review period.
For more information check out the videos below or contact any of the FOCUS on NoVA Real Estate® team members today.
Other videos related to this topic include:
Top 3 Takeaway: Virginia – Buyer Beware State
Top 3 Takeaway: What to know about building permits
Top 3 Takeaway: Seller Disclosures, Caveat Emptor and the Realtor Code of Ethics on material facts.
Top 3 Takeaway: Pre-Market Home Inspections for the Seller and Buyer
Top 3 Takeaway: Virginia – Buyer Beware State
Top 3 Takeaway: Home Contingencies in a Transaction
