About

ABOUT US

We know these communities the way residents do.

There are eighteen 55+ communities across Prince William, Loudoun and
Fauquier counties, and from a listing sheet they look interchangeable.
They aren't. One is gated with a golf course and a hundred clubs. One
is fifty villas on a quiet street. One is a high-rise where you never
touch a snow shovel again.

Working out which of those is right for you is the actual job. That's
what we do.

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT

Most agents sell in 55+ communities. We work in them.

There's a difference between an agent who will happily show you a home
in Heritage Hunt and a team that can tell you how Heritage Hunt
compares to the four communities within ten minutes of it. Here's what
we bring that a generalist doesn't.

01 — We cover all eighteen, individually
Not "Northern Virginia 55+" as one market. Eighteen separate
communities, each with its own guide, its own HOA structure, and its
own sales activity tracked separately. When you ask how Carter's Mill
compares to Regency at Creekside, we have an actual answer.

02 — We're at the same stage you are
All three of us have grown children and more house than we need. We've
had the conversations about the dining room set and whether anyone
really uses four bedrooms. We haven't made the move ourselves, but
we're close enough that the questions aren't theoretical.

03 — Marketing built by a marketer
A quarter century of executive marketing experience sits behind how
our listings are positioned — who the buyer actually is, what they're
comparing you against, and how to reach them. Most agents inherit a
template. We build the campaign.

04 — We read the boring documents
Resale packets, reserve studies, capital contributions,
age-restriction covenants. This is where the expensive surprises live,
and it is the part most people skim. We don't.

05 — Three of us, one phone number
More than fifty years of combined experience in this market, and
you're not handed off to an assistant. You get whichever of us is best
suited to your question, and all three of us know your file.

06 — We'll talk you out of it
If a community isn't right for you, we'd rather say so than sell you
into it. This is a decision people make once, usually after thirty
years in the same house. Getting it wrong is expensive in ways that
have nothing to do with money.

How this became our niche.

None of us set out to specialize in 55+ housing. It happened the way
most specializations do — a few clients, then a few more, then the
realization that we were answering the same questions over and over
and getting good at them.

What HOA fees actually cover, and what they quietly don't. How age
restrictions work when a younger spouse or an adult child is involved.
Which communities have healthy reserves and which are heading toward a
special assessment. Which ones are social and which are quiet, and how
to tell before you've signed anything.

We've since written all of that down. Our buyer guides cover the age
rules, inheriting a 55+ home, what property tax relief your county
offers, and how the communities compare head to head.

Somewhere in there it stopped being a sideline. Now it's most of what
we do — walking the communities, talking with residents, and tracking
each one's market separately instead of lumping them together.

THE TEAM

Who you'll actually be talking to.

Shannon and Chris have worked together for twenty years. Tricia joined
to build out the 55+ side of the practice, bringing a background in
real estate and marketing.

Chris Howell
REALTOR® · Samson Properties · License #0225208581

Chris started in real estate in 1995 as a new-home sales manager for
Pulte and K. Hovnanian, which means he was selling Northern Virginia
subdivisions before some of them existed. He's been licensed since
2003, an associate broker since 2006, and he holds licenses in
Virginia, Maryland and DC. Lifetime, he's been part of more than $400
million in sales.

Born in Washington, DC and raised in McLean, he's lived here his
entire life apart from four years at West Virginia University. He
watched most of these communities go up. If you want to know how a
neighborhood held its value through three market cycles, he was here
for all three.

A lifelong golfer since converted to pickleball, he has firm opinions
about court surfaces and which communities have a real competitive
ladder versus a painted rectangle.

Shannon Sheahan
REALTOR® · Samson Properties · Owner, Washington Street Realty
License #[   ]

Shannon has spent nearly twenty years in Northern Virginia real estate
and sold more than 500 homes. She came to the business after working
on Capitol Hill, and she's a University of South Carolina graduate.

She runs most of the listing side — pricing, preparation, and the
practical business of getting a family home ready to sell after twenty
or thirty years in it. She raised four children in this area, so the
basement, the attic and the boxes nobody has opened in twenty years
are familiar territory.

Tricia Sheahan
REALTOR® · Samson Properties · License #[   ]

Tricia came to real estate after twenty-five years as a marketing
executive, with work that ran alongside real estate development. She
looks at a listing the way a developer looks at a project — who the
buyer actually is, what they're comparing it against, and how to reach
them.

With two children grown, she spends most of her free time outdoors:
trails, parks, and most sports that happen outside. She's the one who
can tell you which communities back onto something worth walking to
and which just circle a retention pond.

Our brokerage.

All three of us are REALTORS® with Samson Properties, working out of
the Gainesville office on Heathcote Boulevard. Samson is one of the
largest independent brokerages in the Washington region, with more
than 5,000 agents across Virginia, Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania,
Delaware and West Virginia.

What that means in practice: the reach and resources of a large
brokerage, without the layers in between.

Where we work.

Eighteen 55+ and active adult communities across three counties. Each
one has its own guide on this site.

Prince William County
Gainesville, Haymarket, Bristow, Manassas and Dumfries — Heritage
Hunt, Regency at Dominion Valley, Carter's Mill, Regency at Creekside,
Heathcote Village, Flats at Heathcote Village, Dunbarton, The Crest at
Linton Hall, Liberty Grove and Four Seasons at Historic Virginia.

Loudoun County
Ashburn, Brambleton, Leesburg and Sterling — Birchwood at Brambleton,
Potomac Green, Four Seasons at Ashburn Village, Lansdowne Woods of
Virginia and Central Parke at Lowes Island.

Fauquier & west
Warrenton and beyond — Suffield Meadows, Vint Hill Manor & Four
Seasons, and Trilogy at Lake Frederick out toward Winchester.

Fairfax County
We also work with buyers and sellers across Fairfax County. Many of
our clients are selling a Fairfax home and moving west into one of the
communities above — and our guide to senior property tax relief covers
Fairfax alongside Prince William, Loudoun, Fauquier, Manassas and
Manassas Park.

See all eighteen communities →

Start wherever you are.

Three years out and just curious, or under contract next month —
either is a fine reason to call. No pressure, and no obligation to
work with us.

Call or Text 571.708.2206
info@nova55plushomes.com