Category Archives: Blogging
A Return to Basics – RealCentralVA’s monthly newsletter
I’m trying something new. I know that not everyone wants to read everything I write and post here (there’s always something happening in Charlottesville’s real estate market – direct and tangentially). So I’m introducing a monthly newsletter. My thoughts and rationale:
- I expect to write more stuff that’s from the heart, stuff that by design isn’t for world-wide consumption as well as insights about Charlottesville, our real estate market, and answering questions that might be misunderstood by someone just stumbling onto the blog … I expect (and hope) that the folks subscribing will have at least a passing familiarity with who I am.
- This coincides with my decision to return to taking notes with – get this – a pen and paper. (this was my inspiration) I wrote in moleskins for years and realized that I’ve been missing writing.
- I wanted to do a weekly or bi-monthly newsletter, but want to do something I can commit to. (clients come first, then my writing)
- Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends, if you find it valuable.
- I’m making a deliberate decision to not have online archives of what I write; if you want to read what I write, it’s really, really easy to subscribe. (they will be archived at RealCentralVA.com though, privately)
- This concept is a copy of Chris Brogan’s – he emails a weekly newsletter every Sunday; I’d like to think I can build up to that. But for now, I’ll just post a monthly reminder here about my newsletter.
- Feedback is welcome and appreciated. Email me anytime (particularly if you think I’m off base, need correcting or would like more information or a clarification).
With that preface, here’s where you sign up.
I’ll be emailing this out on Tuesday, 5 February.
Update: I’ve just finished the first draft, and I really like it and hope you find it valuable.
Update 2 – I noticed that TinyLetter lets me send the current newsletter to subscribers new since I originally sent it … for the short term (3-4 months) I’m going to send it to folks as they subscribe.
Many Years of Blogging
January 4, 2005 I posted my first not-so-great-post here on RealCentralVA. So very much has changed since then that I can’t begin to list the significant, insignificant and surprisingly significant shifts in the real estate writing space (I was one of the first and some days feels like I may be one of the last), changes in the (real estate) technology space (iPhone to name one) or my personal or professional life (another daughter, new company). But this remains the same today as it did in 2005:
One aspect of real estate that has not and never will change is that this business is about people.
People make the decisions about where to move. People decide in which school district they will reside, and people choose with whom they will work. My job, each and every day, is to meet people and earn their business and their trust.
Thank You:
- To those who have read me for years.
- To those who have worked with me because you found me here. To those who haven’t.
- To those who have found value here in the home buying or home selling process (even if you didn’t work with me 
)
- To those who comment, email, connect or lurk.
Neither the goal nor the focus of what I do here really hasn’t changed – to provide honest, transparent, real analysis of the Charlottesville – Albemarle and surrounding areas’ real estate market, growth, politics, lifestyle and anything else that piques my interest.
Thanks for reading; here’s to another year.
7 Years of Blogging about the Charlottesville Real Estate Market
It’s been a long time since I started writing about the Charlottesville real estate market. This site has become my pensieve; it is easier to google my site for information than it is to remember what I’m trying to say (and this site has links, too). What started as a little blog on a freeware mac blogging platform has become something somewhat bigger – I’d wager that this site is the most widely-read real estate blog in Charlottesville.
To those of you who have read and continue to read, send me tips and thoughts and to the buyers and sellers whom I have met and worked with over the years, I offer a simple and humble thank you.
While the format of this site has changed many times, the intent has not – to provide clear and transparent analysis about the Charlottesville real estate market devoid of spin, reflecting my thoughts and opinions about the local real estate market, local politics affecting real estate and other such matters. Sometimes I write about my phones. Sometimes about technology that makes marketing real estate better for me and for my clients.
Make no mistake – the number one thing that writing RealCentralVA has done is forced me and allowed me the path to become a better real estate professional. I know more, I read more, I’m aware of more, I’m aware of more that I don’t know, I understand the context of real estate in the local, state and national economies … by reading, writing and practicing real estate every day, I’m better positioned and prepared to do what I love – represent my clients as I guide them through life-altering decisions.
After the jump are a few stories of note; frankly, with over 3700 stories written since 4 January 2005, I briefly looked at the RealCentralVA archives and picked a few that interested me.
If you’re so inclined, please subscribe to updates, either by email or RSS. I sincerely appreciate your time, comments and reading.
Changes at RealCentralVA
Changes are afoot. Suggestions, critiques, commentary welcome. Please find things that are broken and let me know. I know the search for homes page is wonky. Continue reading
Re-Doing RealCentralVA.com
If I were to re-do RealCentralVA’s design, what would you suggest? Continue reading
RealCentralVA.com is Now More Mobile-Friendly
With prodding from Aera Mobile , I looked at the easy Wordpress options for making my site less of a pain to read on an Android or iPhone (and to a lesser degree, Blackberry). I installed another plugin a few weeks ago, but changed this morning to WP Touch at the suggestion of copyblogger . … There is some tweaking yet to be done, but this is an exponentially better mobile-reading experience. Thanks to Safari’s user agent switcher, I can easily emulate what my Charlottesville real estate blog looks like on an iPhone: Continue reading
RealCentralVA was Hacked
I know. We’ve removed the bad code and are waiting for Google to review my site. This message will be deleted once Google sees that I’m running a clean site. To the hacker(s): I hate you. Continue reading
Five Years of Real Estate Blogging
For my readers and clients (and potential clients) – please contact me anytime with questions about the Charlottesville regional real estate market, story suggestions, tips, I worked hard on last year’s “blog-iversary” post where I looked back at four years of blogging about the Charlottesville real estate market , so I won’t do the same this year. … I and we at Nest will just continue doing what we think is right for our clients; ” Dual Agency is not in the client’s best interest — it’s only in the agent’s best interest “.
…Tools don’t make you good at what you do – in my case, representing clients. – My archives are getting full. – I’m trying to stick with my roots – writing about the Charlottesville real estate market, growth, politics, etc. .
…I serve on the Charlottesville Realtor Association Board of Directors , a committee or workgroup here or there, just finished my fairly fruitless term on the Virginia Association of Realtors’ Public Policy Group, will be beginning service on a VAR Group tasked with evaluating Virginia’s Agency laws (because, since the early ’90′s “much has changed in real estate with the advent of new technologies, business practices and consumer expectations.”) and will continue to serve on National Association of Realtors Groups and Committees whenever I am asked. Continue reading
