Category Archives: General Real Estate
What are the Negatives of Living in Charlottesville?
I don’t “sell” Charlottesville – I educate and inform my clients so that they can make the best decisions possible. Charlottesville is truly a great place to live; while I’ve been here for only 24 years, I wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else.
With that preface, there are negatives about Charlottesville and while they’re all relative (traffic) I’d like to think there are solutions.
I’ve been having this conversation on Google+ and on Facebook in advance of posting here.
My answer to the question: Perhaps the single greatest negative with living in CharlAlbemarle is the collective inability of the City and County to implement plans – specifically for infrastructure. Their constant bickering, planning, fighting, planning, discussing, planning and then planning some more is remarkably irresponsible.
My other response was – when I have the free time, choosing what to do from the plethora of options – sporting events, theater, music, arts, etc. Seriously. There is so much to do that choosing how to fill my limited free time is challenging.
The responses have varied from lack of Implementation of infrastructure plans to bickering of the localities.
I said last year: When explaining the City/County relationship to relocating buyers, I often describe the governments as being akin to estranged husbands and wives who are sharing custody of the kids. Or as brothers and sisters who occasionally poke each other in the eye, just to see what will happen.
It’s true, and it’s pathetic. And ultimately detrimental to the quality of life. Continue reading
How Much Does this House Cost? (To Run)
How much does this home cost to run? It’s become one of the most important question my buyer clients ask … and an answer that Sellers need to be prepared to answer.
In today’s market, much more so than the previous one(s), buyers are much more cognizant of the costs to operate a home.
Everyone can calculate the PITI payment – Principal + Interest + Taxes + Insurance
What’s not easily calculable by buyers is -
- How drafty is the house?
- What’s the natural gas bill?
- What’s the electric bill?
- What’s the water bill?
- Trash/recycling is a fairly fixed cost.
- Do the parents scrap over the thermostat?
- How much is my commute going to cost? (this is huge; many of my buyer clients are looking forward to the time when gas goes to $6/gallon … )
If the mortgage is going to be $2500 per month, but the utilities are $900/month, I’m thinking that my clients may be disinclined to move forward with an offer … or they might knock $30k (or some other number) off the offer price.
I said late last year that I suspect 2012 will be the year when buyers start doing energy audits as part of the home inspection process … sellers need to be prepared for this component to the home selling process.
Thanks for the Biking Directions, Google!
Thanks, Google. I’m looking forward to using these to show houses to clients … on bikes!
If you’re looking for new ways to get around for fun or to work, or might be trying to live a greener lifestyle in 2012, why not try biking? In March 2010 we introduced biking directions and since then Google Maps has been sharing biking directions with cyclists across the U.S and Canada.
Charlottesville Real Estate Market Conversation – 29 January 2012
Matt Hodges and I had a good time on WNRN radio yesterday discussing what’s happening in the Charlottesville real estate market, mortgages, buyer activity, real estate assessments, government interference, gas prices’ impact on real estate decisions, and a whole lot more.
I’m going to listen to the show (thanks to Charlottesville Podcast) and put up some show notes, but in the meantime, feel free to what I think was a pretty interesting hour of real estate. Continue reading
Sunday Morning Wake Up Call: Real Estate & Financing with Jim Duncan and Matt Hodges [ 59:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadReal Estate Radio – 29 January 2012
We’re doing it again … Matt Hodges and I will be on WNRN radio this Sunday morning at 11 o’clock. We’ve done this several times over the past few years and it’s always a good, thorough and in-depth conversation.
These are a few of the ideas that may come up …
If you have suggestions, please feel free to suggest them here, on Twitter, G+, Facebook … Continue reading
Building a (Concrete) Home in Less than a Day
Concrete + 3D Printing =
It can take anywhere from six weeks to six months to build a 2,800-square-foot, two-story house in the U.S., mostly because human beings do all the work. Within the next five years, chances are that 3D printing (also known by the less catchy but more inclusive term additive manufacturing) will have become so advanced that we will be able to upload design specifications to a massive robot, press print, and watch as it spits out a concrete house in less than a day. Plenty of humans will be there, but just to ogle.
Wow.
So I might want to invest in concrete stocks.
As noted earlier today, this technology may one day become “normal” or the “new normal” or simply “what we’re building with now.”
It might take less than a week to build a concrete house using this technology, but I’d wager it would take at least three to five years to get approval from Albemarle’s Architectural Review Board. 
Continue reading
Determining Broadband Availability in the Charlottesville MSA
For many of my clients, particularly those who work at home, internet is a more important service that water or electricity. The internet is mission- and life- critical for many people
A reader asks –
Hi, Jim: I’m amazed and annoyed that most listings do not mention internet service, nor do RE sites include that information as a search parameter. Knowing the availability – and speed – of internet connection is especially necessary when seeking a home outside Charlottesville. Short of investigating through local ISP’s for particular addresses or neighborhoods, do you have any suggestion? I do not trust sellers or, frankly, seller’s agents, to know or tell the truth.
In the Charlottesville area, the City of Charlottesville and the urban ring definitely* have broadband connectivity, as do many (most?) of the more densely-populated areas of Greene, Louisa, Louisa. * Definitely = 99% sure.
My suggestions and insight to ascertain broadband connectivity in the Charlottesville area:
1a – Ask your buyer broker. A good one is going to know with reasonable accuracy whether an area is likely to have internet service.
1b – If you’re really interested, the only way to ensure there is broadband service is to contact the service provider. In the Charlottesville MSA, we have Comcast, Embarq, Blue Ridge Internetworks, Verizon in some of the outlying areas, and a couple smaller fiber providers. *Nelson County just lost some broadband connectivity.
2 – A note to listing agents: when a buyer asks, “does this house have internet?” they aren’t asking about Wildblue or dial-up.
3 – I’ve asked the fine folks who power the “search for homes” feature of my site to add internet availability as a search option, but here’s the problem: GIGO. Just last year, the Charlottesville MLS added “internet availability” to the list of features listing agents can select, joining the ranks of # of bedrooms, # of bathrooms, acreage, etc.
But … As “internet availability” isn’t a required field in the MLS, it’s liable to be left out. And as we all know – if it’s blank, it’s not searchable. Thus, the search and results will be inaccurate, not useful, frustrating and bad for everyone – buyers searching, sellers trying to sell and agents running real estate blogs.
4 – To the trust aspect – get a good buyer broker who you can trust. I’ll address this aspect in more detail with clients. As clients said recently about the photos some realtors take to market their properties – “All pictures tell a story, and some aren’t true.”
5 – I wish that the internet service providers would offer maps and overlays to let people determine where service is, but presumably that information is a competitive thing for them. Continue reading
