Where Will the Urban Cores Be? And why this Matters NOW
Get out your best Magic 8 Ball -
He also observed the largest wave of Generation Y home purchasing begins in 2012, after experts think the housing market will have turned around. Although what qualifies as an “urban core area” may vary widely to different people, it seems a safe bet to expect considerable variety in tastes in the housing market.
Hmmm … I seem to recall writing a related post a short while ago …
Also related -
How Many Towncenters do we need in CharlAlbemarle?
WalkScore and Zillow sitting in a tree
Proximity to rail increases property values?
Could this be part of the future of transportation?
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A word on Trulia’s new features
Trulia announced their “Featured Listings” product the other day to much fanfare within the RE.net. There’s little to add to the discussion but my personal experience beta testing the product.
All I have to offer are the stats provided by Trulia on my listings (click the images for higher-res) -
1 - The increase in views for my listings is impressive.
2 - Traffic to my site increased 12 times! (from 0 to 12)
3 - The Broker-Centric nature of the site still irritates me.
Is it worth it? I don’t know. Traffic increased, but I didn’t get any emails from prospective purchasers.
The differentiation of listings is both good and bad. While similar to Realtor.com’s differentiation of listings, Trulia’s mission is clearly different - they are out to make a profit. Realtor.com is too, but they are supposed to be serving the Realtors and making a profit - which may be contradictory missions.
Some of the best analyses on the launch that I read (and there are certainly more):
Greg @ Bloodhound (with perhaps the best analogy)
Kris Berg
Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2008
If you’re interested in what’s around the bend in the real estate world, have a look at Gerry Davidson’s three part series on the report.
One aspect I found interesting about the report is that when ranking trends on a scale of 1 through 9, 9 was “Excellent” and 1 was “Abysmal” - a pretty powerful and descriptive word.
Part 1 - A Dose of Fear
Part 2 - Best Bets for 2008
Part 3 - Markets to Watch
Most applicable to the Charlottesville market is the (easy) prediction that the greening of real estate will continue to grow.
Thanks for the copy of the report, Gerry!
How do we think and learn?
What follows are two outstanding videos. As interesting as the videos themselves is the manner in which I found them -
The first one came to light from this blog:
The second one (Greg posted yesterday as well) was one of the “you might also like” recommendations at the end of the video.
How we categorize things, even in real estate and MLS’, is changing.
Also recommended: The Office and Ron Paul.
Think about it.
Real estate will always be local
But the tools used to display that local content and data will not be. Forsalebylocals notes the value of local content, coincidentally on the same day that I received a heads-up about a new data mashup startup, Fortius One, which looks quite interesting.
Ideally, FortiusOne will provide the ability to localize their content on websites (like my blog or real estate search site, for example), assuming they provide an API and I can figure out how to use it. What will their maps all you do?
* Choosing your ideal neighborhood using crime, population and commute data
* Identifying your target markets using age, income and occupation data
* Educating yourself and others using pollution and environmental impact data
A map of the USA for those relocating is useless. A map with the same data, only drilled down to specific neighborhoods would be extraordinarily valuable.
As Pat Kitano said:
On just one map however, the obvious value is in identifying niche neighborhoods across a variety of variables…
Real estate is and always be local; now we just have to make sure the data is complete and accurate.
Technorati Tags: fortiusone, real estate
Charlottesville Green Carnival
This is the first in what I hope will be the occasional yet frequent Charlottesville Green Carnival - a place to highlight, ever-so-briefly green happenings.
Green Matters - now advertising information clinics in the C-Ville Weekly
Sunbiosis - A Charlottesville green architect that popped up in my feedreader.
Lithic Construction - another green builder that popped up
Eco-Friendly homes a moneymaker for ‘green’ firms
Officials examine sustainable local food supply
Do you have a green cause? What other local green stories have you seen?
Green “stuff,” and green building/real estate is a trend that is not going away. I told a developer the other day that he should consider changing his plans now because by 2009, I believe that green building will be a de facto requirement of buyers. Barely a day goes by that there is not a major story or initiative in the national press about green innovations, and every week brings a new development in the Charlottesville area - real estate or otherwise.
I wrote my first story on this blog in November of 2005; the momentum of this movement has certainly picked up since then.
Technorati Tags: albemarle, charlalbemarle, charlottesville, green
How do you get a green home in Charlottesville?
Just ask. Unless more consumers ask, and more developers listen, little will be done. There is real, sustainable momentum right now towards the green movement.
I ran into a Realtor this morning at my favorite coffee shop, and asked whether a development that she was representing was going to be EarthCraft or not. She said she would find out. Several developments and builders in the Charlottesville area are catching on to the simple fact that buyers care about how their houses are built (shocking, I know). Interestingly, some of the market leaders in our area are the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle.
From CvilleTomorrow:
“… LEED-certified buildings practices can reduce energy bills by up to thirty percent by reducing water use and preventing heat loss. In his presentation, Hartke addressed the costs of such benefits.
“We know that green buildings increase property value, they also decrease liability, but they also have a huge impact on health and well-being.” He even says green buildings can increase productivity and reduce absenteeism by providing healthier places to work and learn. But, he told the commission the dollar value of such improvements are hard to quantify. “
I am not sure how many times I have written or said this, but whether developers buy into the concept of building green for the health reasons or sustainability reasons, they need to start building green for at least the following reasons:
1) Buyers want it.
2) As buyers stay in their homes longer, they will be able to recoup the additional costs (however incremental they may be) as they stay in their homes longer.
3) There is profit to be had in building green.
Courtesy of an Eco-Broker presentation I use:
Home value increases by about $20 for every $1 reduction in annual utility bills.
94% of 300 Americans surveyed cited their most sought-after green upgrade as energy savings.
Roughly nine in ten people (91%) said energy-efficient features in a new home are extremely or very important.
Heck, even CNBC is covering green; their demographics tend to speak to market leaders. Might this be a clear sign that builders would do well to take heed?
Earth Day is Sunday. Get your free CFL at Home Depot (it’s a lightbulb that saves you money).
Technorati Tags: albemarle, green
How vital is internet access?
Inspired in part by this post at the Center for Realtor Technology comes this week’s (probably month’s) poll - How Important is Internet Access in your next home?
99% of my clients deem internet access to be an absolute, non-negotiable necessity, on par with needing three bedrooms and two baths, or needing to be within 20 minutes of the UVA Hospital because that is what the residency requirements state (Match Day is approaching!) In the area surrounding Charlottesville and beyond the Urban Ring of Albemarle, one cannot safely assume that high speed internet access is ubiquitous - this is often very surprising to those relocating to the area.
One would think that the MLS would offer this as a field by which we could limit our searches, but alas, not yet. For now, if a home has cable, assuming (and then verifying) that it has broadband access is safe. Calling the local phone company to see about DSL is another step, but often they aren’t 100% certain as to where their service extends. I have not yet had a client use Wild Blue satellite service, so I cannot vouch for that service. So … how important is internet access to your home search?
Technorati Tags: mls, internet, real estate
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