Get ready for scooters, Charlottesville. Because they are coming. For some reason, I can imagine a gaggle of scooters heading into Woolen Mills. What are they? To my eye, they are souped-up motorized versions of those razor scooters kids ride. But really. Scooters have become enormously popular, and we're going to see them on Charlottesville city streets soon. Might as well accept them, and seek to leverage them to try to reduce car traffic, and encourage more walking to scooters rather than driving. And maybe even more walking to … [Read more...]
Professionalism? Meh, says NAR
tl;dr - the National Association of Realtors likes the status quo; Zillow recognize that quality matters. … [Read more...]
List Now, or Wait Until Spring?
Buyers looking in Charlottesville already know that they should be starting their homebuying journey. A lot of Charlottesville sellers are asking, "Should I list now, or wait until Spring?" That's a question I'm trying to answer often right now. As with most things in real estate and life, the answer starts with, "it depends" What are you trying to accomplish, (yes, I know, "sell the house!" is primary), but what else? If nothing else, take exterior photos now. Is the house vacant now? If it's vacant, why not list? … [Read more...]
Telling Stories, Market Shift, Assistance | Note from Jim | October 2018
Archives of my subscription-only monthly notes. The blog is more searchable. Interested in not waiting a few months to read it? Subscribe here. For these posts, I don’t do much formatting/changing as I’m more concerned about simply having the content here forever (because I own the blog, and I don’t own Tinyletter). This is a longer and market-heavy note; the exception being one of my favorite stories ... about telling stories. The Market This month, a bit of a deviation from my market update norm. Starting with … [Read more...]
4 Things About Voting in Albemarle and Charlottesville on 6 November 2018
You might have heard. 6 November there's an election. Make sure you know where you're supposed to vote. Check the sample ballot before you go in. Here's the Charlottesville City sample ballot Here's the Albemarle County sample ballot You've studied the constitutional amendments, right? Right? Now's a good time for homebuyers to search out neighborhoods and try to discern if they might like the neighborhood. Featured image photo credit https://www.instagram.com/p/BpkZDjwlyjb/ … [Read more...]
Who Owns the Thermostat’s Data?
Have you ever read the terms of use that come with a Nest or an EcoBee thermostat? I hadn't. (I don't have one) Who owns that data? How is that data transferred/deleted? How might it affect the current homeowner? As Realtors, might we soon add data transference to residential real estate contracts? Also, is this house updated with the latest security patches? I don't have the answer, but it's something about which we should be aware. Under Nest's (not Nest Realty) Privacy policy (bolding below is mine) In what … [Read more...]
Life is a Series of Stories
"Life is a series of stories," a friend said to me once. I thought about that recently when driving around with new buyer clients, and I started telling some of the stories I always tell early in the working relationship with clients. This time, I was talking about roosters. I've thought about writing those stories and sending them to new clients to read before we go out, so that we've set the stage even further than we have by them filling out my insightful new buyer/client survey. But. One of the best parts of stories is the experience … [Read more...]
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