I am going to be putting this property on the market shortly.Google Map.Craigslist.My website.
Date Archives January 2006
Mortgage rates still low
Via Bankrate.com, mortgage rates remain extremely low – they have actually fallen for the past 6 weeks.
Technology and real estate innovation
This article is too detailed to efficiently summarize, so I’ll just snip two paragraphs.Computers and the Internet have been billed as enabling new ways of doing business, but in the residential real estate industry, people’s expanded access to information hasn’t rendered the real estate agent a relic, says a Penn State researcher. “The expectation was that real estate agents would go away once consumers could see all the home listing information, but the number of real estate agents has increased, not decreased, in the last 10 years,” …According to the researchers, the introduction and adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) clearly has provided access to information–such as listings, mortgage rates, fees and neighborhood demographics–previously unavailable to consumers. That increase in the quantity of available information has led to better quality information which, in turn, has led to better-informed consumers.
New feature
In the sidebar to the left, you will see the new “Worth Noting,” borrowed from Rain City Real Estate Guide. I use this blog as a bit of a repository for my thoughts and as a knowledge dump. Starting to use del.icio.us more, this seemed like a natural progression. I would have liked to have implemented something similar to Waldo’s sideblog, and may well try to implement this Wordpress plugin sometime soon … despite its complexity (to me).
Consumers use the internet to shop for real estate
Don’t act so surprised.Nine out of 10 home buyers use a real estate agent in the search process, but use of the Internet to search for a home has risen dramatically over time, increasing from only 2 percent of buyers in 1995 to 77 percent in 2005; it was 74 percent in 2004. The next largest source of information for buyers is a yard sign, mentioned by 71 percent of buyers. …The median home price for sellers who use an agent is 16.0 percent higher than a home sold directly by an owner; $230,000 vs. $198,200; there were no significant differences between the types of homes sold. The real estate profession is changing. Information is much more widely available. The value that a competent Realtor can add to a transaction is quantifiable both monetarily and in the consumer’s sanity and satisfaction. A home transaction is often the largest single transaction in one’s life; having competent representation is a good idea – and worth it.The most important factor in choosing an agent was reputation, according to 41 percent of home buyers …
Housing is more affordable?
For an excellent analysis, read this entire post.But relative to the Charlottesville market, The median sales price for the entire market area in 2005 was $255,000 which is $30,000 more than the previous year’s figure. Nelson led the way with a median price of $300,000 (up 28%) followed by Albemarle $285,000 (up 8%), Charlottesville $247,428 (up 12%), Greene $234,900 (up 31%), Fluvanna $230,000 (up 24%), and Louisa $205,200 (up 19%). The overall market, including properties outside the areas listed, increased by 13% to a median price of $255,000. (Note: Albemarle’s median price increase was lower than other areas because of a significant increase in affordable condo units.)The Charlottesville region’s average income is $56,487 and the median income is $45,022. Source: TJPED (pdf) The median income for the City of Cville is significantly lower than that of Albemarle – You do the math.
Transportation information resource
Curious about how much that new road you heard about is going to cost? Wonder where it is? Now you can easily find out. Charlottesville Tomorrow has put together a new page that shows all of this information in a clear, concise, even graphical manner. Check it out here.