At a dinner party last night, a client of mine asked me whether I ever felt like I was “on call.” I gained him as a client when he sent me an email on a Sunday afternoon, an email that he almost didn’t feel was that necessary to send…. I received two calls within 10 minutes of each other – one from a current/past client and one whom I am working to earn their trust. I decided that the relationship with my older clients was most definitely worth dropping what I was doing (spending time with my family) and going to meet a close friend of theirs who may be moving to the area. The second call proved equally rewarding – a young couple seeking to purchase their first house together, green to the market and in need of guidance. I had met them once before and really like them and would like work with them…. Did I make the right decisions?… Yes, but if I am able to pay the mortgage because of my efforts and my clients, I will most assuredly have made the right decisions.
Date Archives September 2006
Default position
I had occasion to show a new construction development this afternoon. I arrived early and talked to the on-site agent for a few minutes. They have a stock form for the public that states “Buyer Brokerage is available.” I asked her how they handled Buyer Brokerage, what would happen if a buyer wanted representation. She said, “I would do both.” Folks, until Dual Agency is the exception and not the agents’ (and company’s) default position, some agents will continue to have shady reputations and, by default, so will my entire profession. Dammit.
Following the Charlottesville area market trends
*Active in August 2006: 432Active in August 2006: 441% change: 2.08%Contingent: -28.74%Pending: -34.36%Sold: -21.95%Very, very interesting data. What do the data tell us about the Charlottesville and Central Virginia area’s real estate market?… The market is very good for buyers right now – good Buyer’s Agents are advising their clients that there is sometimes significant flexibility in asking and selling price. From a general market overview, properties are still selling for 97% of their asking price – not bad. In short, don’t believe all the doom and gloom reporting. The market is different. There are more houses on the market now than there have been in many years…. Not in my humble opinion – market “normalization/cooling/equilibrium” – whatever you want to call it – qualifies as a “good thing.”Daniel has the County-by-County breakdown.*Only for those properties in CharlAlbemarle, Fluvanna, Greene.
Riddle me this
How can a property be a “wonderful home priced below market value?” Market value:The fair market value is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts.If it’s priced “below market value,” how does this person define market value?
Good for something
At least Real Central Va is good for something. 🙂 – from The Times Online:Given the largely parochial nature of the content of such US-based sites, quite how much of interest they are to British and other European readers also remains to be seen. But they may well be worth flicking through in an idle moment.Apparently I’ve gone international! A simple case of “right place in the right time.” Now, this is another instance of a need for the sideblog.
Housing appreciation slows
I had a neat little post all ready to go referencing these two articles – Housing’s rate of appreciation slows…. (Free link)- and then the NYTimes comes out with their spin on the data – Home Prices Fall in Nearly One-Fourth of Metropolitan Regions…. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO)’s quarterly report (PDF) was released the other day and has been the talk of the town.As a region,The South Atlantic Census Division including Florida, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland experienced its most significant price deceleration since at least the early 1980s. Its four-quarter appreciation rate fell from 17.43 percent to 13.74 percent. Even more specifically, are we really in a position to masticate and gnash our teeth over this?Charlottesville’s MSA*National Ranking – 641-Year Appreciation – 14.52%Quarter Appreciation – 4.11%5 Year Appreciation – 79.93%*MSA = Charlottesville, Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna, NelsonNational statistics are a good guide to what is happening to the local market. Whether the County of Albemarle enforces its proffers will impact our market far more than what happens in Peoria (which has had a 22% increase in price over five years). Importantly, the agent bubble continues to lose ground – only about 30% of all area Realtors have had five or more transactions!The housing market continues to combat the culture of fear being propagated by the media…. What does it mean when the Government is using bubble visuals to depict the housing market?
I’m the …
This is one of my favorite, most succinct series I have seen in the real estate blogosphere, provided by sellsius’ blog. (in spite of his use of the GD word) :)Buyer!Seller!Real Estate Agent!I aspire to being that agent and having clients who aspire to their respective categories.