The top 5 stories on this blog from the past year – Zillow steps it up – Zillow is just “hot”What I want in a real estate website – It worked; now I have most of what I was looking for.Google and Zillow – both are changing the real estate industry with their innovation.A sign of the times – the changing market brings out silly offerings. Since this story, I have seen much sillier offers – a Mercedes, a 7-day Caribbean vacation, more big televisions …Rent -v- Buy – hopefully candor is recognized and appreciated.
Date Archives December 2006
Transportation in Virginia
If you live in or use the roads of Virginia and you’re not paying attention to the potential remedies, or lack thereof, you need to be.To get you started:RepublitarianBacon’s Rebellion (and here)Raising KaineCharlottesville Tomorrow (and here)What would our area look like if the localities had to pay for subdivision roads?… Those who are our elected representatives need to do what they have volunteered to do – represent the best interests of their constituents. That 2007 is an election year and many will be pandering for re-elections is a shame.Why not light rail or some other form of transit?… Otherwise, we will look back twenty or thirty years from now and curse our predecessors (and ourselves) for our irresponsibility and lack of vision.
If the taxes are local …
… shouldn’t the localities decide how to tax themselves?Bah.Requires each locality to lower its real estate tax rate for the forthcoming tax year, to produce no more than 101 percent of the previous year’s real property tax levies when any annual assessment, biennial assessment or general reassessment of real property by the locality would result in an increase of 1 percent or more in the total real property tax levied. The locality may increase the rate above the reduced rate after a public hearing held no sooner than 30 days after the rate reduction.
2007 Goals
From both failures, I learned something, and there is the value in failing.- Work to systematize my business.- Dramatically change something about how I work…. Maybe change companies.- Grow my business by 15%.- Fix my Archives page.- Start working in the $500k+ price range.- Write every day…. Establish new business relationships/friendships and maintain existing ones.- Bring passion, dedication and desire to the table each and every day.- Say “No” more often. Between the local, state and national committees and Boards on which I serve, time to actually sell real estate is often scarce.
Tracking the market too closely?
We won’t know how the market is doing today until we look back from a six- to nine-month removed perspective…. but to get an accurate understanding, we have to look in the rear-view mirror.Most of the analysis is cogent, articulate and informative, but…. Many contracts were written three, four, six months ago. In reality, when analyzing the housing market, one is analyzing the past and attempting to project the future…. Let’s take a breath, step back a bit, read the apocalyptical and rosy projections and determine that reality is probably somewhere in between.Related reading: The Big PictureSeeking AlphaCalculated RiskGranted, most of the analysis is cogent, articulate and informative, but.
Hiatus almost over
Batteries are almost recharged, planning is nearing completion, and most importantly – I spent two nearly uninterrupted days with my family, something I haven’t done in nearly a year. The Charlottesville area market seems to be balancing out, and a bit of analysis is in the offing. Stay tuned.
Post-Christmas Links 12-28-2006
:)Mortgage Rates may move like Elaine Benes.Darned consequences for one’s actions. How dare students and faculty have to be – gasp – honorable?Greedy local governments starting to pay price. Get ready – as local governments’ golden goose becomes more lean, localities will (in my opinion) once again turn to increasing the burden on property owners. Either way, more state oversight is not the answer.Why is my $%@#!