Date Archives October 2007

No better science than you’ll find in Vegas

The odds there are probably as good or better than one’s chances to “time” the bottom of the real estate market.When will we reach “bottom”?… (We’ll know in 18 months)Bank of America is exiting the wholesale mortgage business.Nourel Roubini is among the greatest advocates for the “sky is falling” perspective (backed by fundamentals)The bubble blog describes the “crash”But … when it all shakes out, one thing will remain the same – Real Estate Is LOCAL.When an agency like NAR or HUD issues a press release about real estate, it does so with a spreadsheet and a bevy of easy-to-regurgitate statistics…. It will be a home that exists in one state, in one town, in one neighborhood, on one street and that has its own character and economics.And that’s why, in many if not most cases, reading your local real estate blogs will frequently bring better, more applicable analysis.*Days on Market clearly is inaccurate, and I don’t know why.

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An offer for politicians who blog in CharlAlbemarle

Of the current candidates and incumbents for Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors and the Charlottesville City Council, why don’t more blog?In the City, incumbents Dave Norris and David Brown, who is running for re-election, blog.  Candidates Peter Kleeman and Barbara Haskins do, too.In the County of Albemarle, none of the incumbents or candidates blog, and only one of the School Board members does.Brian Wheeler, running for re-election on the School Board, has done more to bring transparency and openness to local politics than almost any other local politician.At the state level, this is one of the blogging leaders.Is anybody missing from this list?Here is an offer to any of the current or prospective members of the local seats – I’ll give you an hour or two of my time to show you how to blog….  It’s neither hard nor intimidating, but it may be new for some and there is a learning curve.The selfish return for you is this – members of the public will read what you write….  Make no mistake – it’s work, but would benefit all of us.Would any of the current or prospective members be willing to take this offer?

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NAR does good

With all the NAR-bashing of late, it’s nice to see the NAR do something big and good.  From Inman:The National Association of Realtors is donating $500,000 to assist victims of the Southern California wildfires and has called upon its members to contribute to its Realtors Relief Foundation.

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Square footage, Bankruptcies and Campaign funds

Learning to love the not-so-big house. It’s not hard (and it’s cheaper, too!)I’d love to get my hands on a copy of this “Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2008” (hat tip: Toronto Real Estate Intelligence)The art and science of figuring out square footage: (hat tip: Matrix)Real Estate Video by – Real Estate BloggerWatch the whole series – it’s fascinating – in the various methods and results.Who has the most money in the local races?Going green by raising greenWe need more bridgebuilders – within and outside the Realtor world.I don’t know whether Central Virginia is in the Western or Eastern district, so bankruptcies between 2nd Quarter 06 and 2nd Quarter 07 are up either 8% or 37%, respectively.

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A follow up on Cyberhomes/AOL

One would think that a company seeking to revamp/redevelop/survive might shy away from tactics like keyword stuffing.Keyword stuffing is considered to be an unethical search engine optimization (SEO) technique…. The repetition of words in meta tags may explain why many search engines no longer use these tags.Searching for Unrepresented Sellers in my home zip code of 22901 brings this at the top of the page:This type of tactic detracts from AOL’s and Cyberhomes’ credibility. Credibility is, or is fast becoming, the currency of the web – not something you want to spend so unwisely.Grow up, AOL. Cyberhomes – now that you’re partners with AOL – you’d do well to fix this.*It probably would have been more legible to have copied and pasted the text, but I didn’t want to do that which I am criticizing AOL.

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November Referendum on Growth in Albemarle

Will Goldsmith with C-Ville has an excellent summary of next month’s Albemarle County BoS election:In electoral terms, this is an off year, with no federal offices up for grabs.  Typically, voter turnout is particularly low in Virginia during odd years like these, when there’s not even a governor’s race to push the masses to the polls.  To see that, we can look at 2003, the last year a Board of Supervisors race was held without a governor’s race: Of 54,000 registered to vote, only 17,500 came out—32.5 percent….  With the seats divided up by district, that means each seat will be decided by 3,000 to 4,000 voters.With so much at stake, this has shaped up to be one of the most meaningful races for the Board of Supervisors in recent memory—the perfect referendum on the path the county has been taking lately, particularly as concerns development.Vote or don’t complain.Charlottesville Tomorrow’s election guides have just been released as well.

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