Things that make me go hmmmm …

Or is it, perhaps, a bit more subtle? Maybe some agents are simply better than others; they provide a better service, a better product, if you will. None of us appear to be able to define what better means (and believe me, I’ve asked a whole bunch of times), but could it be that in some inchoate way, the consumers know when they’re getting a superior service?

At first blush, this is easy. A “Better” real estate agent is one who is better at what he or she does than others. But what does being a “better” real estate agent mean? (how a consumer can evaluate this is the subject of a future post)

“Better” means:

– Being able to assemble an A-Team.
– Knowing more than your competition.
– Knowing your competition.

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The buyers who used to be for one to four years – are gone.

Charlottesville has always been a bit of a transient market, and this recession is creating some significant shifts in the demographics of buyers, shift I’m trying to figure out now rather than later.

– Younger people are choosing to rent rather than buy, as they have neither the desire nor job stability to to purchase. Put simply, many don’t know where they’ll be in two years and don’t want to be saddled with a house.

– I’d wager a large percentage of the population has been turned off of homeownership, for all the obvious reasons.

– “Active adult” communities in Charlottesville are few and far between, but The Lodge in Old Trail (in Crozet) looks like it may be poised for success.

– What will the landscape look like in thirty or forty years when these now new developments (I am reluctant to call some of these new incarnations “neighborhoods” just yet) start to experience their own turnover? Who will buy these houses?

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