Prepping for Mid-Year 2014 Market Update
Looking briefly at the homes that have gone under contract in Albemarle and Charlottesville from 1 January to 30 June (June's not yet over as of this writing) and if you do the math, you'll see that this year's market is (broadly) moving a bit…
Wine Mag Notes Charlottesville’s Great Food
Wine Mag notes Brookville and Pasture in its America's 5 New Foodie Cities. Yum.
Fry’s Springs Downzoning Proposed Again
The perils of zoning rear their heads in Fry's Springs. The Charlottesville City Council has agreed to consider a request from the Fry's Spring Neighborhood Association to study rezoning of three streets. “Essentially, they are asking for the properties on Stribling, Crestmont and Shamrock to…
Charlottesville’s City Market Getting a Permanent Home
Charlottesville Tomorrow has the story. Downtown will get a nearly year-round City Market and a taller downtown … - at C-Ville, take a look at the proposed building (it's huge). The vote was met with applause Monday night after the council selected the Market Plaza…
Monday Reading – 16 June 2014
- This should be required reading - 8 Surprise expenses for homeowners. Changing locks, pest control … in something as rare as a purple dinosaur eating a banana in the middle of a soccer stadium talking on a cell phone, many of the comments are…
Virginia’s New Home Inspection Form – Buyers can Terminate with No Cause
There are now two ways for a buyer to terminate a Contract with no cause. Since I started in 2001, the buyer has been able to terminate a contract based on the HOA documents - buyers have three days to review the HOA documents. A…
Buying a House? Talk to Planners First
Things change. Especially so when it's some else's property. Spend some time at GIS sites and look at historical photos - everything changes. The things I dream about ... Realtor.com (or Zillow, or NestRealty or Sitegeist + Charlottesville Tomorrow + Geocoded Locality Planning data:. I've…
Hiring Professional Photographers for Real Estate Photos
Hiring professionals is what professionals do. The guy in the red shirt? He'll take better photos than I would. Note the tripod.
How do I know I’m Getting the Best Deal (on a loan)
Shopping for a loan is hard. Comparing loan terms and offers can be harder. When I recommend a lender, there is an incredible amount of conveyed trust in that recommendation. A client asked me the other day - "How do I know who has the…
Giving Useful Feedback on Listings is Valuable
Here's a new question I'm going to suggest sellers ask the real estate agent they are considering hiring. "Do you give good feedback to your fellow agents?" ("Do you use professional photographers" should be one of the top 5 questions asked, by the way) Giving…