What Makes a “Bad” Real Estate Agent?
What makes a "bad" real estate agent? Easy question to ask, but first we need to define what "bad" means. And "good." My first thoughts on what makes a "bad" agent real estate agent: Poor communication - with fellow professionals, and/or with their clients, potential…
Corporate Homebuyers in Charlottesville/Albemarle?
I get this question often, and was happy to see it on the Reddit AMA: What's the rough ratio of private buyers vs. LLC's or Corporations buying houses in this area? There are a ton of articles touting how home buying has increased significantly this…
December 2024 Monthly Note – Recapping 2024 Charlottesville market, HOAs, Negotiating, Finding Value, & Freedom
This month: quick market roundup, value, negotiations with clients and/or children, finding market equilibrium, Reddit AMA, and true transportation freedom. To those of you who read most of my notes, thank you. To those who read and share, thank you too. I truly appreciate the…
2024 Charlottesville Real Estate Market – Nearly a Wrap
Yesterday I did the last Charlottesville Reddit AMA of the year. We talked market, growth, infrastructure. Today's part of the recap is about the Charlottesville real estate market. Have a question? I'm always happy to talk, or meet for coffee or a pint. Reach out…
What I’m Reading – December 2024
Every month, I have an Apple Note where I save interesting things I read, and I typically share in my monthly note - available here, and publishing this week. The note is running a bit long, so I'm sharing things here. If you're interested in…
Changes and Owning Mistakes in Real Estate
Changes and Owning Mistakes in Real Estate I was talking to an agent the other day who had some questions about the new commission/client representation world. They expressed concerns/unease about things as they are developing and asked what I thought about it. Y'all know I…
November 2024 Note | The Worst Thing, Doorbells, Double-tapping, and the Charlottesville market
Archive of my monthly notes, sent once a month from JimsNote.com. Now over 1000 people subscribe, and that feels like a reasonable deal. Not big, not small. Reasonable deal. This month: a winter home tip, seeing your house as a product and fixing doorbells, the…
Talking about Charlottesville Real Estate – 21 November at Starr Hill Dairy Central
I could talk about real estate all day every day. Thursday, 21 November is my third such time to chat this month. I'm going to be doing another series in January, in addition to another AMA on Reddit early next month. That said, if you…
Sellers’ Anchors to Higher Prices
Sellers naturally think a lot of their houses -- it's their home, where they've made memories, raised kids and/or pets (or themselves). The hard part is telling a seller client that their product is not worth what they thought it was, whether I'm representing the…
Moving to Charlottesville/Albemarle/Central Virginia for a Climate Safe Haven?
Charlottesville isn't safe from climate change, but I'd argue that some of the data says we're safer. I was in a meeting this week at Nest, with about 30-40 agents, and we talked about Zillow's new display of climate risk, and I mentioned that this…