Friction, Quiet Wins, 69% and Sticks in a Creek | Note from Jim May 2026

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Issue #187

Making the May note by the skin of my teeth. It’s been a productive few weeks. I eschew the term “busy” as I think “busy” carries a negative connotation. We had a Nest client event a few weeks ago, and clients who purchased a home adjacent to my neighborhood said, “we were talking the other day that we’ve seen you a lot less than we expected!”

It’s true. I’ve been working a lot, and that’s ok. I’ve been doing this long enough to appreciate the days with minimal breaks, as I remember the days when I was wondering if the phone would ring.

The word “friction” has come up frequently recently – in conversations with clients, friends, social media, stories I’ve read. Friction is necessary; it slows us down and can help us appreciate the work and the effort.

Finding Quiet Wins

I’m working to appreciate the wins.

As I scrubbed speed and started the turn from pavement to gravel, my front wheel suddenly went flat; I recovered and didn’t crash – win #1. And then realized my pump was broken. So I messaged my wife using the iPhone satellite option – a literal lifesaver. – wins #2 and #3.

When she picked me up, she asked me what I did while I waited.

I became a kid again. 45 minutes with no phone service and no noise — I broke sticks into pieces, threw them in the creek, and tried to hit them with rocks. Like a big kid. Win #4.

Failed ride, but wins all around: my wife came to get me early on a Sunday morning, successfully used iPhone satellite, didn’t crash, and played with rocks and sticks in the quiet.

When it’s too wet, I run. No filter on this one.

Seasoning

A colleague told me of a challenge with another agent. I asked if it was a good agent. She said it was a “seasoned” agent (meaning old/experienced; I am seasoned as well).

I said, “You didn’t answer the question.”

If I were still practicing today without evolving from how I started, I’d be “seasoned.” I’d be terrible, but I’d be seasoned.

My wife and I went away for our anniversary; this is a shot I took on a morning run. We both wished that we had better feelings when looking at it.

People always want more. They “what if” themselves into anxiety even though they have more than they wanted. ~ W.

Paradox of Choice

Too many options can be harder than having too few options.

We have more inventory now than we’ve had in a long time. We do not have a lot of inventory, but we have more — and that can complicate the decision-making process for buyers who are uncertain (there is always a degree of uncertainty when making a life-altering choice).

It’s easier if there are one or two houses to choose from, and much more challenging if there are five or seven or twelve houses, scattered across multiple geographical centers.

More options mean that the psychological and geographical work up front take on more importance than ever. The right questions asked earlier in the process matter more than ever.

Curious about how I work? Reply and ask me.

Closing the Chapter

Sometimes, closing the chapter is the right choice.

Many years ago, I had a client (and friend) who owned a townhouse. They bought it for $250K. It was worth $200K. They could have taken the financial hit — it would have hurt, but they could have done it. They chose to rent.

Every year around Valentine’s Day (I don’t recall that significance but think it had to do with lease renewal) they would text me, “can we sell it now?” The answer was always yes, of course, but you’d be losing $X. So they waited.

And waited.

Finally, we sold the townhouse and they did ok in the end. But I remember him telling me that the psychological cost of essentially writing a check every month for $500 was almost unbearable. I vividly remember, “I could have weathered the hit, and I’d happily have been able to take my kids to Disney.”

Those were painful years, and I still know people who are just now getting to a point where they might not lose money.

Sometimes, taking the hit both psychologically and financially is the right option — closing that life chapter if you will.

I ask questions and offer opinions; my clients make the decisions.

*An old man with a cane in a dry field #FromTheBicycle*

The weight of home ownership

I was standing in the front yard with my first time homebuyer the day before closing.

“So after tomorrow, this will all be ours – the house, and the responsibility, if anything goes wrong, it’s on us to fix it?”

Yep. Welcome to home ownership. You can paint the walls, change the flooring, knock down walls, and call an electrician, mow the grass, replace the roof.

The weight is real, and so can be the wins of painting rooms whatever color you want.

One thing I tell all of my clients at closing — I am always here if you need me, whether that’s asking a question about a renovation idea, you need a roofer recommendation, a yard person, or if the rezoning will affect you. Just text me.

Stopped to take this when riding my e-bike to show a house. Have you walked or ridden the Butterfly Trail in Charlottesville?

The Market – Nearly End of June 2026

As of late May, about 1,115 resale homes have come on the market this year in Charlottesville and Albemarle — almost exactly the same as last year. Contracts are up — roughly 800 resales have gone under contract vs. about 760 this time last year. New construction is ticking up too — 155 under contract vs. 145.

Here’s the number worth paying attention to: 70% of resales that went under contract this year did so within 30 days. Last year, that was 81%. That’s a meaningful drop — and it’s not because the whole market slowed down. It split. More than 120 of this year’s contracts were carryover listings from prior years that had been sitting, in some cases for months, before finally going under contract. The correctly priced homes are still moving. The overpriced ones are sitting until reality sets in.

Of the roughly 360 resale listings still active from this year, nearly two-thirds have been on market for more than 30 days. If your home is sitting, it’s likely not a marketing problem; it’s the price.

Ask yourself — would this house sell for $100K? If the answer is yes, then price is likely a factor.

Total closings year to date — ~680 this year, 674 last year. The market isn’t stalling. But it’s pickier than it was, and the uncertainty around rising rates (trust me; every single one of my buyers is watching rates, and some are withdrawing from the market because of rates), tariffs, gas prices, and starting wars is not helping anyone’s confidence.

Next month — predictions for the rest of 2026. I’ll probably be wrong. But so will everyone else.

AI

Writing good. Thinking good. AI ok, with huge caveats.

Writing by hand is how I think, pay attention, and remember. AI removes the friction. Writing is hard, time consuming, often difficult, and more often rewarding. The push and pull of finding the right word, the right tone, the right message takes work – by me, not by Claude.

We need friction – it’s what makes us better, and helps us recognize when things are running smoothly.

PS. We’ve all watched Wall-E, the Terminator, and RoboCop, right?