The question posed by the new-to-Charlottesville buyer was, “I’m getting ready to buy a home in Charlottesville; where do I start?”
Browsing Category Buyers.
Scratching An Itch (as a Searching Home Buyer)
Why see a house that we all know you’re not going to buy?
Simple: if a particular house or location is clouding your (the buyer’s) ability to best evaluate the market opportunities, it’s exceptionally useful to see that house or neighborhood and remove it from the equation.
FHA and Condos in Charlottesville – Are they Eligible?
Guest post from Matt Hodges with Presidential Mortgage*: Condominiums are a challenge to finance through FHA. Condominiums had a brief period when lenders overlooked eligibility and approved every loan, as long as the borrower was…
Difference Between Clients and Customers
Question: What’s the difference between a real estate client and a real estate customer?
Answer: Quite a bit.
I was with a a customer a few weeks ago and and we had an interesting conversation about the differences between a customer and a client.
Some basic definitions from the Code of Virginia:
“Customer” means a person who has not entered into a brokerage relationship with a licensee but for whom a licensee performs ministerial acts in a real estate transaction. Unless a licensee enters into a brokerage relationship with such person, it shall be presumed that such person is a customer of the licensee rather than a client.
“Client” means a person who has entered into a brokerage relationship with a licensee.
“Licensee” means real estate brokers and salespersons as defined in Article 1 (§ 54.1-2100 et seq.) of Chapter 21 of this title.
“Ministerial acts” means those routine acts which a licensee can perform for a person which do not involve discretion or the exercise of the licensee’s own judgment. (bolding mine)
If I meet you at one of my listings, I will explain to you that I don’t do single agent dual agency. (Guess who benefits from single agent dual agency?)
Did You Notice? Search the Charlottesville MLS on your Phone
The MLS search provider for RealCentralVA.com (and thousands of others around the country) recently released a mobile search option for those of you driving around searching for homes in Charlottesville.
It’s simple: go to my search for homes page and you should be given the option to redirect to the mobile-optimized page.
Read those HOA Docs – They Might Give Others Right to Trespass
Finding conversion between two distant stories with one major point:
Lesson #1: Read the HOA Docs and any neighborhood Covenants and Restrictions before you buy a home.
Should an HOA have the ability/right to override the First Amendment?
And here’s the conflict: an HOA’s Covenants and Restrictions may override the First Amendement; are you reading the docs before you buy?
Looking for School Information in Charlottesville or Albemarle (or beyond)?
ProPublica has released/aggregated a lot of information on Central Virginia schools. Oddly, neither Greene County nor Nelson County are listed.
What a useful time to remind folks to check your school district before you buy . Redistricting happens. And school districts matter.