Jim’s Note | November 2026 |Do I really need a Realtor to see a house?
These are the archives for my subscription Monthly Notes. You can subscribe here. One note a month. If you like it, please share with a friend or neighbor. I'm working on the framework for my December note, and think I'm going to focus mostly on…
October 2025 Monthly Note – Charlottesville Market Insight, Shocking New Construction Construction Numbers
Happy October — cooler air, falling leaves, market questions — plus a few ideas on housing, cities, and legacy. Market Look I’ve never liked market reports - they provide distance from the market itself, and the reports are often unexamined. When I run numbers…
Shifting Market Data, Anecdata in Charlottesville, and Qualifications | July 2025 Note from Jim
My monthly notes are the best things I write every month. If you're interested in one note a month, please subscribe here. I didn’t intend July’s note to be this market-heavy, as I had a few other topics, but the market shift warrants a shift…
It’s Always about Choices | June 2025 Note from Jim
My monthly notes are the best things I write every month. If you're interested in one note a month, please subscribe here. Happy June, and thank you for reading! Everything comes down to choices. Should we break something that works for selfish reasons, should we…
May’s Note 2025 List-to-Sell % Stories, What Buyers Want, Pools’ Values, Testing Living Here, AI, & “Is this It?”
My monthly notes are the best things I write every month. If you're interested in one note a month, please subscribe here. This month, I’m writing about the stories associated with list-to-sell ratios, what buyers want and how sellers need to calibrate and prepare, differential…
Jim’s Note – April 2025
Reasons Why, A Different Market Wrap Up, Communication Matters This month it’s long. And it’s not AI. I write Jim's Note every month on Substack, and post here for posterity. And, it's lot easier to search my site than is Substack. Interested in getting my…
March 2025 Note from Jim | Bootlickers, Market Cracks, and Mistakes
I write a lot, and find it useful for explaining things to myself and to my clients. I write one note a month, and send it by email to you; if you're interested, please subscribe here. March 2025's note is below. Please let me know…
February 2025 Note – Practice, Clarity, Downsizing, and Maps
Interested in receiving my Monthly Note? You can subscribe here. This month: clarity, using maps, insurance, downsizing, sucking, and evolving concessions. As an aside, I've written this blog for 20 years(!) and it has had its ebbs and flows. Right now, it's ebbing. My focus…
January 2025 Monthly Note
Interested in receiving my Monthly Note? You can subscribe here. This month: Meaningful community, a typical situation, inventory and expectations, and my first closing. January is the month I started writing RealCentralVA in 2005, then I started writing these notes in January 2014. There have…
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…