From the most recent CAAR news monthly – Statistics show that the average consumer follows a well-defined housing cycle…. uses statistical averages to define the housing cycle as follows:By Age 25 – Become apartment dwellers
By Age 33 – Become first-time homebuyers
By Age 44 – Trade-up to a larger home
By Age 52 – Buy a vacation home
By Age 65 – Buy a retirement homeOf course these are “average†homebuyers which we all know don’t exist, but the cycle is valid in predicting the market trends. If we apply this housing cycle to the generation waves (boomers, X’ers, and the new-boomers), we can easily and accurately predict housing trends.These numbers are wildly off-base for the Charlottesville/Central Virginia market.
Date Archives June 2005
6%? For What?
RealtyBaron.com : Find a Top REALTOR® to Sell Your Home, Property Values, and Real Estate News:How many times have you heard someone pitch a fit about paying a 6% sales commission when selling their home?… Unfortunately for REALTORS®, that argument doesn’t stick because if it isn’t seen, it doesn’t exist in the mind of some homeowners…until now…. Regardless, it’s additional ammunition for any REALTOR® in the heat of battle while negotiating a fat commission.So as to save her bandwidth, the file is below.
A New Age Restricted Community Is Coming to Greene County
Tuesday dozens of people showed up for the groundbreaking of Greene County’s first active adult community. The community will have more than 500 lots and will include a 16,000 sq…. Seniors typically bring affluence, knowledge and no drain on community resources; read: School systems.
What happens if there is a bubble?
Now, many worry that the roaring housing market may be headed for a train wreck as well.What’s the likelihood this could happen? For his part, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said last week that a nationwide housing bubble was improbable, while warning of “froth in some local markets.” He said a broad price decline in the housing market was unlikely to happen or to have much economic impact.It is all good and well to continually predict that there is a bubble; eventually, some of these so-called experts will be right, whether it takes them 10 years of the same prediction will remain to be seen.
CLUE reports’ impact on real estate
Today I had a conversation with a fellow Realtor who did not know that a house’s (and thereby the Seller’s) claims history can impact whether a buyer can affordable homeowner’s insurance. From VAR’s website – bolding mine – Dating back to the 1980s, insurance claims databases provide subscribing insurance companies with claim history information for properties and individuals…. Waiting until the last days or even weeks before the closing can limit the opportunities of the buyers and sellers to address the affordability and availability issue and, if needed, to find alternatives for difficult to insure properties.
Loyalty
Several times this year, I have experienced or heard first-hand stories about Buyers who will initiate a relationship with a Realtor to search for a home, and ultimately not worth with that (or any) Realtor for representation. I have seen it written that Realtors give away much of their expertise for free in the hopes that some business will be generated…. Having grown up in the business, I knew that this was a cutthroat career; I was prepared more for the competition from fellow Realtors more than anything else.Perhaps I am a bit of an ideologist and expect a modicum of candor and openness from those with whom I work.
Crozet’s Master Plan receives major award
Albemarle County, Virginia’s Master Plan for the village of Crozet has been singled out as one of the most innovative such projects in America. The plan was one of fifteen studies selected nationwide by the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) for a 2005 Charter Award, the organization’s highest accolade for exemplary design and implementation. From Citiesthatwork.comWhat is most funny is that Two weeks before the Board of Supervisors voted December 1 to approve the Crozet Master Plan, the Crozet Community Association just said no.