After much effort on both of our parts, losing out one one house and then a bit of serendipity, we found and contracted on the “right” house. Then today I received a call from the listing agent with a bit of a conundrum – another agent in her office wanted to buy my clients’ Contract…. After some deliberation, I received this email from my client – Hi Jim, seriously, it’s a definitive “no”, even though the first one was solid — I don’t want the other person (or couple) to even have the slightest hope on the house. It makes me sad to know that there is not much on the market for 200k, which is what young professionals like us can afford. To see houses with 800 sq ft going for sale for 229k, or even 219k, it difficult to accept. I understand, we all want the best, we all want to get the most of everything, but I don’t want to be part of the escalation of price. Tell the other people not to give up, there will be another house somewhere else to make them happy…. ChristianThe good always make up for the bad.
Date Archives April 2006
Morning links 04-10-2006
Hat tip to Outskirts.Low-tech productivity gains a following…. Whenever someone asks me what the best gadget is for x task, my answer has always been “whatever works for you.” It just might not be the new Palm with all the bells and whistles…. In one way, blogging is much like real estate – mutual collaboration is a major factor in one’s success. Despite my disdain for anything labeled a “buzzword” I think I like co-opetition. Locally, the cvilleblogs aggregator has contributed significantly to the local community.Growing traffic touches everyone.I changed the name…. I would love to know more about the goings-on of Walker Square. This marks two very negative stories I have heard (both first-hand) about Walker Square.
What a pain – no iPods.
This is the message from the National Association of Realtors regarding their new “Virtual Library.”At this time, OverDrive digital audio books cannot be downloaded to iPods, or used on Mac computers.Bother…. I have purchased an audio book or two through iTunes – maybe some of you have heard of it -I am so irritated. – via Inman – “Through the eBooks Collection, NAR members will have access to digital literature,” said Dale Stinton, NAR CEO and executive vice president, in a statement…. Realtors I know spend a great deal of time on the road and away from traditional office settings, yet still find ways to increase their business knowledge and personal growth. By tapping into our virtual library, Realtors can leverage this burgeoning technology to develop their skills while on the go.””On the go!”… How are members going to listen to this “digital literature” when they cannot listen to it on the most dominant media player on the market? That NAR have to differentiate between “digital literature” and “literature” shows to me how out of touch they are…. A wise corporate sage once said: GM sees a snake and they form a committee to study it.It is so frustrating to me that this type of decision is made by an organization which is supposed to represent my interests.
Green building making inroads
Winds of climate change blow over big businessIn many ways “going green” makes perfect economical sense. Carbon emissions come from energy. Save energy and — here’s what skeptics take issue with — lower the amount of heat on the planet that can lead to global warming. How much you believe or participate is up to you.UVa.’s new Lawn project to be LEED certified?“We’re planning for the next century,†Neuman said, noting the goal of making the building eligible for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. The certification is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council, a coalition of building industry leaders.For green building to firmly take hold, large institutions need to lead the charge along with the grassroots movement. Hopefully this signals a move in the right direction. Where there is profit, there will be business, innovation and acceptance.
A shorter title for this blog?
Based on this little exchange – (not linking to avoid pingbacks :)) – http://www.cvillenews.com/2006/03/31/blog-round-up-5/#comments I think I’m going to change the title to simply realcentralva.com rather than “Central VA real estate news, trends and opinions” and leave the tagline “Tracking the Charlottesville and Central VA real estate market and more” or something to that effect – any thoughts anybody?
The WSJ on Google Base
The WSJ has a wide-ranging article this morning on the impact that craigslist and googlebase may have on the traditional-model real estate industry. Read the whole thing if you want to see what I and others have been talking about for quite some time. I personally take exception with one part – Shoppers can’t rely on agents to tell them about for-sale-by-owner offerings, because agents often don’t earn commissions for introducing buyers to these properties and find such transactions more difficult to complete. Agents also may fail to tell potential buyers about homes being sold through discount brokers.I show any house that fits by clients’ needs. If I don’t show a home that is marketed by an unrepresented seller, that is because 1) I don’t know about it due to their ineffective marketing and 2) it doesn’t suit my buyers’ needs. Regarding google’s entry – the ability of Realtors to rely on the MLS’ dominance is just about over…. I believe the traditional MLS model run by NAR is just about over. While other companies are innovating, NAR is forming work groups to analyze the situation.
Light blogging
Whoever decided to put Spring Break in the middle of the spring market was certainly not a Realtor. The juggling act continues will be more interesting this week.