Are Americans Ready for Smaller Houses? Time Will Tell. I, for one, believe that smaller houses are poised for a return to prominence and vogue. More and more, I have clients asking for utility bills. Witness the condo boom – good, functional, efficient spaces that are well-located sell well.Sustainable citiesTreehugger roundup: Green Issue, a Green real estate firm, Green business performs well. Allowing the free market to work will ultimately be far more effective and efficient than top-down governmental regulations. What good does prohibition do, besides promote dishonesty, sneaking and death?Crazy dangerous physics teachersWhere has our common sense gone?
Date Archives June 2006
Buyer’s or Seller’s Market?
Are we in a Buyer’s or Seller’s Market?… What if it’s not “either – or” and just a balanced market? From the comments:All in all, we are much closer to a buyers market than you think and it happened so fast because of the runup in housing prices over the past 2 years. It was simply unsustainable as low lending rates were not going to be around forever; and now wer are seeing effects of higher borrowing costs on buyers. If the fed raises again in June, and assuming we still have 8-12 months of trickling higher lending rates, expect a full blow buyers market (with all new dev inventory coming to market over next 1-2 years) by summer of 2007!While all real estate markets are decidedly local, the above could easily have been written with the CharlAlbemarle market in mind. Thanks to UrbanDigs for the comment.There is far more inventory now in our market than there has been for some time, Construction is Down, and prices are up. While my livelihood is based on the buying and selling of real estate, this is a cogent argument for renting in some occasions. Hat Tip to Inman for pointing out this story.Local data analysis coming soon …
Fake cities to replace real cities?
The WSJ had a fascinating story yesterday about the rise of mini-cities as a means by which to combat sprawl.Even though these faux downtowns contain tinges of suburbia, they’re taking advantage of a growing backlash against the sprawl that rings Dallas and other U.S. cities. The reaction began in the 1980s with the rise of New Urbanism, a movement of architects and planners calling for a return to traditional towns where people work, shop, live and play.They are describing, in many ways, Albemarle Place. More on Albemarle Place’s development here.Might Albemarle Place’s “New Main Street” supplant Charlottesville’s Main Street? Doubtful, but … they are nothing if not ambitious.It’s the New Urbanism — a high-energy environment mixing private elegance with a wealth of entertainment and shopping options. Simply step outside your door onto pedestrian-friendly Main Street. You’ll find all that makes this community special: mountain views, a vibrant night life, specialty boutiques as well as convenient shopping within a single town center.Mighty bold. With rising construction costs, rising interest rates and a general market cooling, how will these designs pan out?
Morning links June 1 2006
Marketing challenge – how would you do it? Finding the balance between branding a real estate company and maintaining the “buzz” of a new listing is more and more daunting.But the tangle of options also requires any successful marketing plan to take into account the nature of the product, its durability in the public’s mind and the advertising budget needed to make it all work.Digital real estate roundup – they aren’t viable in the CharlAlbemarle market yet, but they will be. Which ones will survive?Is podcasting’s slow growth due to a bad name? We have been podcasting our listings for some time now – with marginal results. Are we just ahead of the curve?The 108-year-old phone tax may yet have life.