Procuring cause, best consumer web sites, flat fee brokerage and more. Inman hosts.
Date Archives October 2006
Housing and Transportation costs
The Center for Housing Policy has released a fascinating report titled: A Heavy Load: The Combined Housing and Transportation Burdens of Working Families (PDF). It’s 32 pages long, so I have not had time yet to fully digest it, but the premise is fairly commonsense: It typically costs less to live farther from urban centers…. Driving farther costs more money.As I have noted before, important and clear parallels may be drawn between the Central Virginia and the Northern Virginia market:Among the regions studied,the Washington,D.C.–Baltimore has one of the least affordable housing markets. Both housing costs and housing as a share of income are especially high among the region’s outer suburban and suburban fringe areas.Except for married couples with children who bear the brunt ofthese high costs, Working Families are more likely to live in central city and inner suburban neighborhoods where housing costs and cost burdens are somewhat lower…. This is as true in central city neighborhoods as it is on the suburban fringe.In our market, by contrast, many of those in the City have taken advantage of the recent housing boom and sold their houses and moved out into th Counties…. Locally, just look at the numbers of people who are commuting into Charlottesville/Albemarle (CharlAlbemarle!).These are a few of the stories from my feed reader about this story:Bacon’s RebellionBusiness WeekCommenter EM Risse notes on Bacon’s Rebellion:Of course, as we all know by now, Autonomobility is a dead end. But shared-vehicle systems (aka, “mass transit”) cannot overcome random distribution of origins and destinations.For this reason, studies such as Albemarle’s recent one on residents’ opinions regarding growth serve only to perpetuate the myopic view which local governments continue to reinforce. Unless there is region-wide cooperation, transportation will remain as inefficient as it is today – and will only get worse.
Blogging’s expectations (it’s local)
So much so, that after more than a year of regular blogging, she and her partner were losing their zeal as daily contributors to the real estate blogosphere …Read Jim’s post. It is excellent.Second was a post at Mike’s site, a request for opinions on the national real estate “web 2.0” sites that led to this comment response:The business is, and will always remain, local and relationship based. I could come up with a list of dozens of sites that I think do a much better job of providing a good consumer experience at a local level than any national site.The same can be said for real estate blogs. Many provide an extraordinary top-level view of the real estate industry, with the occasional (not yet rare) post focusing on their local trends. Some of these blogs have moved the real estate conversation forward faster and more intelligently than anybody (at least I) could have imagined.I have noticed a recent shift in the real estate blogosphere to a more broad-based focus on national and industry-wide trends rather than local real estate trends…. As more and more information comes online, the best real estate information may be somewhat self-selecting – readers will visit because somebody else told them to…. I have found that local clients do not care so much about one’s prominence nation-wide, but they do care about how much you know about planning, infrastructure, tax bases, employment centers, schools, a property’s potential appreciation rate …… I’d bet that if 500 real estate bloggers were surveyed as to whey they continue to blog (not why they started), that they enjoy it and are passionate about what they do would be in the top two responses.
Pockets of Pain
Irresponsibly, it has taken me until now to write about those pockets.Understanding that the market has shifted from a pure Sellers’ market to more of a Buyers’ market, and that this flip was mostly unexpected is the start of this analysis. The only ones who had predicted the “bubble” bursting/hissing/leaking – whatever analogy you want to use – were the ones who had been saying the same thing for years…. There is one condo development in town that has multiple condos on the market – at a very wide price disparity…. $80k sweet?This article from the WSJ is particularly relevant.– “Flips”Those who purchased with the intent to do some minor renovations, when major ones are warranted…. The primary reason is that my market analysis said that the market value was $40k less than what their market price turned out to be. They purchased the property six months ago for $100k less than they are asking and did about $30k in renovations. This market is no longer able to absorb this type of investment.Unless you can find the perfect property for flipping, your time, money, energy and emotions will be best spent elsewhere.– Those who purchased purely with the intent to sell in six or twelve months.This mindset was quite common, and equally feasible. Not so much anymore.If you are able to comfortably live in and afford your house, then it was a smart investment.
How much is one person’s honor worth?
Five dollars. Maybe I am too harsh in my assessment. But I don’t think so.
Is Albemarle County growing too fast?
Today’s release of Albemarle County’s citizen survey notes a few interesting facts: (Summary) (Full report – 142 pages!)We as a people have a lot of growing to do…. How we grow, where we grow, and where we locate job centers will determine what type of quality of life we are going to have.Regarding Quality of Life: in spite of the challenges our County has, the QOL factor remains quite high…. Not bad.**What we need is a regional study of the same scope and clarity. What follows are highlights from the report:Citizens don’t seem to recognize the importance of tourism to our area.Top 5Bottom 5Like it or not, tourism brings people here. Sure, some of them purchase homes, but most come, spend money and leave…. Couldn’t these all be wrapped under the heading of “Manage Growth”?All in all, that the County 1) does this survey and 2) it’s so comprehensive and publicly accessible are extraordinary, in my opinion. This page seems to sum up citizens’ views quite succinctly – Services are important…. Ah well, such is life.To put these growth trends in perspective, look at these two charts, courtesy of CensusScope: As usual, cvillenews has a great discussion on this.
Out of area lenders
If only clients would listen to me.When I advise my clients to use a lender whom I know and trust, it’s not that I have any special ties, receive kickbacks, or anything else underhanded or shady. It’s because I am looking out for the best interests of my clients.Picture this – client comes in pre-approved by an out-of-the area lender…. In spite of my concerns to my client but client has already started the process and does not want to start over. Lender asks for my recommendations for attorney/title company, appraiser, etc. I consult with my client to ensure that he approves, and proceed…. Hopes and dreams have been smashed because an incompetent, unknown lender does not have any reason to work harder, does not have any relationships to maintain, has no concerns re accountability. There will always be another internet lead.I knew things would be un-recoverable with this particular lender when I called one afternoon and was told that “she’s at lunch.”… Not the answer one wants to hear when clients’ concerns and lives are affected.*I have done transactions with out of state and out of area lenders before successfully…. The difference between out of state and local is simple – the local firms are staffed by people into whose eyes I can look.