Is contribute to the culture of fear being propagated by the media, with respect to the housing market. The “doom and gloom” stories sell as well as, if not better than, the “market is booming” stories. What I do intend to do is provide candid, un-spun analysis of the Charlottesville area real estate market. If I should ever stray from this goal, please let me know.Read about all the postings on the Charlottesville market here.But I also don’t want to get the track record and loss of credibility that the National Association of Realtors have.
Date Archives July 2007
47% of Americans have broadband – why does it matter to Realtors?
How do you?Using 2005 numbers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the US ranks #15 in the world in broadband penetration…. Skype, multiple photos online, visual tours, etc.This meshes well with an idea for a story from a few weeks ago -What do you think of when you see this?I was watching the classic movie Office Space recently with some friends who neither need the internet for work or personal business nor have they ever worked in an office…. We need to work to encourage broadband use and penetration, locally and not-so-locally (hint: it’ll take more than a few to make it happen). “Good enough” won’t cut it.* Inspiration for the article partly derived from the book I am currently reading, The World Is Flat, (my next read may be the counter-argument) perhaps one of the most eye-opening and terrifying books I have read in some time.
Charlottesville MSA apparently is a risky place to get a loan if you’re a minority
Feel free to use a pseudonym.Pull the files from the top three local banks (or more), and compare apples to apples on applications – credit scores, income, debt ratios, the whole thing, and report those findings…. Now.More at Inman (paid subscription required after tomorrow) – interestingly,The study found greater racial disparities in high-cost loans made to middle- to upper-income minorities than to low- to moderate-income borrowers.Are the disparities found more at the huge national banks, or the small, private ones? I don’t want to speculate on which ones, but I’d say that the problems are likely the function of systemic breakdowns and the people involved rather than companies directing their lenders to discriminate.Hopefully this story won’t go away.If possible, I’d like to see a greater breakdown, by locality, of the numbers. The Charlottesville MSA comprises Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson (and Louisa, although it’s not included in the numbers).Update 7/13/07: The Daily Progress has an article today that shows that raises three interesting points:1) Out-of-state lenders specifically targeting black borrowers may be the primary culprits.
Good and bad Charlottesville lists
The Charlottesville area is a great place to visit for the wine, so says Travel and Leisure.Virginia’s wineries are concentrated in two areas: one near ÂCharlottesville, the other within an hour’s drive of Dulles Airport…. The state had been trading on the grape-growing reputation of noted wine lover Thomas Jefferson for 200 years without producing anything worthy of mention…. And a single meal verified that it should be on the must-visit list of any adventurous wine traveler.Both happened at the same place, Barboursville Vineyards, just outside Charlottesville …Virginia is the Best State for BusinessNot that Virginia did badly–it just didn’t dominate the rankings the way it did last year…. Virginia’s top attributes include an incentive environment that is the fourth-best in the country, according to Pollina Corporate Real Estate, a commercial real estate consulting firm, as well as an unemployment rate that’s the third lowest in the nation.But the Charlottesville MSA apparently is a risky place to get a loan if you’re a minority.Update: the conversation at cvillenews continues to be interesting.
I’m glad my site comes up #1 for this
positive real estate news in virginia 2007 How ’bout that?
Market Perspective for the Charlottesville region
Here’s some perspective, 2004 versus 2007:Days on Market is about the same, but look at the inventory levels…. Believe it or not, things are most assuredly selling, albeit at a slower pace than we have seen in some time. Properties that are priced well, and often well-below sellers’ expectations, are in fact selling. What I am trying to avoid is perpetuating what I have termed a “climate of fear perpetuated by the media.”
Quick Market summary for Charlottesville & Albemarle
The data keeps coming – – 1010 properties have sold so far this year**Data is of the weekend of 8 July, 2007*Since I started this story this past weekend, the monthly sales numbers have changed slightly, so I’ll say that the margin of error (right now) is +-5 to 10.*Of the 212 properties under 200K that sold between 1 January and 30 June 2007, 115 were condos – just over 50%. (there are 118 on the market right now)*Hat tip to Ardell for the nifty way to show the data.