The question that those that market real estate have to answer is this: will people treat a bounce in real estate the way that they think about a drop in the stock market (a chance to profit) or will it lead to a long-term reevaluation of what it means to own a house?My prediction – absolutely…. What we are witnessing is the return to a less transient real estate market (even though Charlottesville has traditionally been a bit more transient due to the University of Virginia), where buying and selling a home requires more due diligence and careful consideration than it has for the past seven years. Those who think that interest rates are high when a 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage can be had for under 7% – need to see things in a little bit of historical context.But is it a marketing problem?… There is frequently more to the story than can be presented in one thousand words or less (that’s why we have blogs).Understanding that housing has, outside of the past 5-7 years, been regarded as a long-term investment is fundamental to the strength of the housing market.The TJPDC says that (PDF) the Charlottesville region can expect housing demand to increase 11% from 2010 to 2020 (p.62 of the report).The demand will be there, but the “quick buck” will be harder to find.
Date Archives August 2007
Have gas? Here’s a lawsuit
As my monthly quarterly newsletter is not slated to go out for a couple of weeks, consider this a notification to my clients with gas heat:From one of the home inspectors I use frequently:I wanted to pass along some information regarding the CSST gas tubing used in many homes throughout our area (it’s in my home too) Some of you or your clients may have this in their homes, and I would recommend forwarding this link on to them so they may take the neccesary action. The deadline to submit a claim is fast approaching (September 5, 2007) and they may do so on the website. I wish I could have sent this out earlier, but I was only notified yesterday.
Helping out a good cause – Charlottesville Muscular Dystrophy Association
With relative frequency, I am asked to give to various charities; most often I give as much as I can.Last week I was invited to be “Locked Up” for Muscular Dystrophy. This is something I remember my dad doing when I was a kid (and he was the Realtor), so I guess this is a sign of adulthood, something I have never quite been prepared for.In short, I am going to be “locked up” at the Downtown Omni at 10am on 1 November of this year.Taking a cue from Jay’s recent drive for the March of Dimes, I’ll offer a RealCentralVA t-shirt to the first five donors (of at least $25).
There is a flip side to everything
Smoking is bad and may be banned in Virginia restaurants, among other places…. There is a market in everything. Accepting and adapting to change is how successes are made. Witness the shift to FHA loans (more).
Google down?
Shame I run my jduncanrealestate.com email through them.Update: They’re back up. What’s the backup strategy if Google goes away? They’ve already lied about “unlimited storage”…. They offer “unlimited storage”.
Go to hell, relo company
Primacy prefers the same closing agent represent both the Seller and Buyer (Title company’s name removed)and ask that thew [sic] Buyer’s agent does not contact or open title with another title company or closing attorneyI wonder if the buyers know that the relocation company (the seller) is requesting that the buyer not have their own representation at closing. The Charlottesville market may be different than others in this regard, but Closings are done separately, with Buyers having their own representation (either attorney or title company) and the Sellers having their own…. The agreement states that if the buyer agent makes any attempt to arrange alternate financing or refers the buyers to another lender, such action would be considered a breach of the referral agreement entitling the referral source to damages for (ostensibly) tortuous interference with a contract. The source refuses to give the buyer a good-faith estimate of closing costs until a contract is obtained on a house, and when the buyer finally gets the estimate, the rate, origination fee, underwriting fee and processing fee are very high, and much worse than the buyer could qualify for from other lenders.
Bacn!
From Lifehacker:Email you receive that isn’t spam…… It’s notifications of a new post to your Facebook wall or a new follower on Twitter. It’s the Google alert for your name and the newsletter from your favorite company.Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Alerts, Newsletters that don’t offer RSS feeds, Pownce notifications … the list is seemingly endlessIf only there were an aggregator for all the various social networking sites …