The Rivanna Station Military Base – is it reasonable to expect them to hire locally?Rising Gas prices – from the New York Times. $3 gas is going to impact the real estate community in various, far-reaching ways – more demand for public transportation, denser development, telecommuting, possibly higher commissions …… Demand has been relatively inelastic so far …My favorite post at the CVillain – It’s about beer.Foreign National Buyers could provide support to the housing market. Charlottesville has always been a fairly cosmopolitan area attracting people from all over the world.
Date Archives November 2007
More on transparency in Realtor fees
I have a new “million dollar listing”.Before you congratulate me on my pending fortune, consider this, using easy math:Sales price of $1,000,000My company’s commission: $30,000Referral commission: 35% …Â so now we’re working with $19,500 -Cut that $19,5 in half = $9,750Take taxes out – $6,825Take expenses out – maybe $5,000If it takes a year to sell …Â It’s just not that profitable.Call me a hypocrite, but …Â it is the second “million dollar listing” I’ve had – furthering one of my goals for 2007 – to work in a higher price range.
Toy Lift 2007 in Charlottesville
We need volunteers from December 5th through December 9th to help us set up, collect, sort, and distribute Toys and Books!You can make THE difference in the lives of over 2,300 area children…. Papa Johns Pizza and Pepsi products will be served!Contact Walker Duncan or 975-TOYS for more info.Thanks also to the Corner radio station for publicizing this meeting and event.If you are in the Charlottesville area and have never participated in this charity, please consider it this year. Working the Toy Lift is a humbling and rewarding experience.Be aware that no used toys will be accepted this year due to the waves of toy recalls this year.Note: this post is because this charity is near and dear to my wife. She gives an immense amount of time and energy to this every year, and I admire all that she and the other Toy Lift leaders do to ensure that the area’s children have a holiday.
No Vegas for me this year
I said this last week on Twitter that I was not going to be able to go. I had firm plans to attend the NAR Convention, but the following demands require me to stay in Charlottesville:- Family- Clients- Preparing my daughter’s soccer team for an upcoming tournament- Toy Lift (my wife is on the Board) – more on this later today- A Community Land Trust meeting (of which I am on the Steering Committee).Must keep priorities in line – family, business, local impact.I look forward to following the Conference at the blog and regret that I will not be able to attend the Blogger Con. Charlottesville and Virginia will be well represented.
October Market Report for Charlottesville/Albemarle
In short — Days on Market are up, year over year- Inventory in Charlottesville/Albemarle is slightly up, year over year. This may be a signal that we’re moving in the right direction.- Absorption Rate (the time it takes for the existing inventory to be churned) is up – anything over 5-6 months is considered to be a Buyer’s Market. 14 months of inventory in Charlottesville/Albemarle certainly fits that definition.- Buyer clients of mine made an offer on a very well-priced house in the City last week – and were one of four offers.- Properties are still selling, average sale price is still up.Buyers are buying and sellers are selling – the price and the property have to be right. Market data for the Charlottesville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) – Charlottesville/Albemarle/Fluvanna/Greene/Louisa/Nelson after the jump.* Data is pulled from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors’ MLS – data is the best that is available, and is (by my ballpark estimations) about 85% accurate – both for inventory collected and data entry by the Realtors.
Charlottesville relocation map
Maps are plenty, but being able to fold one up and take it with you is something that the internet has not yet accomplished. All of the relocation packages I send out have color-coded (courtesy of Crayola) maps that highlight some of the most important landmarks and sub-regions of the Charlottesville/Albemarle area…. An important note is that from virtually every part of our area, commute times are under 45 minutes, which is a tolerable commute for many, especially those who are coming from larger metropolitan areas.The CharlAlbemarle area is becoming more and more segmented, and I break it down like this – – 29 North – 29 & 20 South- Crozet (West)- Pantops (East) – City of CharlottesvilleWithin the map, I have the Downtown Mall, the University of Virginia and my office location – three of the most well-known landmarks in the area (ok, my office is only well-known to my clients) … Each section has its own grocery store, (most) have a Starbucks, elementary schools, etc. Frequently residents of Crozet never have occasion to go to 29 North – why would they?
A word on Trulia’s new features
Trulia announced their “Featured Listings” product the other day to much fanfare within the RE.net. There’s little to add to the discussion but my personal experience beta testing the product. All I have to offer are the stats provided by Trulia on my listings (click the images for higher-res) – 1 – The increase in views for my listings is impressive…. While similar to Realtor.com’s differentiation of listings, Trulia’s mission is clearly different – they are out to make a profit.