A car … and a house in Dunlora! (hat tip: Amy )
Date Archives February 2009
Buyer Activity is Up in Charlottesville
I’m not saying that there are “lots of buyers who are buying,” but there do seem to be “lots of buyers” who are kicking the tires, and some of them are writing offers (and believe it or not, some of these offers are becoming Contracts). Take the following anecdotal evidence for what you will – 1 – I’m busy (and still taking on new clients), showing a lot of houses all over the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County (for some reason, my clients seem to cluster, no one in Waynesboro or Fluvanna yet this year) 2 – A Real Estate III agent told me that she had fourteen groups of interested folks through one of her public open houses last weekend – all with no advertising.
Entrepreneurial Career Advice
I’ll be speaking the 10th Grade Career day at Piedmont Virginia Community College on 12 March: You will be in a classroom with about 22 students (plus a teacher) who have signed up to hear about a career in business and as an Entrepreneur. … I realize careers in this category can vary widely; you can try to give an overview and also talk about your own personal experiences and how you came to be in your own career.
Condos Are a Shifting Market – Even in Charlottesville and Albemarle
We don’t have co-ops in Charlottesville, so just substitute “condo” for “co-op” – Moreover, barring a swift economic renaissance, lawyers, managing agents and condo boards are bracing for things to worsen significantly this year as job losses mount, severances and savings evaporate, and the new reality sets in. … Now, say five condos go to foreclosure – after all, foreclosure may be the best business decision (excepting morals and ethics) available – The foreclosure process takes six months or so … that’s $600 loss to the condo association – per unit – so that’s a six thousand dollar loss to the condo association.
Learning from the Bubble Blog
A few snippets from which I’m liable to do some blog posts – MLS “gaming,” ethics, ” internet search terms, meta tagging, sellers’ motivations, training v. education, buyers’ points of view, the difference between unethical and sneaky, educated buyers, pricing, the state of the market, and the value of a buyer’s agent. … Additionally, I am going to be suspicious of this particular seller’s agent in the future, as s/he hasn’t done his/her “homework” on the local and national economy.
On Confidence and Differentiation without Denigration
We’re doing things differently – marketing, compensation models, consulting, information sharing … a trusted friend and someone whom I respect made a comment to me yesterday which I felt compelled to address.
… From this time forward, the focus will be less on what we’re doing differently and more on simply what we’re doing .
Sued For Blogging about Publicly Available Information
The law firm (a big one, at 2,300 lawyers) has never publicly said why it sued; maybe the powers that be there thought the posts compromised their lawyers’ privacy. Housing records are public documents, but the Web turns public into accessible, and the firm presumably wasn’t thrilled about having its attorneys’ home purchases broadcast.