There’s more to the Charlottesville real estate market than data – it’s crucial to look beyond the numbers.

Transcription:

Jim Duncan from RealCentralVA.com here. It’s Monday morning and I’m nursing a sore throat.

But I wanted to talk about how the Charlottesville and Albemarle real estate markets are full of anomalies and anecdotes that can clarify and confuse.

Here are two examples that are not reflected when you look at any of the market data out there, even the in-depth analysis provided my reports and by the next reports. There a house that’s been on the market in Albemarle on and off for about a year and half to two years; purchased in, I believe, June or September of 2006 for $326,000, and is on the market now for $279,000.

How does that factor in when you’re looking at things? Clearly, the person is in, probably, dire straits and needs to sell; but how badly can he or she need to sell if they’re not willing and able to put their house on the market at a price that’s going to cause it to be under contract and sold?

And the other side of the spectrum is a house that came onto the market in the City of Charlottesville Friday night/Saturday morning and was under contract in less than a day. How does that one figure in?

Clearly, they might be an outliers, but it’s not uncommon, as with the one that is the person who is $50,000/$60,000 in the hole when you look at the top level numbers.

When you’re look at our real estate market, you have to use the national and statewide trends as guides, but grant them only so much credibility because they don’t apply to the Charlottesville/Albemarle/Greene real estate markets.

They just don’t. So, when you’re looking at properties you may or may not be willing to purchase, look at the data, look at the hard numbers that are relative to specific to that property.

The stuff that’s in the city is not a comparison to stuff that’s in the county, and Albemarle County is not comparable to stuff that’s in another county, or even within five square miles of each other.

So, what I’m saying is, Yes, there are outliers, there are anecdotes and there are anomalies, but when you’re looking at the numbers, you have to do diligence, hard numbers, hard analysis.

If you have any questions, Jim Duncan, RealCentralVA.com. Have a good day.