In some pockets of the Charlottesville – Albemarle real estate market (and other markets around the country, based on anecdotes from clients), the following is relevant and applicable again. Take 7 minutes to listen to the NPR story.

I wrote in 2005:

“I heard the end of an interesting story on NPR this morning discussing the over-heated real estate markets nationwide. One couple was recalling how they had to decide to make an offer on a house within 30 minutes of visiting the house once and then had to offer tens of thousands of dollars over the asking price, all while waiving the home inspection.

This for a purchase of hundreds of thousands of dollars.Contrast this with purchasing a digital camera (update: remember when people bought digital cameras? They don’t anymore).

When the subjects of the story bought their camera, they went through a similar process as I did. I researched diligently, compared Consumer Reports, checked online and at local stores for prices and so on. Purchasing a home, in a perfect world, would allow for a much more diligent process. Unfortunately, that is not the case.”

I could have written the same story this week. NPR should replay their story, too. I’ll be writing about this in the May monthly note.