Jim Duncan, Author at RealCentralVA.com

Charlottesville Foreclosures Study sheds Light on a Surprisingly Hidden Market

in Charlottesville General Real Estate on January 7, 2009 January 8, 2009

From my position as a Buyer-Broker , my advice to my buyers would be – be well qualified and prepared to buy and consider targeting these neighborhoods; they are all very well located with great respective proximities to the University of Virginia Grounds and/or the Downtown Mall – the two major economic hubs of Charlottesville.

…Extent of Crisis, Virginia: The Center for Responsible Lending predicted that 62,174 homes will be foreclosed upon in 2008 and 2009 in the state of Virginia.38 In June 2008, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, for the foreclosures in the state of Virginia, 54% of them are on subprime and Alt-A loansÃ¢Â€Â”Ã¢Â€Âœnon-traditionalÃ¢Â€Â loans while 26% of the foreclosures are on prime and government ARMs and the remaining 20% are on government and prime fixed rate loans.39 In other words, approximately 80% of the foreclosures in Virginia are by higher risk borrowersÃ¢Â€Â”subprime lenders and/or ARMs.

If He’s the Whore, Who’s the Pimp?

in sideblog on January 6, 2009 January 6, 2009

Agent Genius had the story last week, and today Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture lays into the National Association of Realtors with blunt words and a big stick. … I have defined my business and writing on its honesty, candor and lack of spin – which would have been much more difficult to accomplish without the NAR foil.

This Week’s Carnival of Real Estate

in sideblog on January 5, 2009 January 5, 2009

And it’s the holiday edition at real/diaBlog . I always forget to submit a post for the Carnival.

Four Years of Blogging at RealCentralVA – And No End in Sight

in Charlottesville on January 4, 2009 January 4, 2009

The impact that real estate blogging has had on the real estate (and the impact yet to be effected) industry is remarkable and incalculable. Over the past four years, I’ve written a lot – at Bloodhound Blog , currently write at Agent Genius , RealCrozetVA since September 2005 , recently started RealWaynesboroVA … and have more ideas than time for what I have yet to even begin to accomplish in the blogging space. … Thanks to the Internet Archive (which doesn’t seem to be archiving anymore) – here’s a brief look back at four years of blogging – Believe it or not, my original blog is still up and hosted on my dot mac account ; running on the iblog blogging platform – Early 2005 Lessons learned – 1) Don’t do that.

Hiatus Over – Wrapping up 2008

in Blogging General Real Estate on January 4, 2009 January 4, 2009

– I’m looking to find a good Realtor to share the management of RealWaynesboroVA – a third blog is just a bit too much work, and to be truly successful, I need more content and time dedicated to building that site. … – A focus here and on RealCrozetVA will be on the community – building, maintaining, helping … this year is one where community is going to play a much stronger role than it has in the past decade.

Not Only is the Downtown Mall Walkable

in Charlottesville sideblog on January 4, 2009 January 4, 2009

One of the things I enjoy best in the world is putting both kids in our double stroller and walking the mile and a half to Charlottesville’s downtown mall . … I’ve written all this out to show that even though things aren’t optimal in my life at the moment, I know what is of chief importance to me – raising my children.

Lowball Offers Aren’t Insulting

in General Real Estate on January 3, 2009 October 12, 2011

Lowball offers are indicative of several things –

1) Buyers’ lack of confidence in the market

2) Buyer’s attempts to price in anticipated declines in the market

3) A possible indication that sellers’ have unrealistic price expectations.

4) Fear – on the part of buyers (buying something that will be worth less tomorrow) and on the part of the sellers (fear that they won’t be able to pay off the mortgage with the proceeds from the sale).