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Radio Recap from WNRN 7 September 2014

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Today was an interesting radio show – some real estate and more community, community building, and becoming part of the community. I’m going to update this post with detailed show notes, but in the meantime, the podcast is here.

Enormous thanks to those who responded so quickly on twitter to my question – how do you assess/define community? (I’d say community is something that helps answer a question about community quickly!)

A few stories we discussed:

Pipeline stories:

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March 2014 Note – Coaching Soccer, Market Update, Client Thoughts

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I’m aiming to publish by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Curious or interested in reading some stuff I’ll likely never publish elsewhere? Too many posts in a month and you want just one email a month in which I recap some of the better stories from the previous month? Two clicks and you can subscribe.

March-2014-monthly-note.jpg

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Who Wants to Hear an Hour of Real Estate Radio? – 26 January 2014

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If you’re thinking about buying or selling in the Charlottesville area or curious or interested in the Charlottesville (and regional/national) real estate market, you might find some value in listening to this Sunday’s WNRN Wake-Up Call.

Matt Hodges and I will discuss the current state of the Charlottesville area real estate market, mortgages, tips for buyers and sellers, etc. We’ve done this every year for the past six years and every year each time has produced conversations. If you’re interested in us talking about something specific, please leave a comment or let me know.

Matt’s initial notes of stuff to talk about:

– Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgages
– Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll releases, 2/6 release and what it means to borrowers out there + Federal Reserves tapering decision and what it means
– Predicted increases in rates to 5 – 5.5% and how that affects ability to purchase vis a vis today’s rates

My initial notes of stuff to talk about:

– Brief market update
– How new mortgage laws may impact buyers’ and sellers’ decisions
– Current massive growth and density in the City of Charlottesville
– What buyers should be doing right now who are planning to buy this year
– What sellers should be doing right now who are planning/hoping to sell this year
– Inventory levels in the Charlottesville MSA

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A Kind Word about My Monthly Notes

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I received this soon after I sent out my monthly note:

As always, thank you for writing and publishing this note. Even though, thanks to you, we are happy where we are I love learning more about the market and area.

To which I say: Thank you. I write these for the real estate consumers – the buyers, the sellers, the curious voyeurs who might be or are thinking about moving back to or within the Charlottesville area.

Many people know how much I dislike using testimonials to market my services – I find unsavory using the kindness and thanks of my clients to market, even though I know that most wouldn’t mind at all.

I’ve said several times this year that I write my best stuff in my monthly note, and each month I’m proud of what I produce there – in spite of the beat-my-head-against-a-wall errors I’ve made.

If you’re interested, I’d gladly send you December’s note (and every subsequent one). Just ask here .

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Monthly Note – December 2013

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December's note

In February of this year, I wrote my first monthly note. I’d like to think that I’ve shared some useful knowledge and insight about the Charlottesville real estate market, the practice of real estate and other, tangential subjects. I know this – one of the most clicked-on parts has been the “blog recap” in which I summarize some of the better posts from RealCentralVA and RealCrozetVA. Above all, I’ve loved writing these notes and I hope I’ve been able to convey that through my writings. Aside from the writing, the best part has been the one-on-one interaction readers have shared – the format of the note is such there are no comments, but a lot of readers have chosen to reply to the note, and that’s enormously gratifying.

With that preface, the early outline of December’s note (lamentably, I suspect this will exceed my goal of no more than 1500 words)

– The market (I start all the notes with this)

– An interesting home inspector update

– A great builder anecdote

– Agent reviews (the current hubbub about AgentMatch) – determining the “best” real estate agent for you entails more than data.

– Life after being on the Realtor Board of Directors

– Brief recap of some of my favorite stories from this year’s notes

If you find subscribing to my blogs by email cumbersome (three-four emails a week from one site would be cumbersome for me too) – please consider subscribing to my monthly note.

Update: published late last night; at 2,000+ words, it’s the longest ever (and I’ll return to sub-1500 words in January). My monthly note really is where I write my best stuff.

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