No, Zillow – My Listing Isn’t For Rent

in General Real Estate on

196 Brookwood Dr, Charlottesville, VA 22902 - Zillow.jpg

Zillow has a “rental estimate” on the page for my listing in Charlottesville that is for sale, and it’s confusing enough that people are inquiring as to whether it’s for rent. Consumers – let this be yet another reminder that if you’re searching for homes for sale in the Charlottesville area, the two best places to search are my site and Nest’s site. If you’re searching for rentals, start here and here. Searching for rentals? Start at Nest and then my site again .

My listing is not for rent.

But thanks, Zillow for making it easier to discredit you to my clients and consumers. One day, you might be right enough; one day.

First, Zillow’s customer service response time via twitter first then email is impressive.

My email:

1) It’s not right to display a rent estimate on a property that’s not for rent 2) Assuming you’re not going to stop displaying the rent estimate it would be honest to state explicitly that the property’s not for rent.

Zillow’s response is particularly unhelpful (bolding mine):

Thanks for contacting us! We include a rent Zestimate on properties, even when they are not active for sale or for rent listings, because we feel this information would be useful to a homeowner if he or she was thinking about renting out his or her home. Just as many homeowners are curious about the Zestimate for their property, the believe the Rent Zestimate would be interesting and useful to them as well. When a home is for rent it has a purple home icon and displays “For Rent.” When a property is not for rent or for sale we display “Not for Sale” with no color in the home icon. Please see attachments. Since displaying “Not for Rent or for Sale” would be redundant on each property, we default to “Not for Sale” for inactive properties on Zillow.

No. It’s not helpful or useful; it’s confusing.

As useful as a zestimate between $386k and $528k?

Or a rental estimate between $1600 and $2500?

No, those aren’t helpful either.

But, thanks for providing interesting “information.”

Read More

I Won’t Know What You’re Thinking Anymore

in General Real Estate Google on

I won’t know what you (the readers) are thinking anymore – and that sucks. Google’s not sharing keyword information with site owners anymore … and this is huge.

For years I’ve looked at the keywords that have brought visitors to RealCrozetVA and RealCentralVA to discern what questions to answer and what was trending in the minds of my readers and visitors.

I know my business cycles as the keywords shift from “buyers agent in Charlottesville” to “fall foliage in Charlottesville” and “Is Charlottesville the inspiration for Who-ville” (no) and “buying a home in Charlottesville in spring.”

Google’s changing all that. I wondered about this a few weeks ago, but this week brings confirmation.

It appears that Google has cut off keyword data altogether.… This means no more keyword data will be passed to site owners.

If you’re interested in reading a bit more, Moz has a useful post.

What this means is that I (and other site owners) need to accept not knowing search keywords anymore. Such is life.

So … I won’t know what questions you’re asking anymore unless you actively ask me (you know – send me a message or call or text me – 434-242-7140).

Recent Keyword Activity - Central VA Real Estate News - StatCounter.jpg

While keyword stuffing in an attempt to game Google has been common practice by many (not just in the real estate writing space) for years, I’ve done that only a handful of times – and have stated my intentions every time.

Ultimately, as I don’t have my own Building 43 filled with people smarter than the Googlers, I’m going to keep trying to write about stuff that interests me, answers questions about the Charlottesville real estate market, growth, politics, etc and will continue to try to answer my clients’ questions.

Read More

How to Search for a Home in Charlottesville (Without a Realtor)

in Albemarle Charlottesville General Real Estate on

Part 1 of at least 2. Part 2 coming next Wednesday.

Home buyers like the inter webs. Fact. What follows are steps to search for a home in the Charlottesville area – without engaging a real estate agent (we’ll get to why it’s usually crucial to hire quality buyer representation).

NAR 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers - Print.pdf (page 1 of 4).jpg

I first wrote You’re Going about It all Wrong – Or How to Search for Homes in Charlottesville (Without a Realtor) in early 2009 and thought nearly 4 years was sufficient time to warrant an update.

In 2009, I asked a particularly well-informed buyer client if she’d mind describing her search process. Today’s post updates the process for 2013.

How do you search for homes in Charlottesville? (Charlottesville meaning: Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Nelson, Louisa)

1. Your IDX home search site– Browse the map for affordable homes in places I want to live. Or, check the local MLS for new listings and then look on IDX to see if there is more information there. Now, a lot of people are using our site at Nest to search for homes as we’ve put together a great area search and educational section as well. (I don’t particularly care for Zillow or Trulia for searching for homes to see today or this week; but for supporting and ancillary information, they’re great).

2. Look up the found home on Charlottesville City Assessment (Ed note: or Albemarle County or Fluvanna or Louisa, etc.) website to find:

a. Tax Assessment price (In my opinion, assessed values have little to no correlation to what a property’s actual market value would be)

b. Who owns it? Does the owner live there? This often leads to another search on the City Assessment website for the owner’s name to see how many properties the owner has. Do the owners seem to be in good financial shape or have they made a lot of bad decisions (i.e. may need to get rid of the property to stay above water)?

c. Check for any inconsistencies in square ft, room numbers, etc between MLS listing and tax assessment.

d. Look at pictures to see how different the home looked a few years back. (note: this leads to a separate rant about Realtors stripping the MLS of photos of their listings when the listing expires/sells – this kills the accuracy and historical context of the MLS and devalues the MLS as a useful thing.)

e. Study transfer information to see when house was last sold, what it sold for, when it may have had work done, etc.

Realtors have access to a pretty useful (and underused) tool called RPR which allows us to compare the current listing to the previous ones.

Read More

No High School Rankings in Albemarle County Schools?

in Albemarle Education on

Albemarle County is in discussions about whether to stop ranking students.

In response to calls from parents to stop reporting class rankings to college admissions offices, Albemarle County Public Schools is in the process of reviewing its policy.

Currently, Albemarle reports class ranks to colleges and universities in deciles, but many parents feel that doing so paints students below the top 10 percent negatively in the eyes of selective universities.

Questions –

– Does *not* rewarding kids for achievement disincentivize them from trying harder?

– How could we focus educating kids on actually educating kids rather than passing tests in order to get better ranked?

– When folks are moving to Charlottesville – Albemarle what rankings to they consider in public schools? Do they factor in what percentage of

There is a great discussion at RealCrozetVA.

Update – Charlottesville Tomorrow has a poll – Should Albemarle County report student rankings to colleges?

Read More

Comparing 2012 and 2013 – When Do Homes Come on the Market in Charlottesville?

in Albemarle Charlottesville Market statistics on

I hadn’t updated this chart in about 18 months, and I was curious … one of the most common questions I get is “when do homes come on the market in Charlottesville?” Typically this question comes in one of three conversations: (I’m going to do a series answering these questions – to be published the next two Wednesdays) –

– I’m thinking about putting my house on the market – when does the Charlottesville market start? (short answer: Take pictures now)

– I’m thinking abut buying a home in the spring – when do most homes come on the market? (short answer: Fall/Winter is the best time to begin your home search. And an even better time to hire buyer representation so your search process is less frustrating, more efficient and better.)

– I’m curious. What’s the market like? (note the third chart to see what my curiosity led me to)

A few differences between the following charts and the one from January 2011:

– “Charlottesville” = Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson (in 2011 I didn’t include Louisa)

– Only Single Family, Attached and Condos results are included – not “proposed” – meaning not new construction, paper lots, aren’t included

That said –

Let’s look at some numbers. 2011 was interesting, with the new listing bump breaking the traditional mid-year inventory decline right after the start of the autumn school year – a trend that occurs every year.

And 2012?

list-contract-closed-Charlottesville MSA 2012

So … how’s 2013 looking?

– The contract peak was in May of this year versus April of 2012 – As I said in my monthly note recently, the frenzy of the early spring filled with hope and confidence was tempered early.

– Inventory levels for 2013 are pretty much on track – across the MSA – with 2012.

When do homes Come on the market in Charlottesville MSA? 2013

The differentials between 2013 and 2012 are fascinating. Look at the peak in Contracts.

– I’m speculating that the increase in inventory in July/August is due in part because some sellers saw the hope in the market and success their neighbors were having in selling and thought that now would be the right time for them to try to (finally) sell.

Differential - 2013 versus 2012 -When do homes Come on the market in Charlottesville

Read More

West Main Street – The Solution to UVA’s Housing Crunch?

in Charlottesville Growth Transportation on

That’s what it’s seeming like, and the Charlottesville City Planning Department is starting to realize the ramifications of being said solution to UVA’s growth.

Charlottesville Tomorrow reports (read the whole thing):

Several members of the Charlottesville Planning Commission said Tuesday they leaned toward not approving an apartment complex on West Main Street unless the needs of an adjacent public housing site are taken into consideration.

“I have grave concerns about the social justice and the environmental justice issues of putting a project like this next to Westhaven,” said CommissionerGenevieve Keller.

The developers of the proposed 189-unit development, the Standard, had a preliminary discussion with the commission during its meeting Tuesday night. The developers need a special use permit to allow for additional density and building height.

The ramifications – rents, homeownership rates, transience, transportation, the demand for ancillary services – of so many rental units coming on the market at pretty much the same time will be … interesting. We’ll know more in 24 months.

And here you have the story of transportation/infrastructure/”planning” of Charlottesville and Albemarle … in a nutshell (bolding mine):

The Planning Commission is slated to vote on the special use permit later this year, but Keller said she wanted to wait until the results of a $350,000 study of infrastructure required to guide redevelopment of West Main Street. No timetable for that study has been made available.

Look … I’m not saying they should wait for the study results, but I am saying that our localities’ respective proclivities to plan and study and plan to study and study the plan – while growth happens is harmful. To the localities, to businesses, to basic qualities of life of those of us who live here.

Background story on RealCentralVA from October 2012. Some of the other stories I’ve written about West Main Street.

A look at West Main on Google Maps.

I *really* wish Flickr allowed for geographic searching; searching for “West Main” isn’t so useful.

COeverywhere looks really promising from a mobile perspective for (hyper)local insight.

Read More