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Brief Look at Condo Sales in Charlottesville – 2nd Quarter 2013

in Albemarle Charlottesville Market statistics on July 8, 2013 July 8, 2013

Some quick numbers based on the 2nd Quarter market data for the Charlottesville MSA:

In the Charlottesville MSA: 35% fewer condos closed when comparing 2nd Quarter of 2013 to 2nd Quarter 2012 – 51 this 2nd Quarter versus 78 the previous 2nd Quarter. Why?

The answer is due in large part to the fact that the Walker Square and Riverbend condos, two of the largest condo conversions in the area, have sold out after long histories of conversion, rapid price appreciation, dramatic depreciation, ownership shifts and general market turmoil.

Consider:

– Last 2nd Quarter, 22 units sold in Walker Square. This year, that number is 5,

– Last 2nd Quarter, 8 units sold in Riverbend. This year, that number is 0.

One condo myth dispelled – condo financing is available in the Charlottesville area; you just need to know where to look.

Click through for the data.

Next up: attached homes in the Charlottesville MSA.

Two Upcoming Bicycling Events in Charlottesville + a Thought about Community

in Albemarle Charlottesville on July 3, 2013 July 5, 2013

Update 5 July 2013 –

One way to commit myself is by signing up for a 100 mile bicycling challenge. Which I just did. Feel like supporting the Boys and Girls Club? (Please click through to the bottom of this post.)

Charlottesville is known to be a great bicycling community â€¦ a community I’m just starting to discover.

Years ago someone described the Charlottesville community as being lots of circles that never touch – a not-quite-venn-diagram if you will.

Funny how these things work. Start a new sport, and a new community emerges. People I know and see in one community are people I’m starting to see in the bicycling community. There are lots of ways to connect to Charlottesville; biking is but another.

As my foray continues I’m starting to pay attention to the bicycling news and world and have found a couple challenges –

The Boys and Girls Club Challenge – 15 September 2013 – 25, 50, 75 and 100 mile options are available.

Gran Fondo Virginia – 8 September 2013 – 22, 52 and 104 mile challenges from which to choose.

So far, some of the best resources I’ve found as I start this new adventure:

Blue Ridge Cyclery – (where I bought my bike) at least three of my friends/clients either spoke highly of, and/or I’ve seen them wearing Blue Ridge Cyclery’s jerseys.

Charlottesville Bike Club – I haven’t interacted yet with these folks, but the information has proven useful

Strava and Mapmyride.com – sites/apps, both of which seem to have particular strengths I’m still discovering and exploring.

Bike Charlottesville – information and advocacy group

TEDx Coming to Charlottesville

in Albemarle Charlottesville Off-topic on July 2, 2013 July 2, 2013

TEDx is coming to Charlottesville 15 November 2013. n Friday, November 15th 2013, TEDxCharlottesville will host its first TEDx event, â€œThe Difference That Makes a Differenceâ€ at The Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia with a special satellite stream at The Jefferson Theater. â€œThe Difference That Makes a Differenceâ€ is the first ever-standard TEDx event in Charlottesville, Virginia. Learn more at their Facebook page. This should…

HOAs and Solar Panels (in Charlottesville)

in General Real Estate on July 2, 2013 July 2, 2013

Sadly, there is no online repository for homeowners’ associations documents – public or private – that is searchable. Over the past few years, as I have represented sellers and buyers, I have made a concerted effort to scan (yes, scan) and save the HOA documents for each neighborhood, but they aren’t searchable.* I’d love to know if there are any HOAs in the Charlottesville area that have actively tried to restrict installation of solar panels.

I’ve seen quite a few solar panels in the City of Charlottesville and the occasional solar panel in the County, but can’t recall seeing panels in a neighborhood with an HOA.

One of the many new laws that took effect yesterday is this clarification on non-restriction on solar panels in HOAs. (bolding mine)

Solar panels in community associations. Clarifies that a community association may establish reasonable restrictions concerning the size, place, and manner of placement of such solar energy collection devices on property designated and intended for individual ownership and use. The bill provides that any disclosure document, however designated, required by law to be given to a purchaser shall contain a statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the right of an owner to install or use solar energy collection devices on his property.

For the record, the Property Owners Association Act is (to me) extremely complex and seems to substantively change every year. (and yet another reason to have competent professional management for your homeowners’ association)

* Forest Lakes HOA Governing Docs one part of a 10 part disclosure package.

Charlottesville is Brainy – For Everyone & For Those Under 35

in Off-topic on June 27, 2013 June 27, 2013

No, really, Charlottesville is the 15th brainiest metro area in the US.

From the Atlantic Cities article:

Lumosity data scientist Daniel Sternberg explains the prominence of college towns this way:

College towns tend to do well because education is correlated with cognitive performance. We’ve seen in our other research that those with advanced degrees tend to perform better cognitively throughout the lifespan. When we looked at some trends based on American Community Survey data, we found that the percentage of individuals within a metro area with advanced degrees, and the percentage of individuals within a CBSA pursuing advanced degrees were both strong predictors of the cognitive performance score for that metro area.

Not bad. The ancillary effects of the University of Virginia are well known, but this is the first time I’ve seen the Charlottesville area as being noted for the under-35 demographic – I’ll take that as a very good thing for the future of our area, should it be a reasonably accurate conclusion.

Real Estate Prices and Interest Rates – National Real Estate News I’m Reading this Morning

in Albemarle Charlottesville General Real Estate on June 26, 2013 June 26, 2013

Home prices seem to be rising in the Charlottesville MLS – keep in mind with this chart that it’s for the entire Charlottesville MLS.

Interest rates are rising, but let’s keep some perspective.

(thanks to Keith for the chart)

Here’s the thing – if you’re buying a home and you are confident you’ll be there for at least five to seven years (many of my clients now are looking at 15-20 year timelines), be aware of the potential for price drops, but also focus on what your total cost of ownership will be versus renting.

What’s a Pocket Listing? And Why Should Consumers Care?

in General Real Estate on June 24, 2013 October 12, 2020

I’ve been a real estate agent in Charlottesville since 2001 and I’ve never seen this volume of pocket listings. Is it due to the ubiquity of the internet, the sellers’ market (for some segments) or both?* As a consumer, how does this matter to you?

Pocket listing: pocket /?päk?t/ listing /?listiNG/

noun

A listing for a property that is held by an agent in his or her pocket, marketed quietly (but not surreptitiously), usually within his sphere or brokerage.

Quality homes for sale in some segments of the Charlottesville market remain in very high demand and seemingly equal low supply, and sales in some micro-market segments are up.

A brief look at inventory levels and sales in the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle, year-over-year –

Some insight into what I’m seeing with respect to pocket listings in Charlottesville:

– I get at least one email every other day either marketing a pocket listing or seeking a specific home type for sale from an agent within my firm or from an agent from another brokerage
– I pitch a short-term pocket listing process to many of my seller clients when we deem it appropriate

– More and more, pocket listings – at least for a short period of time – make sense. In other words, they’re working.

– I like how Steve Harney lays out some of the advantages and disadvantages of pocket listings.

Advantages to pocket listings that I tell my clients:

– Sellers can test the market – as in, if you put the house on the pocket market for $450,000 and initial feedback reveals that $425,000 is where the price should be, then we’re able to list the house in the MLS for $425k and the wider market doesn’t see that price reduction.

– Often, the seller doesn’t have to have the full “list of things that need to be done” completely finished – a room or two can be left unpainted or in-process – as the listing agent can vet and prep the agents showing the house during the pocket listing period.

– Don’t have to go through the full invasive experience of having your house shown. (selling a house usually sucks; it’s invasive, sellers need to keep the house spotless and it alters schedules remarkably). In other words, how does one quantify sanity and quality of life through the home sale process? I can see some sellers valuing not having to their home open to the public, as it were, at $10k, others $50k, some notsomuch. There is rarely a one-size-fits all answer.

– For the seller – this is an opportunity to test drive the selling process.

– For the buyer – they get access to a property that other buyers don’t.

Disadvantages –

– Seller doesn’t get full exposure to the market by not listing in the MLS. By not exposing the house to the entire market, the seller might realize a lower sales price.
– The MLS is a less accurate thing if the sales aren’t entered into the MLS – less accurate for searching for homes for sale as well as researching prices for comps and sold homes.

– This practice could be a means by which cooperative compensation’s usefulness is minimized.
– The risk for single agent dual agency may be greater. (only one party benefits in this situation – it’s not the client)

– Buyers – may pay a higher than market value as the market is so small and the demand is (artificially(?)) higher.

– More closed markets – some neighborhoods and price points seem to be more amenable to the pocket listing route – with seemingly few agents who have access to what’s going on in this sub-market.

So – what’s a consumer to do?

– Buyer or seller – Understand the inefficiency of the market.
– When interviewing your buyer’s agent (you do that, right?) – ask how tapped into the quiet market they are.
– If you’re a seller – have the conversation with your prospective representative about single agent dual agency, and discuss what happens if the agent procures a buyer. (my answer: I’d either have the buyer be unrepresented or have send them to another competent agent)

– If you’re a buyer – determine what it is that you’re looking for. “I’m looking for a four bedroom home in Crozet or Brownsville between $450k and $500k on less than an acre” is a better email to send to agents than “I need a house in Albemarle that my clients will like” 🙂

The Virginia Association of Realtors‘ listing agreement speaks to advertising in part, highlighting how important it is for sellers and brokers to discuss how a property will be marketed. In short, marketing through the MLS is usually the best course of action.

5. (a) Unless otherwise provided herein, Owner hereby authorizes Broker to submit pertinent information concerning the listing of the Property (including information which may be provided on a separate form or document) to any Multiple Listing Service “MLS” serving the geographic area in which the Property is located of which Broker is a member to distribute such information to other Brokers, and to solicit the cooperation of other Brokers in securing a purchaser or purchasers for the Property.

c) Broker shall have the right to advertise the Property in commercially reasonable ways, and unless otherwise provided herein, shall have the right to place advertisements of the Property on the InternetÂ® communications network and in any Internet Data Exchange program in which Broker participates.

(d) Owner authorizes the dissemination of Property/sales information to MLS participants, including electronic format, magazines and other media.

Note: not all brokers in Charlottesville participate in IDX.

For six different perspectives (not necessarily opposing, but different) –

– The MLS debate and the end of real estate software (1000 Watt)
– Pocket Listings and MLS Accuracy (Notorious R.O.B.)
– Real Estate: Pocket Listings in a Tight Market (Calculated Risk)
– Sellers can decide if – ‘pocket listing’ is right for them (Teresa Boardman)
– ‘Pocket Listings’ – What Do You Think? (KCM Blog)
– Can I get a death watch for the MLS DeathWatch? (Todd Carpenter)

* I’m also wondering whether my awareness to this is due to the fact that I’m more tapped into the real estate community now than I was when I started; that’s likely part of the equation, but certainly not all.

** As a further aside, I’m always looking at data accuracy –

When searching for homes for sale in the 22932 zip code (Crozet):

– Zillow shows 162 homes for sale – 144 by agent, 3 by owner, 14 new construction, 1 foreclosure (and I know it’s a small thing, but Zillow thinks 22932 = Free Union. 22932 = Crozet)
– Trulia shows 153 homes for sale – with no breakdowns available
– My site shows 138 homes for sale in 22932
– Nest’s site shows 189 in Crozet (zip code isn’t an option)
– The Charlottesville MLS shows 139 active homes for sale