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No, I Won’t Drop Everything

in General Real Estate on

I know that every day I’m competing for business; but I also know the value of choosing the clients I serve.

<slight rant>

I don’t get it.

I got a call recently – a blind call – from someone who wanted to see a house (not one of my listings as all Charlottesville houses for sale show up on my site). She’d been looking online, driving by a few houses, calling listing agents, wasn’t from the Charlottesville area, nor did she have familiarity with the area or the market – and she wanted to see if I could find a house that suited them and see it. Right now.

Driving around the Charlottesville area looking for homes you’ve seen on the inter webs with no reasonable context whatsoever is, politely, not the most efficient use of one’s time. Context matters.

This isn’t how professionals work; I have no doubt that many, many real estate agents do jump when someone calls and wants to see a house (and that’s just not a safe practice). I choose not to do that. Time is valuable; efficient use of time is more valuable. Dropping everything is not fair to those clients who have chosen to work with me who depend on me.

The best part was this question:

“Do you work with a contract with your buyers?”

Yes. Yes I do … here’s why.

And the speed with which she sought to end the call was impressive.

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Monday Links – 14 March 2011

in General Real Estate on

Dear National Association of Realtors: I hereby volunteer to serve again. 🙂 – How 20-somethings (and really, most of my buyer clients) approach the home-buying process . – In Heart and Mind, not brand, I apparently am a Redfin agent. … Numbers 8 and 9 are dead-on advice for the Charlottesville real estate market. #10 is telling as well, particularly coming from one of the most disruptive forces in the real estate space in a decade.

…When you over-price by $10,000, you can lose much more: after a month the listing loses its luster, mortgage and staging costs pile up, and price-reductions signal buyers to ask for more reductions .

– The Landmark continues to be an eyesore (and now tagged with unsavory, not for kids’ eyes graffiti ) – Great comments and discussion at cvillenews about Trader Joe’s merits . – My favorite recent search terms to bring visitors to this here Charlottesville real estate blog:

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NGIC and DIA – What’s the Impact on the Charlottesville Real Estate Market?

in General Real Estate on

Right Now *, There are: – 289 Homes for Sale within five miles of the NGIC/DIA facility on 29 North. – 113 have “NGIC” in the public remarks. (one of these listings is mine, and it’s GREAT .)

…But understand that obtaining a new clearance, probably higher than TS, for most of the professional jobs at NGIC will be a long process (12 to 18 months), and site security policy may not allow personnel into the building until a clearance is finally granted. In that case, two issues apply. #1, even if it takes 2-4 months and several thousand dollars to relocate, a pre-cleared person from DC or straight out of the uniformed services can come on much faster than Sara’s fresh, uncleared UVa graduate. #2, assuming that fresh, uncleared Hoo gets hired, what’s s/he going to do for the next 12-18 months while awaiting clearance?

…Quite a few people have been moving to and buying homes in the Charlottesville area due to the NGIC/DIA relocation, and I suspect there will be more as the move continues its phase-in over the next few years.

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Did you know there is a “Bank Secrecy Act”?

in sideblog on

Pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act and requirements specified by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), [ Bank Name, edited out by me ] will not engage in any transaction with any individual or entity that either appears on the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, Specially Designated Terrorists, Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers, or that [ Bank Name, edited again ] suspects to involved in a suspicious transaction or one in violation of federal law . … Specifically, the act requires financial institutions to keep records of cash purchases of negotiable instruments, file reports of cash transactions exceeding $10,000 (daily aggregate amount), and to report suspicious activity that might signify money laundering, tax evasion, or other criminal activities. … And from Wikipedia: The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 (or BSA , or otherwise known as the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act ) requires financial institutions in the United States to assist U.S. government agencies to detect and prevent money laundering . Specifically, the act requires financial institutions to keep records of cash purchases of negotiable instruments , and file reports of cash purchases of these negotiable instruments of $10,000 or more (daily aggregate amount), and to report suspicious activity that might signify money laundering, tax evasion , or other criminal activities.

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Transcript of Radio show – 27 December 2009

in sideblog on

Moore : And as our initial caller seemed to be asking is: there seems to be or you would expect a much greater – the term punishment comes to mind although that’s not really what I’m trying to say – but a strategic default makes it sound like it’s all about how much money you have left in your pocket at the time rather than – where’s the punishment that goes with it for not paying it off. … When you make your money when you sell is when you buy, so you need to make sure you buy smart from day one and I do that by giving them as much data and analysis as possible so that they can come to these conclusions on their own and the second part of that is that I’ve prepped them that if they buy a house for $100,000 today that I expect it’s going to be worth a little bit less next year. … I think that there’s going to be more distressed properties coming on the market now in the Charlottesville and Albemarle area and I’m seeing that as far as the daily updates that I get as far as the number of notice of trustee sales in our market and I’m seeing more of the MLS’s coming on as foreclosures and I’m seeing more anecdotally, again there are two properties, one in Louisa and one in Albemarle last week that each had $100,000 price reductions. … What I’m hoping to see in the next couple of years is in addition to having homes and coffee shops, etc. is homes and places to work so that people won’t have to get into their cars to drive to work and I think that’s the very good thing from the perceptive of going back to the sociological change being close to your neighbors and being close to business as keeping everything local is another trend that we’re seeing develop over the past couple of years to 2010 and beyond.

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NGIC and DIA – Who’s Moving Here?

in Albemarle Charlottesville General Real Estate on

Last Wednesday (11/4), the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors received a briefing titled “Survey of DIA Personnel Moving to Rivanna Station”. The survey, conducted by the Center For Regional Economic Competitiveness , a non-profit research organization affiliated with George Mason University , provides interesting analysis of the jobs (and some of the individuals) who will be relocating to the expanded Rivanna Station in Albemarle County. … The first question most folks were interested in are how many of the current employees are going to relocate when their jobs move to Rivanna Station. It is important to note this does not mean they will be moving the residence. 39% of those surveyed indicated they would be Definitely Moving, while an additional 9% indicated they would probably be moving.

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Representing two buyers on the same house?

in Buyers on

Don’t do it (in Montana)I have been in this situation only once and I disclosed my situation to both buyers.  Both sets trusted me and felt comfortable with my going forward submitting offers for both of them on the same property.  I don’t remember whether either got the property, but I do remember the gratitude I felt that they both trusted me to represent their best interests ahead of my own.

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