Charlottesville's Real Estate Blog. Buyer &/or Seller Representation, Real Estate News
There are now two ways for a buyer to terminate a Contract with no cause. Since I started in 2001, the buyer has been able to terminate a contract based on the HOA documents – buyers have three days to review the HOA documents.
A few months ago the Virginia Association of Realtors released a new home inspection contingency form.
Things change. Especially so when it’s some else’s property. Spend some time at GIS sites and look at historical photos – everything changes.
The things I dream about …
Realtor.com (or Zillow, or NestRealty or …) + Sitegeist + Charlottesville Tomorrow + Geocoded Locality Planning data ….
I’ve said for years that if you buy a house and are expecting that field (or house) across the way to stay that way you’d best buy it yourself.
In response to my note last month, I received this insightful email: (a few edits for clarity and bolding are mine)
I will say this about the questions “what it’s like to live here” as a planner I wish that the local realtors would tell potential buyers in the county (or City …) are those areas that are within the development area and those in the rural. It always amazes me when people get upset about development on an adjacent property when they moved to the development areas. It would be awesome if they were told, “this is the development area so see that nice forested property? It may be developed in the future.” Not sure if you are “allowed” to give that info, but I am always amazed by people who get angry that didn’t know they bought in a development area. I think it should be added to the MLS, so buyers ask the question of what does that mean.
I make sure my clients are as aware as possible about the risks posed by adjacent properties and what they need to do to educate and prepare themselves.
As far as the MLS having development-area information: the flaw is almost always the human. Whether a house is in the development area would have to be an automated or required field, as many Realtors inputting property data neglect to specify basic data points such as whether a property has high speed internet.
Better yet, wouldn’t it be cool if there was an app that pulled locality data from Albemarle County’s County View and stories from vetted local sources, such as, say, Charlottesville Tomorrow (and RealCentralVA)?
Charlottesville’s going to be changing MLS’ this year and now would be the time to do this. At the same time, how about making “hardwired internet – Yes/No?” Plus a speedtest required fields. Darn it.
Hiring professionals is what professionals do.
The guy in the red shirt? He’ll take better photos than I would. Note the tripod.
Shopping for a loan is hard. Comparing loan terms and offers can be harder. When I recommend a lender, there is an incredible amount of conveyed trust in that recommendation.
A client asked me the other day –
“How do I know who has the best terms?”
So naturally I asked a lender I trust for his answer.
Matt Hodges with Presidential Mortgage wrote:
Well, there’s the following:
1. Rate & points & fees & lock in time frames
2. Meeting commitment/close dates
3. Breadth of products
4. Uniqueness of products – i.e. closing prior to starting your job, gift for 100% of down payment, 100% LTV deals, etc.
We all should be .125% in rate apart on any given day, but you might see outliers. For example, I had a rate shopper asking for a conventional 20 year loan and I was able to quote 3.875%, and no one else was better than 4% and some were higher than that. There are a few exceptions to that pricing point, but in general it’s the value a loan officer brings to the picture to get to the finish line with the least amount of upset and on time.
—–
I’d add to Matt’s last sentence with this: there is tremendous value in a lender (or any professional for that matter) who will:
– Foresee and anticipate problems
– Acknowledge problems
– Communicate problems
– If it’s their mistake, own the mistake and …
– Fix the problems
Also. I like local lenders; as a buyer’s agent, they make me immensely more comfortable. As a listing agent, I value a local lender (whom I know to be good) tremendously – and convey that to my clients.
Here’s a new question I’m going to suggest sellers ask the real estate agent they are considering hiring. “Do you give good feedback to your fellow agents?” (“Do you use professional photographers” should be one of the top 5 questions asked, by the way)
Giving feedback on houses I’ve shown kinda sucks. It’s tedious. I don’t always remember which house is which (after showing 12 houses in a day, 20-some over the course of three days, the houses sometimes run together – even for a professional!), and the feedback requests usually come a couple days later.* Frequently I have to search the MLS for the house so I can remember it. And the listing agents tend to not use the mnemonics my clients and I use to remember houses – the stinky house, the cold house, they yellow house, the house on the hill, country house with road noise …
But. Feedback is valuable.
I can make the argument that giving feedback could damage my buyer client’s position. (ie. If the listing agent asks what I think of the price, I say it’s probably pretty accurately priced and then my client and I make an offer 10% below asking ) But for this post I won’t make that argument.
As a listing agent, getting (actionable) feedback is extremely valuable:
– The house smells (for God’s sake, get rid of the smelly things, people!)
– Fix the carpet
– Mow the grass
– Replace countertops
– The price is way too high
Sometimes the feedback is “they didn’t like it” or “the house is too big” or other inactionable things.
But.
A big reason I diligently try to give useful feedback to listing agents is because I want them to give me feedback when they show my listings.
Charlottesville is a small town; with not so many productive agents. Building, having and maintaining those relationships is crucial to my clients. Being able to be candid and have good relationships and rapport is absolutely critical, and while giving feedback on listings may be one of the less fun and sexy parts of being a real estate agent, it’s one of the many important little things that matters.
Great story by Sean Tubbs with Charlottesville Tomorrow
Anderson’s Carriage Food House on Barracks Road and C’Ville Market on Carlton Avenue both closed for the final time on Friday, with managers of each store citing tough competition as one reason for going out of business.
Nice usage of “-monger” in the story, too.
Homogenization is not what makes Charlottesville special; but that’s economics.
June’s monthly note begins (really, it begins a day or two after I publish last month’s note and takes shape around now-ish).
The working outline (for now) is coming together.
I have one or two other ideas to include and will likely pull out one or two included in the outline above. Notably, one of the most popular sections/segments/topics is the blog recap, in which I summarize the better of the previous month’s blog posts, both here and for RealCrozetVA. Either way, I’m looking forward to writing this month’s note.
Interested? Two easy clicks here and I’ll send you June’s note when it’s published. Usually the notes are no more than 1500 words. If you do choose to subscribe, you’ll be in great company; my mom usually likes my notes.