Posts tagged Albemarle

Difference Between Clients and Customers

in Buyers Buyers. Stupid Real Estate Questions - AKA: What are the questions you think you should know but have never asked? on

Question: What’s the difference between a real estate client and a real estate customer?

Answer: Quite a bit.

I was with a a customer a few weeks ago and and we had an interesting conversation about the differences between a customer and a client.

Some basic definitions from the Code of Virginia:

“Customer” means a person who has not entered into a brokerage relationship with a licensee but for whom a licensee performs ministerial acts in a real estate transaction. Unless a licensee enters into a brokerage relationship with such person, it shall be presumed that such person is a customer of the licensee rather than a client.

“Client” means a person who has entered into a brokerage relationship with a licensee.

“Licensee” means real estate brokers and salespersons as defined in Article 1 (§ 54.1-2100 et seq.) of Chapter 21 of this title.

“Ministerial acts” means those routine acts which a licensee can perform for a person which do not involve discretion or the exercise of the licensee’s own judgment. (bolding mine)

If I meet you at one of my listings, I will explain to you that I don’t do single agent dual agency. (Guess who benefits from single agent dual agency?)

 

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Charlottesville – A Healthy Housing Market (for New Construction) – With some Context

in Albemarle Charlottesville General Real Estate on

There’s danger in putting much faith in large-scale housing analysts and analysis, but I’ll take Builder online noting Charlottesville as being relatively healthy as a good thing.

Reason #1 that I’ll give the analysis a bit of credibility: They explicitly recognize “Charlottesville” as “Charlottesville metropolitan area”. Most lists about “Charlottesville” do not seem to recognize that “Charlottesville.”

Really, we’re less bad than many, many other markets.

From Builder magazine: (better context for building permits’ history at the bottom of this post)

6: Charlottesville, Va.

– Health Index: 81.0
– 2010 Population Forecast: 201,599
– 2011 Total Building Permit Forecast: 634
– 2012 Total Building Permit Forecast: 798

Charlottesville isn’t a very big housing market, but it’s a pretty strong one. Home to the University of Virginia, the region has benefited from some strong household growth in recent years. It continues to attract second-home buyers from Washington, D.C.

Bargains are tough to come by in Charlottesville, where the median home price in August stood just below $300,000, according to local real estate agent reports. Though prices are down so far this year, Moody’s expects them to rise 1% next year.

The region has had some strong household growth in recent years, a trend expected to continue through 2012. It will also benefit from strong growth in median income–3.7%.

You know what? I’ll take good news/analysis. We need it.

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Belvedere Neighborhood Seems to be Turning the Corner

in Albemarle Charlottesville on

A lot has changed since Belvedere’s inception, but it seems that they are in the process of turning the corner.

In May of this year, I noted that sales in Belvedere had been increasing, following up on an account from Bret in Belvedere about the neighborhood’s growing activity and energy.

The neighborhood has been struggling for quite a while, but it seems that now things really do seem to be looking up :

Belvedere is doing awesome! We now have 70 homes sold, with more under contract, several spec homes being built and only 15 spots left in Phase One! Our annual HOA meeting was just a few days ago and we are still thinking over all the information. The community voted a member onto the Board (a big deal, since we often have issues that need addressing and did not have any Board presence until now per the HOA agreement). The meeting was full of excellent and interesting news.

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Charlottesville’s Food Trucks – They Do Exist!

in Albemarle Charlottesville on

Who knew Charlottesville had so many food trucks? (this one doesn’t count)

I was inspired to look for Charlottesville’s food trucks in part by this query on Google+ –

Apparently SF, Boston, and Austin have thriving food truck scenes. These are also tech hubs too. Is there a relation?

Subsequently, we had quite the discussion on Google Plus. Turns out, Charlottesville (led by UVA) has more than a few food trucks. (I had no idea there is a TV show called “The Great Food Truck Race.“) And I’m sure there are several not listed below.

Charlottesville has a burgeoning (if not thriving) tech segment what with the University’s incubators, many, many startups and small tech firms and more. So why not a food truck scene?
Update 14 May 2013: C-Ville has a great rundown of the food trucks in Charlottesville.

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