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Happy Earthday!

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 22 2013 - 3:22pm

solar side LHCEach year, EarthCraft Virginia presents awards in a variety of categories to builders, developers, and others throughout the region who demonstrate superior dedication to the advancement of sustainable housing.  The Single Family Project of the Year went to an efficient solar home in Alexandria, VA.  Patrick Fogarty, broker and co-owner of HomeFirst Realty was this year’s winner for building a new home with incredible energy saving qualities for about the same price as a typical new home.

Rejoice: Real estate agent rated happiest job in America

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 22 2013 - 2:46pm

Real estate agents have the happiest job in America, according to a new survey from CareerBliss. They — that is, you — beat out some sexy, sexy other careers such as “senior QA engineer,” “senior sales representative,” and “construction superintendent.”

The survey looked at more than 65,000 career reviews in which workers rated “several factors that contribute to job happiness, such as company culture, compensation and the work they do,” says the site.

And CareerBliss co-founder and CEO Heidi Golledge explains why:

Americans, especially young ones, are driving much less

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 22 2013 - 2:09pm

Here’s an interesting stat: Since mid-2005, Americans are driving less — much less, especially younger folks. You know, the next generation of home buyers?

What’s notable is that — unlike the last time there was a drop in driving, back in the 1980-84 recession — this time the drop appears to be much longer lasting. It’s been 92 months already.

According to the Frontier Group, which did the study, the trend is most noticeable among young people.

Senators hope to expand rural loan program

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 22 2013 - 1:15pm

We’ve told you before about the USDA’s rural-housing loan program, which provides no-down-payment loan for rural homes.

Now two U.S. senators hope to expand the program’s definition of “rural” even further, so more people can take advantage of the program.

Count your blessings, Virginia

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 22 2013 - 11:28am

We may have stinkbugs and cicadas to deal with, but in Florida they’re battling giant snails.

It's already eaten one of that guy's fingers!

Per Reuters:

Smokers’ homes don’t sell — or sell for less (and what you can do)

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 22 2013 - 10:48am

Smoking won’t just kill you — it can also kill a sale. So says a survey of Ontario real estate agents, who found that more than 80% of potential buyers would be either “unlikely” or entirely unwilling to buy a home where smokers had lived.

And when the house does sell? The study found that a house could see a 30 percent price drop (!) if it smelled of cigarettes.

All right, so what’s to be done if you’re trying to sell a smoker’s home? After reviewing far too many pages of tips, these seem to be your best bets for removing as much of the odor as possible.

“Boomerang buyers” in your region

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 17 2013 - 11:15am

Have you experienced the “boomerang buyer” yet?  This is a potential home buyer who was once foreclosed on for whatever reason, and is hoping to re-enter the real estate market and be a homeowner once again.  Many of them have waited the necessary 3-5 years since foreclosure before they can buy and have worked on increasing their credit scores.  Some will get financing and some will not.

If you are witnessing this type of home buyer in your market, we would love to hear from you.

Contact Stacey at stacey@varealtor.com and tell us about what you are seeing in your region.

Thanks!

Better to buy now, sell later — and more from a new Trulia survey

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 17 2013 - 10:49am

A new survey from Harris Interactive — on behalf of Trulia — found that people think.

A. It’ll be better to buy now than next year.

B. It’ll be better to sell next year than now.

“A” is probably true — more buyers are entering the market, and inventory is tight and getting tighter. Further, there’s no clear sign of that letting up. Still, there are foreclosures in the pipeline and plenty of REOs that might ease the inventory pressure.

“B” is harder to call. Now is a great time to sell, but if inventory stays low we could be headed into a full-fledged sellers’ market next year. so maybe it will be better. It’s going to depend on local conditions, though — what’s true for Fredericksburg won’t (necessarily) be true for Martinsville.

More people spending too much of their income to rent

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 17 2013 - 10:10am

“The rent is too damn high” — add that to the growing list of reasons we’re going to see a boatload of new buyers entering the market in the next few years. That’s a reasonable conclusion from new Census Bureau data.

When the housing market collapsed, a lot of folks had to leave homes they could no longer afford — often because of foreclosure or short sales. They became renters, in part simply because their credit ratings took a big hit.

Result: Rental vacancy rates are down. The new Census Bureau report says that those vacancy rates dropped from 8.4% to 7.4% in just two years (2009 to 2011) — homeownership obviously declined at the same time.

Charlottesville Realtors help seniors fix their homes

Posted by Andrew Kantor
Apr 15 2013 - 2:26pm

Big kudos to our friends over at the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. They’re working with the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program to raise money to help some senior citizens fix their homes — everything from plumbing fixes to roof repairs.

According to the Charlottesville Newsplex . . .

plumbing fixes, to patching roofs. Board of Realtors member, Debbie Cash, says the changes, are all about making seniors feel safe and independent at home.