Rising interest rates affect everyone, Sellers, too! We all know how much interest rates affect buyers. Keep this in mind... each 1/2% increase in the interest rate is approximately equal to a 5% change in price. (Click on the image above to go to this app,"Interest Affects Price".) With interest rates rising, Sellers also need to be particularly vigilant about pricing. Each increase in rates shrinks the pool of buyers that are qualified to purchase their home. Sellers' and their Realtors need to keep tabs on how rates are affecting their market and adjust prices accordingly. Now more than ever, Realtors need to be tight with lenders and on top of the products available to buyers.I have relationships with great lenders; call me to see how to find the best deals on homes and financing. **************************************************************************************************************************************************Dreaming of Charlottesville? Virginia Gardner provides local real estate counsel to Charlottesville-area Buyers and Sellers. She writes this blog "Charlottesville Talk" to describe the quality of life available here in the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, the villages of Earlysville, Ivy, Crozet and Keswick, and Greene and Fluvanna counties, all beautifully located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. For superior real estate services, call or text 434-981-0871 or emailVirginia@CharlottesvilleHOME.com,www.CharlottesvilleHOME.com. ************************************************************************************************* Stay on top of MARKET TRENDS! We keep the latest data at our website,CharottesvilleHOME.com,or click the following link to download the2010 YEAR END Market Report Virginia Gardner, CRSVirginia@CharlottesvilleHOME.comCharlottesvilleHOME.comEarlysvilleHomes.com (434) 981-0871 ...read more
By Virginia Gardner, Charlottesville Real Estate March 11, 2011
I've Googled and Googled, but I can no longer find the poll, taken of Charlottesville resdients, that showed our #1 pastime to be "reading". I did find at theVirginia Festival of the Book site, in the Archives, under 1998... "According to Standard Rate&Data's 1996 Lifestyle Market Analyst, Charlottesville is the #1-ranked ADI (Area of Dominant Influence) in the United States in "Avid Book Reading." Additionally, the American booksellers Association ranks Charlottesville 8th in the country for "book stores per 10,000 households." I've always loved these types of statistics about our community.An excerpt from a piece in USA Today... "Charlottesville residents were tops for: reading, attending cultural events, engaging in civic and career activities, collecting antiques and records, playing tennis, having home computers. They ranked in the top 10 for: traveling abroad, politics, photography, running, racquet-ball, investing, wine testing." Thomas Jefferson, to whom we owe such a debt we could never repay, said of books,"I cannot live without books", and... "Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital." Did you know that there are14 libraries at the University of Virginia, each of which is open for the use and enjoyment of residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia? They are: Alderman Library Astronomy Library Biology/Psychology Library The Camp Library, associated with the Darden School of Business Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering Library Chemistry Library Clemons Library Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture Claude Moore Health Sciences Library Curry Library Innovation Commons, part of the Curry School of Education Arthur J. Morris Law Library Music Library Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library In a little over a month, on March 16, 2011, at 7:30 in the morning,a Leadership Breakfast with author David Shenkwill open the17th Annual Virginia Festival of the Book. Shenk will discuss his "provocative" book,The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ is Wrong.For five days, March 16-20, 2011, hundreds of authors will present more than 125 events to thousands of visitors. In 2010, the total audience figures exceeded 20,000! Most events are FREE, believe or not; it's well worth a trip to the event website,VaBook.org, and a trip to Charlottesville to participate in some of the many offerings. This popular festival is produced by theVirginia Foundation for the Humanities. Be there, or be square! ...read more
By Virginia Gardner, Charlottesville Real Estate February 18, 2011
Since learning of Habitat for Humanity, I've rallied behind the cause. I was brought into the fold by a young builder with whom I was working; he had taken up the leadership position for getting the first house built, and as his realtor, I really had no choice but to get involved! Of course, it was an "easy sell", because the concept of Habitat is all good, people helping people help themselves. (If you are not fully aware of Habitat's purpose, please see the About page at Habitat for Humanity Greater Charlottesville.) In Charlottesville, we had a fledgling group for years. I handled fund raising for a couple of those years, but I didn't have a whole lot of help, so my attempts were somewhat miserable. I was able to accomplish one thing during my tenure, though... I took on the community service committees for both the Blue Ridge Homebuilders and the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors, and I successfully introduced Habitat to those two groups. That year, we ran three fund raising events which involved both groups working together, and both groups have continued to rally behind the Habitat for Humanity cause since then. Even as important as this support was, and as much public awareness was gained from the fund raising efforts, the organization just couldn't get it going. Eventually, after I resigned my post, they contacted the national Habitat, and they received the training support, financial assistance, and coordination needed. Today, the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville has a wonderfully successful program, with large dollars behind them. Recently, as I was leaving a local grocery store, there was a tap on my shoulder. It was the owner of the very first Charlottesville Habitat house. She still lives there! She's a single mom with two children, both of which have grown and left home. I probably don't need to tell you how delighted I was that she recognized me and stopped to say hello. (We built that first house in the mid-1990's.) Often, when I think about Habitat, I remember the stories which came out of Homestead, Florida, following Hurricane Andrew. You may remember that disaster in 1992? Andrew was a massive category-5 hurricane, which wound up being among the costliest disasters in U.S. history. BUT... the 165mph winds proved to be no match for the 27 well-built Habitat homes in South Dade at the time: none sustained any structural damage. On August 24, 1992, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta published the following article by Jennifer Grier,"Florida Residents Are Still Weathering the Storm in the Aftermath of Hurricane Andrew." Most of the article is concerned with the effects of Andrew on the insurance industry, and then the resulting changes to building codes required for coverage in the ensuing years. I just love reading about the Habitat homes which survived the storm in Homestead, Fla. The affordable housing market has been significantly affected by the increase in construction and insurance costs in south Florida. Habitat for Humanity (Habitat), a nonprofit housing organization, was able to build houses in Miami for $41,000 before Hurricane Andrew. Since the storm, the cost to comply with the new building codes has increased their construction expense by 31.7 percent or a total of $54,000. Most of these increased costs can be attributed to the more expensive hurricane shutters and windows that meet the building code's new wind resistance requirements.However, the homes built by Habitat before the changes to the building code incurred minimal damage during Hurricane Andrew. A total of 27 homes built by Habitat's Miami Chapter fared well during the hurricane. Habitat attributes the sturdiness of their homes to the organization's practice of going beyond the stated building code by using extra studs and braces, plywood instead of weaker substitutes, and hand-driven nails instead of staples in their construction. Accordingly, one of the changes in the new building code since the hurricane was to require nails in all new construction. Though I am not currently, personally, involved with the local Habitat for Humanity (I probably will be again), I can tell you that I'm very proud to have been a part of their growth here in the Charlottesville area. For information on our local Habitat for Humanity, please visit their website, CvilleHabitat.org. ...read more
By Virginia Gardner, Charlottesville Real Estate February 13, 2011
Real estate agents can only base success on the number of sales closed in a year. There is no award or money given for effort. Effort must produce results. Prospecting for new clients, especially new homes to list, is a must. The number of real estate listings an agent has is closely tied to his/her i... ...read more
In older neighborhoods you can easily find newer homes. For a lot of people this makes a great option; it allows you the charm and ambiance that a lot of newer neighborhoods lack with the innovation and solid construction of a new house. ...read more
