I write a note every month. A lot of my clients read it, and a lot of people who aren’t my clients read it. It’s about real estate, sort of, even tangentially sometimes. It’s never AI. The mistakes are mine. So are the stories. As are the photos, many from my bike rides around Crozet.
Piece of two of the five or six stories this month:
How’s the market? Should I buy or sell right now?
“It depends” is always the start of my answer.
Should you buy?
- Maybe. If your horizon is less than three years, please strongly consider renting instead of buying.
- Maybe. If you have the life and financial confidence that you’re going to be stationary for at least 5 to 7 years, I think considering a purchase can be a great decision.
- If you’re buying what you anticipate being the last house, and you have the confidence your life has the stability or that your kids — let’s face it, a lot of people move to be close to the grandkids — are going to stay, buying can absolutely be a good decision, and “overpaying” is not the worst thing to do if it secures your home for the foreseeable future.
The first quarter in Charlottesville + Albemarle
When do homes come on the market? This is from 2023, and it’s still relevant.
“Thanks. I see this, and I’m working on it. “
I’m not perfect, but I do make the effort.
Three conversations in two days with three different clients about three different situations, all centered around their frustrations with a lack of communication.
Choosing just one of the conversations: The client would email someone, not hear back for three weeks, and when they did, the response started with excuses like “I’ve been sick,” “I’ve been on vacation,” and my personal favorite, “I’ve been so busy.”
“I’ve been so busy” is not acceptable. Being busy is often a sign of success. Staying busy productive takes enormous skill and effort.
If you send an email and then don’t hear back, the stress level grows. The aggravation grows. And grows. The understanding, the potential for understanding, and the desire to understand diminish. The solution gets harder to achieve.
One of my goals is to have clients feel that they are the only clients I have. I don’t always succeed, but I do try, and I acknowledge that I’m making the effort.
