Melissa Savenko's Richmond Real Estate Review

Buying a Home NOW - Some Validation from USA Today

I feel a teensy bit validated, now that USA Today is featuring an article on the two reasons to buy a home NOW - the historically low interest rates AND the first time home buyer tax credit.  Of course, this "buy a home NOW!" advice only applies to people who have stable jobs, consistent income, some money to put down, and were planning to buy a home in the foreseeable future anyway. 

As always, if you need an agent in Richmond, Virginia, I am happy to help with the home buying process.  Otherwise, best of luck in your hunt for the perfect home!

Walkability = Higher Home Values

Here is a really interesting article from MSN Real Estate, reporting on a study that finds a higher "walkability" index translates into higher home values in 13 out of 15 metropolitan areas.  The data supports what we real estate agent who represent certain City of Richmond neighborhoods have known, without being able to quantify - walkable urban neighborhoods are more and more desirable, and therefore more and more valuable.

The two exceptions to the rule:  Bakersfield, California, which showed no correlation between walkability and higher property values, and Las Vegas, Nevada, which showed a NEGATIVE correlation between walkability and property values.

Really?  Being within walking distance of all those casinos, strip clubs, and T-shirt stores doesn't increase property values?  I'm shocked.  Shocked, I say.

First Time Buyers - Some Gentle Encouragement and Some Possible Properties

Folks that follow my blog (hi Mom!) know that I have posted in the past about the first-time home buyer tax credit.  The credit gives eligible individuals $8,000 in a bottom line CREDIT on your 2009 tax return.  In fact, you can even amend the 2008 tax return to get that money sooner. 

I've continued to hit this topic ad nauseaum because many people do not seem to know that the credit expires November 30, 2009.  What that means is any eligible first-time home buyer must have CLOSED on the purchase of a home by November 30, 2009 in order to  receive what is basically free money from the federal government.

Practically, what that means is you need to have a house under contract by no later than September 30, 2009, IMHO, to give yourself enough time to clear all contingencies, finalize financing, and close and record the Deed by November 30, 2009.  That date is pretty fast approaching, so if you know you want to buy, but you've been putting it off, get out there and start looking NOW.

If you need some ideas, here are a few different listings of mine that might fit the bill [:)]:

SINGLE FAMILY HOMES:

1.  806 S. Meadow Street:  In the Byrd Park/Maymont area,this 4 bedroom, 1.5 bath stucco and slate home has a superstar kitchen with new cabinets, ceramic tile floor, Zodiac quartz counters, and pass-through to the living room.  There is a "man cave" basement with loads of potential, and a great yard and garage.  MLS #2917551.  Offered at $209,000.

2.  604 N. 30th Street:  Located in Church Hill, this 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home is BRAND NEW, with off-street parking, a full front porch, the open plan living area + kitchen that people want, and three spacious bedrooms upstairs.  The master suite has a walk-in closet, a separate shower and jetted tub, and a double vanity with granite counter.  MLS #2916489.  Offered at $239,500.

CONDOMINIUMS:

3.  Windsor Court Condominiums, 1608-1614 Grove Avenue:  Located in the Historic Fan District, this 3 building, 24-unit Neoclassical complex has been COMPLETELY renovated, with new ceramic and granite kitchens with stainless steel appliances, new bathrooms, refinished hardwood floors, and dedicated off-street parking.  Come see one of the most beautiful common areas in the Fan.  Walk to restaurants, stores, parks, and VCU.  Offered at $194,900-$234,900.

More to come shortly...

Home Sales Soar in July, Says MSNBC

See the article here.  It's good news for the economy - and of course for Realtors! - but the labor market is still down, and people continue to be concerned about their jobs.  Nonetheless, I'll take every little bit of good news I can lay hands on these days. 

Medical Complex in the Bottom - Another Opinion

Well, not to beat this topic TOO much to death over the last 36 hours, but I figured I better take a look around the blogosphere to see if anyone else was discussing the "medical center in the Bottom" proposal.  The first place I hit, the venerable "Buttermilk & Molasses," written by the talented and thoughtful John Sarvay, addressed the plan on August 17 - and the immediate negative reaction by the commenters on the Richmond Times-Dispatch website.  Mr. Sarvay's gentle suggestion:  Let's take a "wait and see" approach, and let the powers-that-be flesh out the concept before we steamroll it.

"Wait and see" is the calmer and more reasonable approach, I suppose.  But why waste time on something that is not financially or practically feasible?  I look at this as a former corporate healthcare lawyer for 7+ years, so I know my experience colors my opinions.   But here are some of my thoughts:

• Healthcare is highly regulated, both on the federal and state levels.  It is quite possible any medical facility wouldn't get through the initial state Certificate of Public Need process.  We already have excellent and diversified medical care providers, especially for a city of this size.  Is there even "need," within the regulatory framework, for this type of facility?
• Healthcare facilities are not just bricks and mortar.  The heart and soul of any medical facility are the physicians and the allied health professionals that make up the medical staff.
• A medical complex is some of the most expensive "bricks and mortar" you can construct, because of the special requirements for such a facility.
• The type of physicians that a "world class" complex would require are expensive.  REALLY expensive.
• Building both the buildings and the medical staff associated with a world-class specialty medical facility would take YEARS, and millions upon millions of dollar.

Why do Mr. Goldman, Delegate Loupassi, and the five City Council people that support the plan think it's reasonable to assume the City of Richmond could (i) raise the funds to build a medical complex; (ii) figure out what medical specialty we are going to become "world class" in; and (iii) hire and retain the super star specialty physicians that will be necessary to staff the medical complex?

And an equally important - perhaps more important - question in MY mind:  What does a "medical complex" have to do with that land?  Shockoe Bottom is critically important to Richmond's history, in fact to the country's history.  Why aren't we building on that history, rather than thinking about pie-in-the-sky ideas that make little sense geographically or economically?

If the City wants a new  "world class" medical complex, get VCU, Bon Secours, HCA, and UNOS (the United Network for Organ Sharing, located in the Biotechnology Park) to work together to build on existing experience and specialties.  AND to use existing facilities.  That might make some sense.  But do something in Shockoe Bottom that makes sense for Shockoe Bottom and its unique history.

That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.  Over and out.

Michael Paul Williams' Opinion on Medical Center in Shockoe Bottom

Well, here's someone else scratching their head over the apparent randomness of the "medical complex in the Bottom" proposal being floated by City Council.  Paul Michael Williams has written an opinion piece that appears on the front page of today's Metro & Business Section.  Of course, Mr. Williams was a lot more circumspect in his language than I was in my posting from yesterday.  Here is what he concludes:

***** 

We've also exhibited a disturbing habit of raising bricks-and-mortar saviors that turn out to be false gods.

Meanwhile, history gets paved over. The medical-center proposal was floated as though we hadn't had a conversation about how to develop this area while preserving its slave-trade legacy. I say a black-heritage campus with a slavery museum is the right plan for the Bottom.

We should capitalize on Richmond's assets, including its compelling history and a river setting unrivaled in urban America. Instead of building on this unique foundation, Richmond keeps searching for itself in other places, such as Cleveland or Rochester, Minn.

*****

Can I hear an "Amen!"? 

A New Proposal for Shockoe Bottom - A Medical Center? OR Are Our City Leaders Smoking Crack?

Alright, I wanted to post this yesterday but got distracted by actual WORK.  Who can believe it?  But sometime during the last several weeks, while I was in and out of town on various vacations, and admittedly not paying much attention at all to what was going on in our glorious City, someone apparently came up with the absolutely BRILLIANT IDEA to develop central Shockoe Bottom with a.....MEDICAL CENTER!

Here's the article from yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch.  Because it has been a long day, and I'm tired, I am just going to hit some "high" - or in some people's opinion, likely "low" - points:

FACTS (PER ARTICLE):

• This proposal has apparently been in front of City Council since last month, long enough for the daggone proposal to be gaining support, per the headline.  Heck, I think I'm a pretty informed person, and I didn't even know this harebrained proposal was on the floor.
• Five of the nine council members are proposing a resolution asking for yet another study commission, this one dubbed the "Shockoe Bottom Medical Complex Exploratory Commission."  This Commission will have 21 members, to be appointed by City Council and Mayor Dwight Jones.
• Those Council Members supporting the Commission idea are:  Douglas Connor, Chris Hilbert, Marty Jewell, Reva Trammel, and Bruce Tyler.  I am going to call them the "Gang of Five" from here on out.  
• The proposal was apparently first floated by Paul Goldman, former political consultant to Governor, and then Mayor, Douglas Wilder.
• Manoli Loupassi, the former City Councilman and current member of the House of Delegates, has expressed support for the idea and apparently sent a letter to Mayor Jones requesting that the idea be studied. 

MY OPINIONS:

• What makes anyone think the City could create, out of whole cloth, a medical complex "to rival some of the other major clinics throughout the country"?
• Does anyone on City Council even know anything about the history and development of the two examples they cite, the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic?
• What kind of top-notch, expert care do you propose that this to-be-created medical complex will provide?
• How in the world would such a medical complex NOT compete with the existing VCU, HCA, and Bon Secours medical systems?
• Does anyone even CARE that we already have an absolutely excellent and diversified health care delivery system in this City, with an outstanding academic medical center (VCU), a not-for-profit Catholic-based system (Bon Secours), and a private, for-profit system (HCA)?
• Why in the world would you create a 4th entity to compete with these providers?
• What connection or relevance does a "medical complex" have to Shockoe Bottom other than the fact that it sounds like it would need a lot of land, and there is a big dead space down there in Shockoe Bottom that apparently the "Gang of Five" thinks should be filled with something?  I guess a "medical complex" is as good as anything....

I mean, SERIOUSLY.  This is absolutely ridiculous.  I really think our City leaders have either lost their minds, or are smoking the proverbial crack pipe.  Just when you think it's getting better, that there may be people in positions of authority that have a little sense, something like this happens to just make this Richmond native throw up her hands.

Is City Council really going to waste any time or any money considering this absurd idea?

Best and Worst Housing Markets in the Country - And A Guy Who Calls It Like He Sees It

This is an MSN article on the best and worst housing markets in the United States.  For anyone who has been following the national news, this article really doesn't break any new ground.  However, I thought the article was worth sharing for this quote alone:

"Vegas is a market unto its own," says Steve Cesinger, chief financial officer at Dewberry Capital, an Atlanta-based real-estate investment firm. "I don't know what those guys were drinking when they thought all this building made sense. If it does work out soon, then there's some force out there in the universe that I'm not aware of."

Hee.  The thing I love is most experts likely feel exactly the same way, but aren't going to go on record with such a blunt turn of phrase.  Rock on, Mr. Cesinger.  I like your spirit.

How Accurate are Zillow's "Zestimates?"

It just so happens I wrote a bit yesterday about a Zillow poll that ranked Richmond, Virginia as the 7th best place in the United States to buy a home.  And in that post, I alluded to the fact that I typically disdain Zillow data because I have found it to be ridiculously inaccurate in certain sub-markets, and especially with historic properties.  Here's a blog post I wrote on the topic back in March 2009, "The Zillow Rant OR Why Zillow Zucks."

Well, d*mned if an e-mail from Zillow didn't turn up in my e-mail inbox today.  The e-mail header is "How Accurate Are Zillow's Zestimates?"  Then, within the e-mail there is a whole bunch of different information to dig through, including videos, website information, charts, etc.

I wish I could figure out how to attach the entire e-mail, but that's beyond my technological skill set.  I'll settle right now for attaching a link to the web page within the Zillow site titled "Data Coverage and Zestimate Accuracy."  I'm going to take a little time to play around with the information and see what I can see, but in light of yesterday's post, I wanted to share it sooner rather than later.

So, more on this will come later, but here's some basic information.  If you click on "States and Counties," and then "Virginia" and then finally get to the specific data on the City of Richmond's Zestimate accuracy, what you find is only 61% of the Zestimates are within 20% of the ultimate sales price of properties.  I think that's a pretty cruddy record.  And this accuracy data includes those areas, such as subdivisions, where the Zestimate tends to be more accurate.  In other words, I bet in certain City sub-markets, the Zestimate isn't even within 20% of the sales price anywhere NEAR 61% of the time.

But again, more on this topic later.  Lord knows, websites like Zillow and Trulia are not going away anytime soon.  So we're all going to have to learn to play nice together.  As much as I'd like to take all my toys and go home.

Back to Regular Life....and a Regular Schedule...and Maybe a Better Market?

Man, it sure is hard coming back from vacation!  I spent last week in picturesque Bath County at Nimrod Hall, one of my favorite places in the world.  I was pretty much unplugged - limited phone, limited e-mail, limited computer access.  I have to say, it was heaven. 

BUT....I have to get back to real life, and jump back into work.  At least until my rich uncle gets out of the poorhouse.  Or I win the $139M lottery.  Or I marry an heir to some little-known European principality.  Sigh.  A girl can dream, right?

While I was gone my business partner did some major heavy lifting and negotiated and ratified four - yes, FOUR - contracts for the Windsor Court Condominiums.  Right before I left - oops! - we reduced the prices to the $195,000-$240,000 price range, for brand new units in the heart of the Fan with off-street dedicated parking, and BOOM!  Four contracts.  This tells me the market is picking up, particularly in the first time buyer price range, as the clock runs out on that $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit. 

Maybe it's a sign.  I mean, we don't want to break the streak.  Maybe I should just STAY on vacation...