I found this in my Facebook vault earlier today, and it made me chuckle – hope it does you, as well.
1. I’m allergic to cats – and as I type this, a cat is laying next to me. I treat her like a child … it’s embarrassing.
2. If I hear the phrase “It’s electric” I immediately say “boogie woogie”. I can’t help it.
3. Fishing with my friend Larry once, the water had risen high enough that we had to take the motor off the boat to get under the bridge. My job was to hold on to the bridge – I forgot and let go. We put the motor back on the boat, puttered back up to the bridge, took the motor off … and I forgot again. Larry wasn’t happy.
4. I love fire. Always have. As a young child, I lit a candle and when confronted by my parents, I blamed it on the dog. I was not a smart child.
5. I told a babysitter I was going to “blast her guts to hell”. Then I jumped in the pool so that she wouldn’t come after me. I was not a nice child.
We have a lot of home buyers in the New River Valley who come to the area on a work or student visa, so this is something we deal with a lot. Whether it’s a student in Blacksburg on an assistantship, or a family in Radford, with a bit more work there are still opportunities to buy a home in the New River Valley.
It’s important to note, however, that in order to take advantage of the First-Time Buyer Credit, you must be either a citizen or resident alien of the U.S. Be very sure you’ve reviewed all of the options regarding the credit with a tax attorney (of which I am NOT one) before entering into a Contract to Purchase.
In my experience, the thing that is most important to consider is what certainty is there that the reason for the visa – work, school, etc. – will continue. If you are definitely going to be in the same location for 4 or more years, buying a home in the New River Valley might make sense. There are certainly loan options available to individuals on visas, but the opportunity is not for everyone. If you’d like to discuss more, feel free to contact me.
As we wind down to the expiration – again – of the first-time buyer credit, I thought it would be a good chance to recap some of the questions we keep hearing in my office regarding the credit. Don’t wait until the last few days to get serious …
If you’re looking at taking advantage of either the $8000 first-time buyer credit or the $6500 move-up credit, you must meet these guidelines:
Must sign a contract by close of business on April 30th 2010 and close by close of business on June 30th 2010
Must be your Primary Residence
Must close before claiming credit
Must file IRS 5405 with the tax return and you must attach a copy of your settlement statement to the return
There’s no need to repay the credit unless one of the following take place: - You convert home to rental or business use within 3 year period - You sell home within 3 years - You foreclose on home within 3 years
People are asking questions about audits. While I’m not a tax attorney – and I’d recommend consulting one – you’ll probably need:
Brandon is a branch partner at Alcova Mortgage. He enjoys doing his taxes, firewalking and competitive eating, but not necessarily in that order. You can reach him at brandon@alcovamortgage.com, or 877-552-7150.
Everyone wants to know what homes are listing for (to stay current on a daily basis, follow this site), and everyone wants to cheer on the neighbor who lists their home for more money than anyone’s ever gotten in the neighborhood. But do those high prices ever actually come to be?
Below are two screenshots from the NRVMLS – the first shows homes in Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford that sold between January 1 – February 28 2008, the second homes that sold during that same time period in 2009, and the third homes that sold during that same time period in 2010.
January – February 2008
January – February 2009
January – February 2010
What’s it tell us? Well, for starters, the New River Valley real estate market as a whole is still pretty strong. With list to sale percentages averaging roughly 97% over the last three years in what’s typically a slow time for real estate (the November through February time frame), home sellers have been able to maintain strong sales prices. Average sale prices, however, can be swayed by a multi-million dollar sale on the high-end, or an inexpensive sale on the low-end, and so median sales prices might be an even better barometer of strength in the market … In 2008, the median sales price for the first two months of the year was 95.6%. The following year it climbed to 96.9% during that same time period, and in 2010 the median sales price in Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford was 99.9% of the list price.
While buyers certainly have their choice of options available to them when it comes to housing in the New River Valley, the statistics are showing that, even in the slow times of the year, sellers are still getting their asking prices. Looking forward to seeing if that continues through the year.
Blacksburg and Virginia Tech have teamed up to submit a joint application for Google’s recent push to build ultra-high speed fiber networks in a number of locations across the country. If selected, Blacksburg would be the recipient of Internet speeds 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.
“Blacksburg was the first community in the world, through the Blacksburg Electronic Village, to explore how the internet could transform business, education, and community interaction,” said Ron Rordam, Mayor of Blacksburg. “More than fifteen years later, we now have a population of citizens, university faculty and students who have demonstrated innovation and creativity as network producers, not just consumers, of high bandwidth applications and services. We believe this is exactly what Google is looking for with their gigabit to the home test bed project, and we are committed to working in partnership with them if Blacksburg is selected.”
The local project team is calling on the community for their help. There are two steps to completing the Google Request for Information (RFI), the government response and the community response. Both are due by March 26, 2010. Residents, artists, businesses and community organizations are asked to fill out a short online form by visiting http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options and clicking on “Nominate Your Community”.
The form requires a name, city and state, and a paragraph or more explaining why you would like to have Google locate in Blacksburg. Reasons could include the need for increased broadband access for business, education, arts, entertainment, telemedicine, emergency services, etc. Aside from the current benefits a community such as Blacksburg could enjoy, Google is particularly interested in creative thinking and next generation ideas. A sample template response can be found at blacksburg.gov/google.
The community form includes optional fields that ask about broadband connections. Respondents can easily run a speed test on their connection by using the Virginia Tech Community Broadband Map found at http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php. The speed test will allow respondents to immediately obtain some of the information that can be used to fill in the Google form.
There is also an opportunity for the community to participate in a You Tube video contest and an application naming contest. The winning recipient of each will receive a $100 Downtown Blacksburg Gift Certificate. Details of the competition can be found at blacksburg.gov/google.
For additional information contact:
Brenda van Gelder Director, Strategic Partnership Initiatives Office of the Vice President for Information Technology Virginia Tech bvgelder@vt.edu 540-231-1853
Steve Jones Director of Technology Town of Blacksburg sjones@blacksburg.gov 540-558-0726
While Blacksburg might be pursuing the network, I’ve got to believe that there are benefits to the surrounding areas of the New River Valley, as well. Anyone know, and care to speak on that? Whatever those benefits, you have the opportunity to voice your opinion – I hope you’ll do so. Blacksburg used to be the most wired community in the world – we ought to certainly be pushing for improvement in that area.
Here’s the video that Google put out a few weeks ago concerning their some of their plans for the network ….
Brandon is a branch partner at Alcova Mortgage. He enjoys doing his taxes, firewalking and competitive eating, but not necessarily in that order. You can reach him at brandon@alcovamortgage.com, or 877-552-7150.
I’m a few weeks behind on this, but wanted to be sure it got out there. Sarah Cox of The Roanoke Times and I talked recently about the new real estate search on NRVLiving.com, as well as why being able to search for all New River Valley real estate is important. While I certainly want people to find me online, one point that’s missed is that information should be made as readily available as possible, and not hidden behind this veil of secrecy that real estate seems to crave. Real estate searches on NRVLiving.com bear that out … the site’s been inundated with recent searches.
IDX isn’t a new concept – it’s just that for a long time it’s been an overlooked concept. It shouldn’t be an option for brokers to decide whether they want to share their listings with other brokers, in my opinion … the consumer should demand it.
I received an email from a client this morning asking about a Blacksburg condo that they had found on Trulia.com. At the price point, with three bedrooms and two baths, it was a great deal.
But it was too good to true.
The ad, shown below, shows a 903 square foot condo with three bedrooms and two baths, while the MLS listing shows a 756 square foot condo with two bedrooms and one bath. Needless to say, they were disappointed that the property wasn’t as it seemed.
And the MLS ad:
See some differences? In real estate, the mantra “Location, Location, Location” is repeated over and over, but perhaps accuracy is even more important. Sellers – take the time to review your agent’s ads.
And to prove me wrong, in the time it’s taken to write this post the property has been changed to pending. My original thought still stands, however – accuracy may be the most important property characteristic of all.
As we head into the last half of the grade school year, you might need information about your child’s upcoming school year. Here’s how to contact the local schools in Blacksburg, VA – thanks to education.com for the data.
