You’ll remember your first homebuying experience, I guarantee it. When you’re looking to buy your first home, it’s easy to feel like you’re in a rush. A rush to get pre-approved, meet a realtor, and look at homes. And the process in all likelihood will be a little hectic. Sometimes you need to strike at the right time and that might mean some decision-making. A GOOD agent will take what is admittedly a stressful process and help make it less stressful – we can talk about some ways to do that. A bad agent? A bad agent will make you want to never buy a house again. And that’s sad.
Category Archives: General Real Estate
Blacksburg Chickens: What’s the (s)COOP?
If you haven’t heard yet, chances are, you will: backyard chickens are now allowed in Blacksburg. A committed contingent has lobbied for years and is finally seeing an ordinance passed, Ordinance 1888.
Four Biggest Seller Mistakes
Big day! Time to sell the house. This day came around sooner than you thought, didn’t it? We sell for all kinds of reasons–to go bigger, to move into something smaller, or to move across the country. No matter what the reason, it’s important to avoid some simple mistakes. You may have thought home buying was stressful but this is a whole new beast. Selling means showing your house and waiting for that sometimes illusive offer. Once it does come, you have to move. If you’ve been in the home thirty or forty years, moving can be extraordinarily daunting.
Four Biggest Buyer Mistakes
Ready to buy? Great! That’s why we’re here. Buying a home–whether it’s your first or your tenth–is an exciting time. Chances are if it you are a seasoned homebuyer, you’ll already have learned most of these mistakes either by experience or a good realtor before me.
Cost-effective Landscaping Tips
Spring is here! By that I mean that we’re between ice storms here in the New River Valley. It’s never a safe bet to assume warm weather is here to stay until at least May but it’s certainly time to start thinking about some simple and cost-effective landscaping ideas.
How To Time the New River Valley Real Estate Market
My friend Mike Simonsen posted this on Twitter a couple of weeks ago, in response to someone saying they wanted to buy their first home in 2020 (note – he said “do” try and time the market … he meant “don’t):
What’s New In Kitchen Design
If there’s one room in a house that makes-or-breaks it for a buyer, it’s the kitchen. Finding the right one can be hard.
On Board For Passenger Rail
For years, it seems, people have been calling for Amtrak passenger rail service to the New River Valley, and plans to finally make that a reality were coming together – but now they’ve hit a snag. Sure, I could have said they’ve been derailed, but that would be too easy. Yes, we could say the train’s been delayed, it’s failed to leave the station … all good stuff.
Real Estate and School Resource Officers in Montgomery County
Raise the real estate tax in Montgomery County $1.5 cents in order to better fund school safety? It's being proposed.
Tax Reform and Real Estate
If you’re paying any attention at all, you know that tax reform is one of countless issues being discussed in Washington DC right now. Whether you like what the House and Senate are proposing, or whether you don’t, the fact is that what’s on the table as “reform” has some serious deficiencies, and will be vigorously debated in the next several weeks.