Homeownership Tax Deductions

It's not just that Interest Rates are low. It's not just that home prices remain low.
You can also reduce your taxes owning a home.

For more information on Homeowner Tax Deductions, click here

There are so many good reasons to move from renting to owning your home. Call me, email me or check out my website and let me work with you to get you a home that meets your needs!

Homes for Sale in the 10th and Page Neigborhood

Homes for Sale in Belmont in Charlottesville, VA

Condos and Townhomes for Sale in Charlottesville, VA

Quinton Beckham
The Beckham Team
Keller Williams Realty
3510 Remson Court, Suite 301
Charlottesville VA, 22901
quintonbeckham@me.com
434.242.6212
www.thebeckhamteam.com

Charlottesville VA Restaurant Week!!

Yes, it's the first holiday of the New Year. And not just one day, BUT A WHOLE WEEK! I am, of course, speaking of restaurant week, Starting Saturday January 24th and going through Saturday January 31st, this is your opportunity to have a meal at all of Charlottesville's best restaurants while supporting a local charity. 

This week, $1 for every meal purchased will go to support the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Last year they distributed over 18 million meals to hungry families in need and expect to have an even higher volume this year. As you enjoy great food from community conscious restaurants that dollar that you provide to the food bank will feed four families! 

Here's the How To from Courtenay Stuart: 

How to do Restaurant Week

The very first Charlottesville Restaurant Week had foodies buzzing and tables filling up faster than a top chef can slice a ripe tomato. Ditto for this one in January. Getting in on the fun is easy– but it requires a little planning. Here’s how:

Step 1: Mark your calendar for Saturday, January 24th-Saturday, January 31st

Step 2: Peruse the menus from the participating restaurants to decide which ones suit your fancy. With so many participating, you can’t visit one every night!

Step 2: Call each restaurant directly to make your reservation, and mention that you’re coming in for “Restaurant Week.” Reservations are first-come, first-served; and chefs report that interest has been running high, so don’t tarry.

Step 4: Please show up on time, and make sure you’re dressed to make your mama proud, since some of the participating establishments have dress codes.

Step 5: Make sure you order off the special “Restaurant Week” menu, as some of the participating restaurants will also offer their regular— i.e. more expensive— menu. (Everyone will be dismayed, and you might end up washing dishes, if you end up ordering the $45 flaming surf-and-turf that’s not part of the special prix fixe menu.)

Step 6: Savor your meal, and when paying your bill, please remember that drinks, tax, and tips are not included.

Click Here to Access the Restaurant Week Website

One of my favorite restaurants that I would recommend you get in to is Three Penny Cafe on West Main. 

The Restaurant menu at Three Penny includes some delightful dishes such as a Petit Filet Mignon, Rockfish (particularly good) and anamazing Local Sesame Seed Crusted Tofu with Udon Noodles. There are great cocktails as well! Reservations are first come, first served so don't wait! And you never now, show up at Three Penny and you might even run into me there. 

There are lots of great restaurants participating so check them out. You get a chance to try out restaurants while helping others who are need of food as well. I can not imagine a greater combination. 

And as always, if you are looking to buy or sell a home in Charlottesville, call me, I would love to help! Mention that you found me because of this add and I will even donate a portion of my commission from your sale to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank as well! No on in our country shoudl ever, ever, go hungry. 

Homes for Sale in the 10th and Page Neigborhood

Homes for Sale in Belmont in Charlottesville, VA

Condos and Townhomes for Sale in Charlottesville, VA

Quinton Beckham
The Beckham Team
Keller Williams Realty
3510 Remson Court, Suite 301
Charlottesville VA, 22901
quintonbeckham@me.com
434.242.6212
www.thebeckhamteam.com

This Month in Real Estate - January 2015

National Real Estate Data 

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in the greater Charlottesville area, I would like to help you. Call or email me for more information on how these numbers affect you.


Homes for Sale in Belmont in Charlottesville, VA

Condos and Townhomes for Sale in Charlottesville, VA

Quinton Beckham
The Beckham Team
Keller Williams Realty
3510 Remson Court, Suite 301
Charlottesville VA, 22901
quintonbeckham@me.com
434.242.6212
www.thebeckhamteam.com

What does 2015 Hold for the Real Estate Market.

I was talking with a client this weekend who asked me what I saw in my crystal ball for real estate in 2015. Truth is, I don't own a crystal ball. I don't even own anything that could be called crystal. Nevertheless, predicting what is to come is an age-old tradition amongst real estate agents that has become only more complicated in the information age.

We have lots of sources of information and there is a tendency to think that we can truly narrow and predict everything that is going to happen for a particular piece of property at the drop of a hat. That's not true. In fact, I would wager a lot of it is crystal ball chicanery designed to make us look smarter than the average bear and 'seal the deal' with a particular client. Now, that's not to say that all of it is verbal sleight of hand.

So here are a few predictions that have a very high likelihood of being true both here in the Charlottesville Real Estate Market as well as the Nation as a whole.

Millenials are Moving into the Market

The tried and true generation that has fueled the market up to now has been Baby Boomers. This is an easy thing to say as they have been the largest percent of the working / consuming population for decades. They placed a much higher value on being in one city for life and it showed in their propensity to buy a home and settle down. But that's not so true today. The largest cohort of population by age group is 23-year-olds. Followed closely by 24 and 22-year-olds. This is a huge number of people who are in the age bracket where they married and start families or choose places to settle down and work a job for a while. As this groups gathers their buying power they can make an impact in the market and help to push up home prices a small amount over the next decade. 

Where we live is changing as a Nation

As the average age of home buyers begins to drop, the places they buy are changing as well. This generation is noted for wanting to live in smaller, more efficient, more green homes. They do not believe that those homes are solely located in rural areas but are looking for easier access to the city, decreased reliance on cars for transportation and more urban areas. Ass to this that New construction remains at all time lows and there is simply not as much housing available in suburbs and rural areas for first time home buyers to buy. 

Mortgage Rates will Rise. 

They will, I swear. I know, I know; we said that in 2014 and it didn't really happen. But it is coming. I think people who are a little younger than I do not remember the 80's. In the 80's I bought a house and got a mortgage rate of 14%. All of my friends were so impressed I got a rate that low! So here's the low down. When rates go up, how much house you can afford goes down. By a lot. And it's coming. Maybe in a small dose this time around but it will continue. It's the way of the world that as the markets improve the rates go up. And the market has very little else to do after the crash than improve. Some of the rate increase will be offset for FHA borrowers in the decrease in costs for Mortgage Insurance Premiums that FHA is enacting. 

Home Prices will go up, but not as much as you think

Once the market began to recover home prices JUMPED up at a pretty good rate. This was mostly rebound; markets trying to get back to something close to their original value. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but that's over. Now we are back to something more normal. Normal meaning something before the market went crazy with unsustainable growth. If you're selling, however much you may read blurbs that say home prices are up 10%, it's just not true. At least not how you think. Average home prices may be going up a lot, but the average home values are not going up that fast. The prices are climbing faster because we have fewer and fewer distressed, foreclosed or short sale properties on the market. So now, if you want a $400,000 home you actually have to pay $400,000 for it. This raises the median price. The values are not climbing that fast. They are starting to stabilize and their growth will be largely dependent on the demand and the economy. 

And of course, if you want to buy or sell a home in the Greater Charlottesville area, then I want to help you. 

Belmont Homes for Sale in Charlottesville 

Luxury Homes for Sale in the Charlottesville / Albemarle Area

Quinton Beckham

Keller Williams Realty 

3510 Remson Court, #301

Charlottesville VA, 22901

www.thebeckhamteam.com

The Most Important Client in the World

Who's the Most Important Client in the World? 

I find myself in lots of conversations with other agents lately about whether what our industry is composed of 'sales professionals' or 'service professionals.' This is a very telling conversation. Many agents across the country have built million dollar businesses by consistently applying proven sales models to their businesses. Their contact network grows and as a result of that their volumes grow and they hire additional help (which they do carefully to get talented people) to handle the increased number of clients successfully.

I have no issues with this whatsoever. You do have to plan your business and get help in order to grow and when managed correctly, the growth results in improved service for your clients. It's something I have frequent dreams of. I would love to spend the day working with clients on important things like choosing the home that truly meets their needs. A place that they can spend the next ten or twenty years in. I want to help people who are retiring get the best return on the home they are selling that is now bigger and costlier than they really need and spend time with them to really know what they are planning for their life so I can do my part even better. 

When I have these sales vs. service conversations, I think back on my favorite parts of this profession and wonder, what part of all this is actually sales? I mean, there are certainly portions that are sales. When you want to sell your house I have to get the word out there that its for sale. I need to have good timing with then it goes on the market and know the neighborhood and market as a whole to get you buyers who are ready to buy and wanting your house. Definitely sales. But not at all what I spend the majority of my time on. 

Good agents spend the majority of their time on predicting the "bumps in the road" for their clients and taking action to smooth those out before they are on the horizon. Good agents spend time with their clients to find out what they actually are wanting and helping them get there. When yo want to buy a house you are not just making an investment in your family's future; you have an image in your head of the life that you want. Room for the kids to play and not be so cramped that every morning isn't a jumble of backpacks and stepped-on-toes and dropped lunches. You want a dining room for holiday dinners. Do you want to spend your weekends walking the Downtown Mall or roller skating at Carver gym on a Friday night? Do you picture a yard where you play soccer with the kids or a place that you plant your own vegetables every spring? 

These are all important things when determining your overall satisfaction with a house. Sometimes its even telling a client that they can't have it all. These take time. These are not about the next sale or lead or client. These are about you, the client. 

I believe that this is what makes us a service industry. 

When you are in the sales industry, the most important client in the world is the next one.

When you are in the service industry, the most important client in the world is the one I am sitting across from right now. 

Homes for sale in the Belmont Neighborhood of Charlottesville 

Homes for Sale in the Cherry Hill Neighborhood of Charlottesville 

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in the Charlottesville Area, I would be very happy to help you. 

Quinton Beckham

Keller Williams Realty

3510 Remson Court, Suite 301

Charlottesville VA, 22901

quintonbeckham@me.com

Cell: 434.242.6212

www.thebeckhamteam.com