A grandparent or some elder pulls a child up on their lap and started talking about the good old days. It usually starts with “You were just a little baby when….” or “I remember back when I was your age….” And then they proceed to tell us about something that happened or something that everyone used to do but no one does today.

I had it happen just a few days ago.

A few months back, we bought a little house in a cute little neighborhood that had not been updated in quite some time. We bought it as a….gulp…gasp….investment to flip.

You heard me. I bought it to FLIP IT! I thought it was a no-brainer.

Everything that had anything to do with décor screamed 1981. Blue trim, blue/green wallpaper, imitation terracotta vinyl on the kitchen floor….you get the picture. To call it outdated would have been the understatement of the year. The house was exceptionally cute from the outside as it was made of stone, with a slate roof and cute little side porch.

The bones were good but the innards needed work.

$17,000 later we had a new kitchen, paint, floors, wallpaper removed, some tile work done, new lighting fixtures and a set of new appliances. It looked sharp. We shot some pictures and put it in MLS sometime late Friday afternoon for the weekend.

By 4:00 it had been shown.

By 6:00 we had an offer.

By 7:00 we had two.

By 10:00 the next morning one of the agents upped their price and had an escalation clause in the offer. That is when I started thinking about the good old days.

Was it only two years ago that we (Realtors ®) had to explain how the escalation clause worked to almost every new buyer? Not only did we have to work through the financing contingency and inspection contingency, but we also had to explain how the escalation clause worked and why it was needed. When was the last time you had to explain/employ/sign or counter a contract with an escalation clause? it had been quite a while since I had seen one. I didn’t even realize it was still online. I guess someone at the Board of Realtors is a fundamental optimist.

The escalation clause….a good sign. It kind of reminds me of the good old days.

For more information, see Goochland VA Real Estate.

The Richmond area is expected to be among the healthiest new-home markets in the U.S. this year, according to Builder magazine. Based on a formula using 2009 building-permit data and weighted 2010 projections for household formations, resale values, job growth and income growth, the recently released Builder Market Health Index report put the region at No. 12 on a list of the 20 healthiest markets.

One of the reasons that our local market looks to be relatively strong is that Richmond and the surrounding counties hasn’t experienced the kind of boom-and-bust cycle that many other parts of the country has.

Kevin McNulty, president of the Home Building Association of Richmond, said he was not surprised.

“Richmond traditionally has never gotten as out of whack as some other parts of the country,” he said. “We’re traditionally a more stable market, and therefore usually a little sooner to recover.”

As always, another driver for the relatively bullish outlook is that all-important four-letter word: J-O-B-S.

The region, which boasted a below-average unemployment rate of 8.4 percent at the end of 2009, “is poised to start adding jobs again,” the report says.

You can read more about this here.

For more information, see Goochland VA Real Estate.

Call us at 804.477.8114 or send us an email to discuss further.

Call us at 804.477.8114 or send us an email to discuss further.