There are some services out there that pull real-time (or almost real-time) market data, turn it into graphs, and allow subscribers to post it.  These actually work pretty well in larger markets with a high volume of transactions.  However, in the Charlottesville area where we do about 3000 (give or take a few) transactions per year, the formulas/charts/graphs for those vendors don’t really work as well.

Along those lines, we get a lot of requests for up-to-date market stats.  How many sales have there been month-to-date?  What’s the median price? What’s the average Days on Market in the City of Charlottesville this year?  We spend a lot of time checking the stats and staying on top of the Charlottesville area real estate market so that our buyers and sellers are informed…but we wanted to be able to provide you with a monthly market snapshot of some of the most requested market info.

Here’s what we came up with.  We think it’s pretty sweet and we hope you do to.

And now for a quick overview:

We broke Central Virginia down into the 5 major Counties (Albemarle, Nelson, Greene, Fluvanna, and Louisa) plus the City of Charlottesville.  For this Beta version, we’re just analyzing single family, detached homes (so condos and town homes aren’t included in these reports).  In addition, the data is pulled from our data feed about the 2nd week of each month – this way we can ensure that the data from the previous month is as up-to-date as possible.

On the Nest homepage, you can select a City/County to get a quick snapshot for the current month.  The snapshot will give you the market statistics, but will also show you the year-over-year change from last year…enabling you to deduct the current market trends.

Want more?  Great.  We’ve got it.  Go ahead and click on the ‘View Full Market Report’ link..

Once again, at the top, you can toggle between Counties and get a quick description of each area.  Below, there are 3 charts with quick descriptions on the sidebar for each one:

1. Days On Market

2. Total Sales

3. Median Home Price

For each of these 3 charts, you can toggle between Counties and choose to select a one-year, three-year, or five-year chart.  No matter what the chart, we’ve also included a dotted line to show you the average during that period.  Why?  Perspective.  It will enable you to see not only how we are trending, but also what’s been ‘normal’ (if there is a normal) during that time period.

So let’s take a stab at some analysis.  Here’s a chart for Total Sales in Albemarle County over the last 5 years:

First of all, scroll your mouse over the small circles – it will show you the exact data points of the chart.

Second, take a look at the peaks of each year – you can see how our market is cyclical…highs in the summer and lows in the late fall and winter.  You’ll also notice that the lows over the last few years have been considerably lower than in 2006, 2007, and 2008. The peaks, on the other hand, have been lower, but less erratic.

Lastly, you’ll see a definite downward trend in total sales over the last 5 years (the red line). Obviously, we wish the market were a bit better.

So there you go.  We’d love your feedback – what do you like?  what do you want more of?

New Home Page
Thanks to our friends at Google Analytics, we’ve gotten some great feedback on who clicks where and what was interesting to our web users.  So, we’ve simplified the home page by removing a bit of content and focusing the home page on 4 major pieces…

1. Home Search – it’s the ultimate reason why people come to real estate sites, so we’re putting this even more front and center than it was previously.  (We’ll talk about these search options in a second…)
2. About Charlottesville – besides searching for homes, people want to know about the area they are searching, right?  We think so.  So, we’ve kept our ‘Area Guides’ accessible…making it easy for you to take a quick snapshot of our 13 Areas or dive in more if you’d like.
3. How’s The Market? – We wish this question was easier to answer now…but we’re still tackling it head on.  If you’ve read our blog, The Nest Report, you know we like to dig into the numbers.  But we’re integrating auto-generated monthly charts and graphs to give you more of a snapshot of the market.  (This is currently just a quick market snapshot, but stay tuned for some pretty sweet searchable graphs…coming soon!)
4. About Nest - We may catch a little grief from the web design gurus for putting our story front and center on the home page, but we actually think the belief system of a brokerage and their agents is important.  At Nest, we’re different.  And before you choose an agent, you should know a little about their brokerage and support system.  The video is 3 minutes and 47 seconds…maybe a little long for some…but if you watch it, you’ll probably know if we are the right firm for you. (And that’s a pretty good use of 3:47.)

Home Search Improvements

Ultimately, users on real estate web sites want to be able to search for homes.  We think search is done poorly on most brokerage sites. Most sites have one way to search and it’s clunky and not intuitive.  At Nest, we want to put the options in your hands – everyone searches differently and we’re aiming to offer as many search options as is possible.  We allow you to search by price, beds/bath, county, zip, street name, acreage, home type, mls number, area, neighborhood, and school.  And now, you can search by homes with price reductions and also by homes listed in the last 1, 7 or 14 days.  Want to search for 3+ bedroom homes, under $500k, in Forest Lakes that have been listed in the last 14 days?  Go for it.  Or how about condos in Charlottesville with a recent price reduction?  You can do that, too.

How’s The Market?

If you are selling a home in Charlottesville or Albemarle County, you probably don’t want to know.  But guess what?  We’re going to tell you anyway.  Our Market Reports section is in Phase I right now – just a quick snapshot of the Total Sales, Days on Market, and Median Home Price by City or County.  But, as we mentioned earlier, we’re expanding on this shortly.  Soon, you’ll be able to see trendlines and charts for these stats…and also search the charts for 1, 3, and 5 year charts.

We get asked a lot: why are you giving clients and web users all of this data?  The answer is simple: because they want it….and it’s helping them to make informed decisions when they buy and sell homes and investment properties.  The days of hoarding information is long gone.  At Nest, we believe in empowering our clients with the right information and guidance to help enable them to make wise real estate decisions.

That’s it for now (but definitely stay tuned for the next phase of Market Reports).  We’ve got some more plans to not only improve our web site, but the overall experience of our clients when they work with a Nest agent.

Market conditions aside, it’s going to be a fun next few months at Nest Realty.

Other nominees in the category include: @properties, Better Homes and Garden, Coldwell Banker, John L. Scott, and Redfin. 

We’re extremely honored to be nominated by Inman and to be included in the same breath as some of these fantastic companies.  I’ve looked up to all of those brokerages and have studied their business models, web sites, and processes.

The real exciting part of our nomination is that it proves that you don’t have to be big to innovate or to make a difference.  The other 5 nominees are admittedly bigger and have a larger footprint than us.  @properties is the #1 independent firm in Chicago.  BHG is quickly becoming a national power brand.  Coldwell Banker has over 3500 offices.  John L. Scott did over $9 billion in sales volume in 2008.  Redfin has opened 10 offices throughout the country and is backed by several major venture capital firms.

And then there’s Nest.  We’re less than a year old, have 6 full-time agents, and just opened our first office location a few weeks ago in Downtown Charlottesville. 

But we have vision and principles.  And we’re building our company philosophy and business around these principles. 

1. Commitment to technology and innovation.  We started with the launch of our web site.  Then we introduced our signs.  Now we’re plowing full steam ahead with video.  (Stay tuned on that)  But we won’t stop there – we’re continuosly researching and brainstorming new ideas and better ways to help our clients.  It’s a never-ending process and we pride ourselves on staying on the cutting edge.

2. Transparency and Client Education. We believe that informed, educated clients are happy clients.  So, we strive to provide the truth to all of our clients.  That includes market reports, up-to-date data, full disclosure, and no pushy sales pitches.

3. Nest Realtors are Professionals. It’s unfortunate that standards for Realtors are too low.  We feel as though the bar needs to be raised and we’ve raised it for all of our agents.  All Nest agents must have a minimum of 3 year’s full-time experience, have achieved their broker’s license, and passed an internal screening/interview process.  If you work with a Nest agent, you can rest assured you are working with a true professional.

4. It’s All About Our Clients.  Everything we do, ever new idea we have, and every new plan we implement is based on helping our clients.  It’s an overriding theme throughout Nest every day…and will continue to be for a long, long time. 

Congratulations to the other 5 firms for their nominations – they’ve definitely broken the mold and understand that there is room for improvement in the real estate world. 

This nomination is pretty exciting for us, but we’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg.  We’ve got a select group of smart agents with great ideas and a strong commitment to excellence…and we can’t wait for what the future holds.