Dave Shockley's (daveshockley) Blog

Let me provide a short update for those that haven’t visited this blog previously. I am not a wine expert by any means. My lovely wife is the reason I started this section on wines. She, being the wonderful partner she is, provided me with a membership to the Virginia Wine of the Month Club this ...

It seems that almost everyone now understands that the real estate market has cooled. Analyst are implying that if you didn't get into the market before the boom it's no use investing now. WHY? Again I ask Why? When you get down to it and talk with real estate professional in the local market you...

Today is a beautiful day to shop for a home in the Staunton, Waynesboro, Stuarts Draft or Charlottesville, Virginia area or anywhere for that matter?  Below you are a few helpful tips to keep in mind.Few things in your life will be as exciting or nerve racking as locating and purchasing a home ra...

As REALTORS® we are held to a high standard because what we do affects the lives of others. (As do the actions of loan officers & appraisers) If we are careless or sloppy we are reported to the board and the board looks into the matter. Then a decision is made whether the complaint is substantial...

What a "Month That Was"!!!!  Here is Charlottesville, Virginia the Spring Market has definitely been heating up.  Our office has out paced March 2009 volume by over 33%.  I would love to hear from other parts of the country with reports on how the market is doing in your neck of the woods.  I hav...

A wonderful thing happened last week.  Perseverance paid off again.  A future client (also known as a prospect) made contact with me wanting to look at property.  So you say what is so unusual about this?  Well this couple met me for the first time at an open house almost 5 years ago.  At that ti...

At a time when most of us are seeing more and more short sales & forclosures we are also hearing more & more horror stories about problems with lenders.  Being non responsive, calling at the last minute to request information that had been sent weeks earlier, never getting to speak to the same pe...

Are we doing everything we can to prepare and educate our buyers for the home buying process?  Are we asking the right questions during our interview process?   How far should we be going in this process?  Do we really know exactly what they are looking for?  There have been agents starting with ...

During this time of the year we all love a good story.  Much of what we hear on the news is not so good and at time downright depressing.  So as a well know Eagles song goes "GET OVER IT". If you have a First Time Home Buyer story you would like to share I can't think of a better forum.  Just thi...

Yesterday while preparing to teach a CE class on contracts I was doing a little research and took a look at our current Real Estate Board newletter VREB Speaking. The second paragraph on the front page caught my attention.  It went on to relate that although there has been a decrease in our numbe...