Tina in Virginia - Real Estate and Musings from the Commonwealth

Last year, my husband, son and I went to India to live for 3 1/2 months while my husband took a temporary assignment for his company.  We left the United States the day after Thanksgiving.  Yes, I was somehow able to work remotely from India - that's a whole other story. To say I was in for an a...

I've had many conversations with bloggers about Active Rain blogs vs. "real" blogs; i.e. a blog hosted by Wordpress or Livejournal. As a contestant in the Virginia Real Estate Blog Brawl 2, I was even beginning to feel "amateur-ish" with my Active Rain blog as my entry. After trading a few email...

Seth Godin wrote a blog post about this today.  Unfortunately, he had purchased a Kitchen Aid teakettle which produced melted plastic in his hand.  Upon calling the "customer service" number for Kitchen Aid, Seth was greeted with a 9 prompt message which, after wasting a good bit of his time, tol...

The Virginia Real Estate Blog Brawl is moving on to Round #3 and I would greatly appreciate your vote! I have some very well respected competition and am truly honored to be competing with these fellow bloggers! Please visit www.varbuzz.com today and vote! CLICK TO VIEW LISTING WEBSITE Descriptio...

Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads area is still faring better than the national average when it comes to real estate values and properties in forecloasure. According to our REIN-MLS statistics, of the 14,153 residential homes currently on the market in Hampton Roads, 620 (or 4.38%) are foreclo...

As the weather turns colder and the days shorter, many people tend to go inside and hibernate.  So, how do we make a house feel warm and inviting enough for potential buyers and agents to come out, see it and hopefully, make an offer?  Here are a few tips.... 1.  Use a for sale sign with a solar ...

According to Forbes Magazine, Virginia Beach and the surrounding area (called Hampton Roads; even though no one outside of this area would ever be able to mark "Hampton Roads" on a map) is the #6 "Best Place to Ride Out the Recession" and 1 of only 2 resort areas to make the list (Honolulu, HI wa...

I need your help here......I have some VERY tough competition. The "Sensational 16" have been released for the Virginia Real Estate Blog Brawl and TinainVirginia.com has made it to round 1! Thank you to everyone who nominated my blog.  Your votes are greatly appreciated, even though I'll be payi...

Trulia has a new feature for your clients - Listing Reports.  This is a great way to keep in touch with your sellers - especially when there may be few showings on their house.  This lets them know that there is still activity on their property. With Trulia’s Client Listing Report, you have a pro...

When I first started in real estate abut 11 years ago, I was told it was "company policy" that I apply for and become a member of the local, state and national Realtor Associations. I've never been one who thrives on conformity.  I didn't like the "policy" and I let that be known.  Other than a C...