Back when the economy was good—and we were all rich—we bought a house we didn’t like very much.

“Now’s the time to buy!” we were told. “You don’t want to be stuck renting forever—if you don’t buy now, the prices will keep going up and up! Think of the resale value!”

So in 2005, we waived the inspection, the warranty, and a large chunk of our desires for the chance to own a house.

We were lucky and have now moved—even selling last summer—after we discovered we actually weren’t all rich after all. The young man who bought from us was a first-time home buyer taking advantage of the government’s $8,000 first-time homebuyer’s credit (or $6500 for certain non-first-time buyers who meet IRS criteria), which buyers can only take advantage of until the end of this month.

I spoke with William E. Wood realtor Lauren Conner on pros and cons of renting versus owning in this market—as well as green building, urbanization and development, and the importance of a realtor in the internet age.

The first-time homebuyer’s credit ends April 30. What exactly would a buyer have to accomplish by that date?

You’ve got to be under contract by April 30, which means you’ve got to go out and find a property, secure the property. Then you have to negotiate the offer. And as long as it’s under contract, and it’s ratified—meaning you’ve come to terms on the price, you’ve come to terms on the date of closing and all those types of issues–then you’re ratified. You’re under contract. Then you have to close before June 30. That’ll make you eligible for either the $8,000 or the $6,500.

We have a lot of readers living in Norfolk who may qualify for this. However, with the economy as it is, they may not feel comfortable taking the plunge. Can you give us a breakdown of pros and cons in the “rent versus buy” debate as it relates to Norfolk?

There are always pros and cons and sometimes it’s not the right time for someone to buy. As a real estate agent, I’m prone to tell you it’s absolutely always the right time. [Laughs.] But it’s not. It’s going to go case by case and be an individual thing. If you have been looking and you’re educated as to the market and you know what you want, to get under contract by now and April 30 makes sense.

If you don’t do it, you’re going to kiss $8000 in federal stimulus goodbye. And I don’t think it will be renewed again. So, if you know you’re going to buy and you’re moving in that direction anyway, and you’re prepared, you’d be foolish not to want to.

However, I would also say: Don’t go buy a house for $8,000. Don’t let that be your motivator. You’ve got to do some research. You’ve got to run a lot of background stuff. So I would counsel people to not run out to buy a house to get $8,000 because you’re going to be married to this house for a long time. Don’t do it just based on that. But if you’re in the market and you know you’re going to do it, by all means these should be the biggest two weeks of your life…in terms of real estate, that is.

With Norfolk concentrating more on an urban lifestyle (ie: light rail, construction of new apartment/condo buildings, etc), do you see the market for condominiums growing stronger in this area—versus traditional houses? Are there pros and cons to condo versus house purchasing if the reader decided to buy versus rent? Can you name a few?

For Norfolk, [this revitalization], it’s big. It’s exciting.

[Conner then turned the question on me.] Do you own? What have you owned?

We first had a co-op, then a house, and now a different house.

[She quizzed my motivations.] Why update from the co-op to the first house?

A driveway.

Then on to the next house?

Better neighborhood, better location.

Ghent, Norfolk.

You are a prime example. You did ‘the next level’. People start out young. They can only afford a condo or a co-op. So then the next level should be a little bit more and usually you aspire to that driveway, that single-family house—and you don’t want to be driving circular looking for ‘where am I gonna park to carry seven bags of groceries up the steps?’ That’s normal. Skip on to a generation above you and they’re moving down. They want to be able to lock it up and go (less maintenance).

Any new trends on condo amenities?

Some condos haven’t sold. The city’s done studies and realized there’s a need for rentals. It’s a balancing act between buyers and renters. Now because it’s such a good time to be buying if you’re going to buy, you have tons of condos to choose from and sellers are more motivated. Sellers are also providing incentives. They’re paying condo fees for a year. In some cases they’re paying for parking. In some cases they’re providing a home warranty. Things that sellers weren’t doing in years past they’re starting to do now.

Buyers are tending to downsize. It’s not so much the vastness of space they’re looking for as really well utilized space. You don’t need three stories so your heat will rise.

Any new trends in home purchasing/updating? A lot of homes in Norfolk are older (mine is 1918 for example). What are some affordable things you see people doing to either improve their home for themselves or for resale?

It depends. People aren’t looking for big giant spaces anymore. They’re looking to utilize the space wisely. Kitchens and bathrooms are always the big-ticket items. That’s what sells a property if it’s already done. There seems to be this trend that everything’s Pottery Barn. Every house I show now, they look the same…the blues, the browns. The furniture’s all identical. It’s a very spartan, clean, clear look, which is good, but it’s also a lot of sameness.

I’m working with a couple now who have rented in Ghent for years and they have their first child and that’s a motivating factor for them to leave the apartment and go into a house. So they’ve been looking over in Larchmont. They’re doing the ‘next step’. And I think the child motivated a lot of that. They wanted to have a space for the child to play in the yard. That’s the natural transition.

Or the dogs to have a yard!

Of course!! Isn’t that also a ‘next step’ in itself? Start with the dogs to see if you like the responsibility before having the kids?

GreenBuildIt's LEED-certified home on Colonial Ave in Park Place.

There is a LEED home on Colonial Ave. right now, and I assume there may be more in the area.

There’s another one—I sold it in Lambert’s Point. This young couple—a Navy couple—went through the whole process of building this and it was great. I learned a lot and the builder learned a lot—it was his first green home.

They had this home built and their major motivation, bar none, was the green aspect. It was a huge process—and the builder had to go through and get approved and there was coursework that he had to take. It really was an in-depth procedure. You don’t just get a designation as a green builder—you go through a lot. It’s a big deal.

What do you think the motivation was in building these homes in Park Place and Lambert’s Point? Cheaper property to offset the expense of building a home from scratch?

You know, they use recycled materials, so some aspects of it actually cost less in construction than you would think. And there are more than two. There are now communities that are gearing around that, so you will find more and more of them out there.

Look at some of the new ones that are being built in Chesapeake. A lot of green has been incorporated into the construction. It’s really starting to have a bigger impact and I think part of what’s driving that is young people are demanding it.

Speaking of young people and their market demands, going back to urbanization, it’s also trendy now to go ‘back to the city’. Whereas decades ago, the idea was to fly to the suburbs. What are you seeing in buyers looking in Norfolk? What does Norfolk excel at and what does it need?

Some of the things that motivate—first of all we’re a transient community. They’re drawn to this area if they’re an EVMS student—they want to be living in Norfolk because they don’t want to commute. If they’re military—to get to the base, to not have to face 264, to not have to do all that—it’s huge.

You’ve got ODU. Parents are buying condos for their students because this is an investment, rather than dumping the rent for four years, the parents are going to get some sort of trade-off here, hopefully via appreciation. Plus, they’re going to orchestrate where their son or daughter is living. So, I think there is a real draw to living in Norfolk for more groups of people than you think. Those folks retiring, you can walk to the library, you can walk to shopping, you can walk to things. There’s a trend where people want to do that. I just wish light rail would go from the Navy base, through downtown, and all the way out to the beach. And I know you have to start somewhere.

Lastly, this is the internet age, where buyers are online learning about all the homes they want to look at or purchase before even meeting with the realtor…

Your agent may not know every detail of a room. The buyer has had time to study every picture of that house online. What you get with a realtor is the benefit of what they have been working on for all these years. Keep in mind even though they might not be the most tech savvy—though you need them to be to some degree—doesn’t mean you’re not getting a wealth of wisdom that only comes from experience—to at least tell people what to ask for.