Browsing Category Albemarle

Homes sold through June 30 in Charlottesville and Albemarle

Prepping for Mid-Year 2014 Market Update

in Albemarle on

Looking briefly at the homes that have gone under contract in Albemarle and Charlottesville from 1 January to 30 June (June’s not yet over as of this writing) and if you do the math, you’ll see that this year’s market is (broadly) moving a bit faster than last year’s. I’m looking forward to digging into the numbers.

Halfway through 2014 and the market remains odd. Low inventory in some market segments, high inventory in others, houses hitting the market prior to hitting the MLS more often than I’ve ever seen, new construction prices increasing rapidly, new developments selling like crazy, and I’m starting to look at data to figure out what the market’s been doing.

Here’s a little bit of data looking at some price range statistics for Charlottesville and Albemarle so far this year – June 2014.

Questions, comments about the market? Let me know.

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Monday Reading – 16 June 2014

in Albemarle Charlottesville General Real Estate on

– This should be required reading – 8 Surprise expenses for homeowners. Changing locks, pest control … in something as rare as a purple dinosaur eating a banana in the middle of a soccer stadium talking on a cell phone, many of the comments are useful.

– City of Charlottesville City Council will discuss Belmont Bridge and the Albemarle Planning Commission will discuss downtown Crozet’s possible renovation, among other big meetings.

– This part of the conceptual plan for West Main Street is absurd:

Another change that the street could see is the addition of elevated and protected bicycle lanes on both sides of the road. Providing bike lanes that are protected from on-street parking could help to reduce the number of bicycle accidents that have occurred along the road.

“The bike lanes will probably mostly be used by people who are tootling along, a little slower, maybe have children on bikes, and it’s a safer environment,” said committee member Rachel Lloyd. “People who are really moving can go in the vehicular lanes.”

Instead of elevated bike lanes, why not protected ones?

– There is so much to the pocket listing conversation; it’s fascinating that Colorado’s Real Estate Commission may be entering the fray. I wrote about pocket listings last year and earlier this year in my note.

– Creepy. What data brokers know about you. One day soon, this will (openly) affect lending.

– This is a really interesting conversation on “what businesses should come to Crozet?” I missed the opportunity to better define the question – what anchor industries should come to Crozet? but the discussion was great all the same. Lots and lots of Facebook comments, too.

– With clients yesterday, we debated whether the folks who designed Stonefield were drunk or high. We concluded they were probably both.

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Charlottesville’s Homogenization Continues

in Albemarle Charlottesville on

Great story by Sean Tubbs with Charlottesville Tomorrow

Anderson’s Carriage Food House on Barracks Road and C’Ville Market on Carlton Avenue both closed for the final time on Friday, with managers of each store citing tough competition as one reason for going out of business.

Nice usage of “-monger” in the story, too.

Homogenization is not what makes Charlottesville special; but that’s economics.

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Jim Duncan's June 2014 Monthly Note

June 2014 Note – 5 Minutes!, the Market, Responsibility and Trust

in Albemarle Charlottesville Monthly Notes on

June’s monthly note begins (really, it begins a day or two after I publish last month’s note and takes shape around now-ish).

The working outline (for now) is coming together.

I have one or two other ideas to include and will likely pull out one or two included in the outline above. Notably, one of the most popular sections/segments/topics is the blog recap, in which I summarize the better of the previous month’s blog posts, both here and for RealCrozetVA. Either way, I’m looking forward to writing this month’s note.

Interested? Two easy clicks here and I’ll send you June’s note when it’s published. Usually the notes are no more than 1500 words. If you do choose to subscribe, you’ll be in great company; my mom usually likes my notes.

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The Proposed Solution for 29 North

in Albemarle Charlottesville General Real Estate on

29 is changing. What’s that mean?

– Lots of money is going to be spent.

– 29 is going to be more challenging for a number of years.

– Hopefully things will be better and more efficient when they’re finished.

– Page 6 of this PDF shows the roads that will touched by the $203 million – Hillsdale, Berkmar, 29 North, Rio, Hydraulic and the Best Buy ramp. Plus funding for Amtrak to DC (which I think is super-cool).

– The segmentation of Charlottesville – Albemarle will continue (more).

K. Burnell Evans reports that: (read the whole thing)

Albemarle County supervisors decided Tuesday to back a $203-million plan to address congestion and mobility on Albemarle County’s main artery.

Two hundred and three million dollars. To fix 29 North.

conceptual-rio-road-1.jpg

If you’re curious to learn more:

– Sean Tubbs at Charlottesville Tomorrow has an excellent recap of yesterday’s meeting and where we are now.

– Charlottesville Tomorrow

– Download the PDF of the final proposed plan.

– Read the thoughts at the Free Enterprise Forum.

– Southern Environmental Law Center

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What is the value of a Greenway?

in Albemarle Charlottesville Transportation on

Bikes on a deck in Charlottesville

What is the value of a green way to a buyer in today’s market?

Had an interesting conversation this morning in the Crozet Mudhouse with someone who was noting that the attitude shift toward greenways has shifted significantly in the past 10 years or so.

It used to be that real estate agents and developers and even buyers placed little to no value in having access to a means of passage that was not centered around an automobile.

Today, that attitude has shifted 180°.

Access to bike paths or suitable walking trails (for strollers) is an enormous asset. through my admittedly myopic view as seen through the eyes of my buyer clients who are seeking such access and proximity, and through the eyes of my seller clients who are advocating for the benefits of such access, I would say that the world has shifted in this respect.

In the Charlottesville Albemarle area my view is that the City of Charlottesville is fairly well poised to design and build more greenways and bike paths (hint: West Main). The County of Albemarle needs more will and more money. And they both need to work together to have the respective systems work together.

Worth noting is that the departments within the respective localities are filled with remarkable people doing remarkable work.

The market wants these things.

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