Browsing Category Regional

Drought upon us?

Checking the local water levels here, it would appear that we have no problems with water. Or you go go to the RWSA home page to get more current data.6/23/05Reservoir Levels Total % Remaining 98.1%Sugar Hollow FullRagged Mtn. -1.54South Rivanna FullIf we as a region do not 1) plan and implement said plans adequately, we could face a world of problems.

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New commuter rail service?

They hope to see the Virginia Railway Express, or VRE, extend its service to Charlottesville. From WINA.Not a bad idea, particularly in light of the fact that Amtrak service may be stopping.I think that in general, more efficient, non-auto transportation is a good thing. But how would our market be affected if more Northern Va and DC residents moved here to commute to DC?

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Charlottesville is the best new place to drink wine

Life Magazine has named Charlottesville as The Best New Place to Drink Wine. Twenty-one wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail make this the perfect weekend get away for wine lovers.1. Charlottesville, VA: Best New Place to Drink Wine; Twenty-one wineries on the Monticello Wine Trail combined with the lack of snooty angst makes this town the perfect weekend tour.Not a bad category in which to place first, in my opinion.

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It’s all relative

I was showing property in the 29 North corridor this afternoon/evening to some clients from Northern Virginia…. Driving 20 minutes to dinner may be becoming the norm, unless you happen to live within reasonable walking distance…. Growth has added much traffic but is also bringing in new restaurants and shops – we will finally have a good seafood restaurant!

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Bubble Talk

You’ll also lose the tax deduction for mortgage interest.”Stocks can be sold in seconds, but it may take two to four months to complete a real estate transaction,” NAR’s Yun says. A stock transaction can be had for less than $10, whereas selling a house results in outlays in the thousands for commissions and closing costs.”The real question,” says Randall Guttery, a professor of real estate at the University of North Texas, “is what do you do with the money” you made from selling your house?This is the real quandary that those in the Charlottesville market face…. As a community, we have to ensure that we maintain the vibrance and reasons why people move here, lest we start to resemble a certain region to the north of Culpeper.

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Market Trends

From the most recent CAAR news monthly – Statistics show that the average consumer follows a well-defined housing cycle…. uses statistical averages to define the housing cycle as follows:By Age 25 – Become apartment dwellers
By Age 33 – Become first-time homebuyers
By Age 44 – Trade-up to a larger home
By Age 52 – Buy a vacation home
By Age 65 – Buy a retirement homeOf course these are “average” homebuyers which we all know don’t exist, but the cycle is valid in predicting the market trends. If we apply this housing cycle to the generation waves (boomers, X’ers, and the new-boomers), we can easily and accurately predict housing trends.These numbers are wildly off-base for the Charlottesville/Central Virginia market.

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