Willoughby – located in the southern part of the City is the only development that I am immediately aware of that straddles the City of Charlottesville and County of Albemarle. This unique aspect necessitates a decidedly more deliberate verification of school districts, as many families are want for their children to be located in either City or County schools…. Individually, each is a fine product, but combined they are far better and more marketable.Architecture – traditional that one would expect of homes built in the mid-1980s and 1990s, all well-kept three- to four- bedrooms with average to large yards.Garages/Basements – about 20% of the homes here have garages, and/or basements. More have basements than garages.Home prices – generally range from ~$250k-$350k for single-family and $190-$230k for attached homesTopography – gently rolling hills with more trees than one will find in a new development that has been clear-cut and the landscape leveled.Location – for those who are seeking proximity to the Downtown Mall area (~1 mile) or any of the University of Virginia schools – UVA Medical Center, UVA Grounds, etc – (on average ~1-2 miles) this neighborhood offers an exceptional location for those who don’t mind a relatively short bike ride, with very few hills!From a current resident (not Resident as far as I am aware):In the 3-1/2 years we’ve been there, I’ve personally known at least two UVA-affiliated doctors who’ve bought and moved in. We’ve also had our law student move in this past summer.
Browsing Category sideblog
Home sales are down – and up
Home sales plummet/tumbleNew-home sales rise to highest since April 2006. Seriously.Is there a turn-around imminent? Methinks we are making too much of too little; we won’t know what the market is doing until we can say with confidence what the market did.Perhaps the best analysis can be found at the Calculated Risk and the Big Picture.
Problems commenting
I upgraded Askimet the other day and at least one regular commenter has been blocked. I hope that that is resolved, but if anyone else is being blocked, please let me know. Since the change the other day, I have received over 1,000 comment spams…. Comment spam sucks.
Vacant houses
I’ve written about vacant houses before.In the Charlottesville/Central Virginia area*, there are 1709 residential properties on the market. 620 of these are vacant – a staggering 36%.Breaking the numbers down a hair more:1278 properties are not marked as “new construction.”38% of these are vacant. The 38% number surprised me a bit; I don’t know why, exactly.
Charlottesville Neighborhood – Fifeville
One realtor tried to market the area north and south of West Main Street as “midtown,” though it hasn’t really caught on.The city calls the area south of West Main “Fifeville” after the Fife family, who once owned a farm in this area…. According to a UVA oral history of the area, Castle Hill was home to prominent African Americans and whites at the turn of the 20th century, until, in 1912, the city resolved that it should be illegal for whites and blacks to live next to each other and “the whites moved away.”This law was struck down by the Supreme Court a few years later…. Joe Mallory, an African American man who grew up nearby, had been buying and renovating houses near the intersection with the help of the Piedmont Housing Alliance in 2002.Mallory’s efforts, along with a police crackdown on prostitution, the success of the Downtown Mall, the growth of the University, low interest rates, etc. drew investors, speculators, and homebuyers in search of value to Castle Hill…. The neighborhood association has succeeded in stopping (for now) two proposed condo projects, one on Estes Street, near Walker Square and the other at the corner of Ridge and Cherry.Proximity to the Downtown Mall and the UVA Medical Center (for those of us who work there) is the main attraction of Castle Hill.
Brace yourselves for the snowstorm
Those of you who get snow regularly, you may commence scoffing and snickering. Three inches of snow is a veritable blizzard. You too, Kristal.Stock up on bread, milk, water and sterno. However, Accuweather says:Considerable cloudiness with snow with little or no accumulation in the afternoonWill Channel 29 break out the red jackets?Will schools be closed?
Search for homes on Yahoo
Data is not complete, but it’s a start …… Via the Yahoo Blog. Here are Charlottesville Schools (Albemarle County, while not part of Charlottesville City is included in “Charlottesville.” That you can refine by Public, Private and Charter is great.The Future of Real Estate Marketing has an interesting interview with Michael Yang, GM of Yahoo Real Estate.