Local Elections Matter – Charlottesville and Albemarle Edition

in Albemarle Charlottesville Growth Politics on

The Virginia Public Access Project - Albemarle County

Local elections matter immensely – they’re where our growth, land use, property taxes, police and more relevant policies are implemented. I’ll be writing about the Albemarle, Charlottesville and Greene elections more as we get nearer to the elections, but for now, three of the most important resources available for Charlottesville and Albemarle and local/state politics, respectively are:

– Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Candidate Forum Calendar. They will be posting their comprehensive Election Guide soon.

– VPAP, the Virginia Public Access Project tracks money in elections. Sadly, it appears that Albemarle and Charlottesville are the only two local localities participating.

— Albemarle – So far, $86,303 is being reported as having been raised between the three races. Duane Snow is getting killed in fundraising – Liz Palmer reporting nearly $30k versus his $8,500
— Charlottesville – So far, about $12k is being reported as having been raised. Will this be the year a non-Democrat gets elected to City Council?

– C-Ville’s recent Albemarle County Supervisor interviews. Rio District, Samuel Miller and Jack Jouett.

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The HooK Closes

in General Real Estate Off-topic on

Damn.

One of the most pressing questions is posed on cvillenews:

And what of The Hook’s website? There are 12 years of vital, historically significant news coverage there, available to anybody using Google. The loss of that archive—like the once-deep web-based archives of The Cavalier Daily, WINA, and The Observer—would be terrible. What’s the plan to maintain that?

There has to be a plan – even a community plan – to fund the archives’ existence in perpetuity.

The Internet Archive isn’t going to cut it.

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September’s Monthly Note – Google Glass, Negligence and a Recap

in Shameless Self Promotion on

Choosing to not publish archives in my monthly notes is one of the more difficult decisions I’ve made this year.

I wanted to focus on the moment, the content and the reader. Not being able to link back to last month’s note forces me to focus on writing right now and to write more descriptively and concisely; I don’t have “see last month” or ” … in February I noted” as a literary crutch.

That said, I’ve found great enjoyment in writing these monthly notes – target audience being my readers here, consumers, and admittedly other real estate professionals (but I have yet to think about writing for that segment other than, “I better not write that – other Realtors read this.”

If you find subscribing to near-daily emails from my real estate blog too much (I probably would) you might find that my monthly notes, including a summary of the more notable posts of the previous month, valuable.

If you’re inclined, you can subscribe to my monthly notes here (it’s a two-step process).

Brief outline of September’s note:

– Market Update (a monthly feature)

– Lead and septic

– Nest Party

– Recap of August on my blogs

– a couple other things

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Crozet Library is Open

in Albemarle General Real Estate on

In planning since at least 1987, Crozet’s new library is open.

Crozet Library - opening soon

I have represented a few clients who have purchased in Crozet in part due to the new Crozet Library. It’s going to be interesting to see how it, and the area around it, evolves over the coming years.

This is why Crozet needed a bigger library.

If you’re curious about the Crozet Library saga, you can start here.

No public plans as of yet as to what will become of the old Crozet Library, but it’d make a great restaurant … but for the lack of parking.

Update – I took a few photos today when my daughter and I went into the Crozet Library for the first time. It’s a pretty fantastic building.

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Do Sellers in Charlottesville Pay Buyers’ Closing Costs?

in Market statistics on

Sometimes a post in which I pull data to answer a question becomes a bit more than intended. This is such a post.

– Do sellers pay closing costs? – Are we at a sustainable volume of closed transactions? – FHA is helping foreclosed buyers.

Do the sellers pay closing costs? Is one of the more common questions I get, whether I’m representing buyers or sellers.

A quick look at 2013 so far, 1991 homes have sold in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson. Of those, 518 have something entered into the “seller concessions” field in the Charlottesville MLS, so presumably, about 26% of transactions this year have had some sort of seller concessions.

Last year those numbers were 1,864, 556 and 29%, respectively.**

But really .. what do “seller concessions” mean?

– The seller “paid” the buyers’ closing costs. (not really)

– The buyer is financing the closing costs over the life of the loan.

in other words:

– The seller is accepting a lower net offer

– The buyer is paying a higher net offer.

For example – if a seller is asking $450k and the buyer offers $440k with the seller “paying” $10k towards the buyers’ closing costs, the seller is looking at a net offer of $430k. The seller doesn’t care how that’s structured; they’re looking at a net offer of $430k.

** Just because I’m naturally curious, I looked at the number of closed transactions in the Charlottesville MSA in the January – August timeframe in 2007 … 2,336. And 2006 … 2,824. So, from a pure volume perspective, our market is down 30% from the peak. As noted in 2012 – I’ll Know Housing Recovery in Charlottesville When I’ve Seen It

Transactions – volume of transactions – what is normal volume of sales transactions in the Charlottesville MSA? I don’t know; homeownership rates are declining. Last year, 1755 single family homes sold in the Charlottesville MSA (including Louisa). In 2002, 2479 single family homes sold. I’d put the “sustainable” rate of single family home sales somewhere in between those two numbers.

We might be getting close to a sustainable recovery.

One sign of the recovery that I called years ago? Those who were foreclosed on are now eligible for new loans – a year after foreclosure.

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C-Ville and The Western Bypass

in Albemarle Charlottesville Politics Transportation on

Graelyn Brashear’s story in C-Ville on the Western Bypass is remarkable; its depth, range, imagery and clarity are outstanding. Take 30 minutes to read it.

Also notable is C-Ville’s presentation of the story; it’s useful and makes a subject of this breadth easier to digest. I particularly like the Medium-like commenting, which is particularly useful for a story of this length. Really, go see it and read it.

The Western Bypass debate/conversation/saga has been ongoing for so long that it’s often impossible for anyone – even long-time residents of Charlottesville (read: Charlottesville + Albemarle + Central Virginia) to fathom or comprehend the scope of both the proposed road and the political/business/transportation dynamics of the Western Bypass (and our region’s collective inability to efficiently solve transportation and planning challenges).

The C-Ville story is an outstanding summary.

I know this:

– Route 29 is a disaster. Hydraulic/29 and Rio/29

– For years, many of my clients target their home search locations as either “not North of Rio” or “not North of Hydraulic”

– The current termination of the Western Bypass is silly

… the current design of the northern terminus is flawed: Northbound traffic from the Bypass is dumped out onto Route 29 just before the light at Ashwood, where the highway narrows from three lanes to two.

I mean, really?

– I’ve told my clients for years that transportation is one of the Charlottesville-Albemarle area’s greatest detractors

– Charlottesville and Albemarle – and the entire region need to be involved in this conversation, not just “the City” or “the County”

Something has to be done, but it really needs to be done 25 years ago. The best solution? I don’t know, but I know that the flawed current proposal is severely flawed. If only our system allowed for a reasonable debate instead of politicians and interest groups fighting rather than compromising.

All this as another anti-Western Bypass group motivates.

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Charlottesville – Albemarle Transportation in 2040

in Albemarle Charlottesville Politics Transportation on

What do you think transportation in Charlottesville – Albemarle should/will be in 2040?

The Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is proud to announce the launch the 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) website at www.tjpdc.org/lrtp.

Tonight between 5pm and 7pm would be a good time to start providing your input.

By 2040, maybe the Western Bypass extension will be close to being planned. And we’ll have thought about where the next growth areas will be.

Before we know it, 27 years will have passed. Better to get involved now.

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