Charlottesville's Real Estate Blog. Buyer &/or Seller Representation, Real Estate News
We’re still reeling from the effects of the homebuyer tax credit and relaxing in the traditional late-summer lull, but I think we may see a pickup this August and September. I also think we may be in the eye of the hurricane.
… the numbers don’t add up because three of the 192 were “proposed” – meaning new construction. They’re not supposed to count towards the numbers, but such are the vagaries of the MLS.
One of the most common criteria I get from families looking for homes in the Charlottesville area is – We want to live in a neighborhood that has a lot of kids .
…So a broker who says something like, “There are tons of little kids in this building neighborhood “it’s really family friendly” could be accused of specifically steering families to the building and driving people without children away from it.
Really.
Frankly, as an architect who has specialized in building rehabilitation, renovation, restoration, and repair for nigh on 22 years, I share a sentiment that pervades the historic preservation community, including the staff at the Commonwealth Department of Historic Resources: This is free money.
…The house must be a) listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register or b) a “contributing structure†to a Virginia Landmarks Register District or c) judged “register eligible.†… If Landmark District designation is officially pending, and your house is listed as contributing to that District, you may proceed with your rehabilitation project. … Oh, if, at any point during this process, you cannot resist the urge to paint your house lime green, or international orange, or white with red polka dots, there’s no rule or regulation or tax credit standard that will stop you from doing so.
“If we can reduce the number of parking spaces needed, then we can save that land for a higher and better use, which for us would be classrooms,†said Julia Monteith, UVa’s senior land use officer, at Wednesday’s meeting of the regional Metropolitan Planning Organization. … As part of the program, the school’s transit service entered into a reciprocity program with the Charlottesville bus system, started a car-sharing program and made it cheaper for those who carpool to park. … “ Instead of just focusing on how cars move around Grounds, we [wanted to] be able to look at more multi-modal transportation and be thinking about this in more of a forward-thinking way ,†Monteith said. … If we could just get the City of Charlottesville and the County of Albemarle to look forward in a similar way – focusing on doing rather than studying – we would all benefit.
The lockbox doesn’t work and apparently hasn’t worked for many months; another Charlottesville Realtor told me that he had tried to show the house five times, to no avail … seven months ago. … But I’m left agreeing with my clients that the Realtor isn’t doing his job, that the house might have been worth something nine months ago. … Think about this – nearly 28% of the houses currently on the market in the Charlottesville MSA are vacant – that’s about 700 homes. … About 155 homes have been on the market for at least a year . 72 of these vacant homes have been on the market for at least 600 days.
Worst sentence/idea I've read in years. http://post.ly/ndRb # Stopped into Greenwood Grocery for a sandwich, ended up tasting & getting a bottle of Cardinal Point's Rockfish Red. # Good news, bad news about West End traffic | Augusta Free Press http://post.ly/na2S # Life would be easier if my MLS displayed "last sold date & price" alongside current asking price & full price history. #RPR (?)…
As always, ignore data prior to November … Condo/attached home median prices seem to be declining a bit; these could be caused in part by the Walker Square condos that recently saw significant price reductions across the board. Prices over the past 90 days seem stable, as do the recent 7-day rolling averages. Inventory seems to be picking up …