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Will the Western Bypass Ever be Built?

in Albemarle Charlottesville Politics Transportation on

Who knows if and when the Western Bypass will be built? Know this – lots of people will show up to comment on it. Again.

A vote on the resolution could follow the hearing, set to begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the County Office Building’s Lane Auditorium. That session is expected to stretch into the night and generate huge turnout, the latest turn in the enduring saga of the Western Bypass of U.S. 29.

I asked years ago a question about the Meadowcreek (John Warner) Parkway that could (and should, in a reasonable world) be asked of the Western Bypass – How would they design the Western Bypass today, with today’s human settlement and development patterns in place?

The answer is that the road would likely be a very different solution. Because implementing infrastructure solutions in the Charlottesville – Albemarle region takes a minimum of 30-50 years, plans should change, but they won’t.

I know this –

– The proponents aren’t going to give up just because the road is a flawed design. Terminating at Forest Lakes is the wrong terminus – it was probably the right location 30 years ago, but now it should dump traffic north of the Charlottesville Albemarle Airport, probably north of the UVA North Fork Research Park and really should terminate in Greene County. Those necessary changes aren’t going to happen.

– The opponents are accused of using flawed data as are the proponents, whenever these arguments arise. They don’t want the bypass and disregard the studies saying that the Western Bypass will save time.

– I just wish there was unbiased data and analysis by which the citizens could make informed decisions. I also wish that unicorns were real and

Charlottesville Tomorrow has the most comprehensive coverage of the Western Bypass, including the proposed route(s). Check out their CvillePedia page on the Western Bypass too.

Update – Interesting analysis and commentary comes to us today from the C-Ville.

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Why Are Charlottesville Home Prices So Much More Expensive than Where I’m From?

in Albemarle Charlottesville on

moonrise 2

I hear this a lot. “Why are homes in Charlottesville so much more expensive than where I’m moving from

I hate to say this, but the answer starts with because. And expensive is relative – it depends on where you’re coming from. But yes, we tend to have higher housing costs than many other parts of the state and country. But we also offer a remarkable location – close to hiking and mountains, a short drive or train ride to DC, Richmond is less than an hour away.

But I also say this having represented buyers who have chosen to not relocate to the Charlottesville area because I showed them homes that just didn’t fit what they could get back home, I’ve represented buyers who have made compromises on what type, style, size home, and I’ve represented buyers who’ve found exactly what they were looking for.

– Because Charlottesville truly is a great place to live.

– Because of supply and demand – a lot of people choose to live here.

– Because quite a few people see Charlottesville as a destination location – they either move here and keep their jobs in Seattle or LA or Boston or – or they are retired or semi-retired. Many want to live in a college town where one of the biggest negatives is choosing between the things to do in your free time.

– Because CharlAlbemarle is always on some kind of best list .

– Because you can get most places in 20 minutes or less. (when I was a kid, it was 13-15 minutes, and today sometimes that 17 minute drive takes 40 – but still.)

Because. And I’m not the only one … Spend a few minutes reading the great comments and discussion we had about this topic on Twitter and Facebook. It’s truly a great conversation with insight from people who live here, grew up here who no longer live here and clients whom I’ve represented. Really. Read the comments.

If you’re curious, here’s some data I pulled – just for single family homes in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson Counties –

– Sales and Inventory history 2001 – 2004

– Sales and Inventory history 2005 – 2009

– Sales and Inventory history 2010 – 2014

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Wegmans Finally Coming to Charlottesville

in Affordability Charlottesville on

Wegmans will be pushing dirt in March. The plan will go the to Albemarle County Architectural Review Board (never a non-daunting task) on Monday, Chris Stover at the Newsplex reports.

I’ve had clients tell me that they wanted to move to the south side of Charlottesville specifically because a Wegmans grocery store was coming there. Now it’s actually coming. I doubt I’ll go there other than to satiate my curiosity and to tell my clients that I’ve been there.

Is Wegmans better than Trader Joe’s? I went there a couple times after they opened but Stonefield isn’t my favorite place, and Trader Joe’s newness wore off quickly.

That said, being close to “stuff” that matters is important and this is a huge positive for all of the neighborhoods on that side of Charlottesville – Redfields, Mosby Mountain, the soon-to-break-ground Whittington, Mill Creek when the connector road is finished …

Two questions

– Will the Food Lion survive?

– Why will folks who live on this side of town go to 29 North now?

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Transportation, Air Quality and Preservation Development

in General Real Estate on

I Could Live Here

I took the above photo the other day when showing a house in Nelson County. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the beauty that surrounds us in Charlottesville.

– Take the 8 minutes to listen to this story. Replace “Austin” with “CharlAlbemarle” – Austin or Aspen? Is a question ask of Charlottesville and a comparison to Charlottesville often made. But – do we want their traffic challenges? NPR notes – Even An 85 MPH Highway Can’t Fix Austin’s Traffic Tangle … and then you have this story from Wired – Public Transit Is Underfunded Because the Wealthy Don’t Rely on It. Huh.

– And the Western Bypass saga continues. How long has the Western Bypass been in discussion/planning/debate/contention?

– The downzoning of West Main – in light of the recent spate of apartment buildings, it’s not surprising that City Council wants to take a breather. But at least one of the choices to preserve is bizarre.

– Forget Golf Courses: Subdivisions Draw Residents With Farms

-The only two areas in Charlottesville that resemble this are Farm Colony in Greene (a fantastic neighborhood) and Bundoran Farm in Southern Albemarle. Local food matters, and how much more local could you get than your own neighborhood?

– Your Neighborhood Significantly Influences the Air You Breathe – Something to consider when you’re evaluating where to live.

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How Do you Feel about Paying for Each Mile you Drive?

in General Real Estate Politics Transportation on

Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1p97m6/the_hovenring_is_a_suspended_bicycle_path/

Would you prefer to raise the gas tax or pay for each mile you drive? America’s infrastructure is crumbling. Literally. How might we pay for it?

Proposals for taxing vehicles’ miles traveled have been around for a long time.

A quick search on Richmond Sunlight shows that this bill “Motor fuel tax; joint subcommittee to study replacement with mileage-based fee. (HJ626)” failed to make it out of committee in 2009.

Virginia’s Department of Transportation released a study in December 2008 that addressed many of the options available for a VMT tax:

One alternative widely proposed to the fuel tax is a “Vehicle Miles Traveled” (VMT) tax. Under this system, drivers pay a fee based on miles traveled rather than a tax on the amount of fuel used. The VMT tax concept can serve broader policy aims as well, by enabling policy makers to set variable fees in different network areas to reduce congestion during peak travel times, a critical and worsening issue in some metropolitan areas.

Some specific possible implications for real estate:

– Real estate agents might be less inclined to do full-day tours for incoming buyers
– I’d be tempted to encourage more drive-bys of homes and drive-throughs of areas than I do already
– We might see further hyper-local focus on areas and neighborhoods. When I was a new real estate agent in 2001, I used to go all over. As my career developed and gas prices went up, my geographical range for representation has shrunk. I tend to not go to Trevillians or Faber or Pratts very often anymore.
– Increase in bicycle use? Right now in most European countries, bikes are outselling cars. This, I’d say, is a good thing.
– Human settlement patterns may see even more trending towards denser urbanization.
– Higher demand for public transportation.

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How to Search for a Home in Charlottesville (Without a Realtor)

in Albemarle Charlottesville General Real Estate on

Part 1 of at least 2. Part 2 coming next Wednesday.

Home buyers like the inter webs. Fact. What follows are steps to search for a home in the Charlottesville area – without engaging a real estate agent (we’ll get to why it’s usually crucial to hire quality buyer representation).

NAR 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers - Print.pdf (page 1 of 4).jpg

I first wrote You’re Going about It all Wrong – Or How to Search for Homes in Charlottesville (Without a Realtor) in early 2009 and thought nearly 4 years was sufficient time to warrant an update.

In 2009, I asked a particularly well-informed buyer client if she’d mind describing her search process. Today’s post updates the process for 2013.

How do you search for homes in Charlottesville? (Charlottesville meaning: Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Nelson, Louisa)

1. Your IDX home search site– Browse the map for affordable homes in places I want to live. Or, check the local MLS for new listings and then look on IDX to see if there is more information there. Now, a lot of people are using our site at Nest to search for homes as we’ve put together a great area search and educational section as well. (I don’t particularly care for Zillow or Trulia for searching for homes to see today or this week; but for supporting and ancillary information, they’re great).

2. Look up the found home on Charlottesville City Assessment (Ed note: or Albemarle County or Fluvanna or Louisa, etc.) website to find:

a. Tax Assessment price (In my opinion, assessed values have little to no correlation to what a property’s actual market value would be)

b. Who owns it? Does the owner live there? This often leads to another search on the City Assessment website for the owner’s name to see how many properties the owner has. Do the owners seem to be in good financial shape or have they made a lot of bad decisions (i.e. may need to get rid of the property to stay above water)?

c. Check for any inconsistencies in square ft, room numbers, etc between MLS listing and tax assessment.

d. Look at pictures to see how different the home looked a few years back. (note: this leads to a separate rant about Realtors stripping the MLS of photos of their listings when the listing expires/sells – this kills the accuracy and historical context of the MLS and devalues the MLS as a useful thing.)

e. Study transfer information to see when house was last sold, what it sold for, when it may have had work done, etc.

Realtors have access to a pretty useful (and underused) tool called RPR which allows us to compare the current listing to the previous ones.

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