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April 2014 Monthly Note – The Market, Reading Suggestions and Septic Systems

in General Real Estate on

One of the best things I do every month is write my monthly note. Really.

This month’s note is quite interesting – I’m looking at my audience, the reasons for unsubscribing, and I’m taking a bold step in how I define the need for septic system inspections. But one of the highlights being a note from a client that exemplifies and highlights why I do what I do – and why I work so damn hard to assemble the right team for my clients.

I’m also inclined to touch on representation and an anger/sadness-inducing phone call I received in the past few weeks.

Interested in the Charlottesville market and round up of the stories from RealCentralVA and RealCrozetVA? Two clicks is all it takes to subscribe.

Posting early next week; I’d have published this week but I wanted to get a few more days of MLS data before I pull and write about the market data.

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March 2014 Note – Coaching Soccer, Market Update, Client Thoughts

in Albemarle Charlottesville General Real Estate Shameless Self Promotion on

I’m aiming to publish by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Curious or interested in reading some stuff I’ll likely never publish elsewhere? Too many posts in a month and you want just one email a month in which I recap some of the better stories from the previous month? Two clicks and you can subscribe.

March-2014-monthly-note.jpg

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Do You Know What You Don’t Know about County Public Meetings?

in Albemarle Charlottesville Growth Politics on

What happens in public hearings affects darn near everyone.

So much happens in Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meetings that the public doesn’t find out about – and then get up in arms about, or support – until it (whatever it is) is too far along to change.

I try my best to follow what happens in these meetings as I think it’s part of my job to know more than my clients – whether buyers or sellers. I need to know what might be happening over there that might impact their quality of life, traffic congestion, shopping options, potential resale competition, growth and human settlement patterns, property taxes – you name it, it’s covered at local public meetings.

For example, the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting is chock full of stuff that will affect people’s lives and property values, and these public hearings are all over the County – Barracks Road, 29 North, Pantops, Crozet …

Public Hearings (links go to PDFs):
• ACSA-2013-0002. Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc
• ZMA-2012-00003. Out of Bounds

• ZMA-2012-00004. Avon Park II
• ZMA-2013-00001. The Lofts at Meadowcreek

• ZMA-2012-0005. Hollymead Town Center (A-1)

• ZMA-2013-0007. North Pointe Amendment

• ZMA-2013-0002. Pantops Corner

• SP-2013-000015. Mahone Family

• ZTA-2013-00006. Residential and Industrial Uses in Downtown Crozet Zoning District (“DCD”)

If you’re interested in following these public meetings, two of the more prolific tweeters of public meetings are Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum and Sean Tubbs of Charlottesville Tomorrow.

To be equitable, I looked for the Charlottesville City Council’s agenda but it has not yet been posted. (actually it’s postponed, per C-Ville)

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Three Charts Depicting the Charlottesville Real Estate Market Entering December 2013

in Albemarle Charlottesville Fluvanna Market statistics on

Curiosity stole an hour of my morning … I intended to update only the Crozet “When do homes come on the market” spreadsheet, got lost there for a bit and decided to look at the Charlottesville MSA numbers.

2012’s Charlottesville MSA sales trends – looking at when homes came on the market, when they went under contract and when they closed.

When do homes Come on the market in Charlottesville - 2012

And 2013

Well, this is interesting.

When do homes Come on the market in Charlottesville MSA - 2013

And the differential between 2013 and 2012.

When do homes Come on the market in Charlottesville - 2012 versus 2013 - differential

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Monthly Note – December 2013

in General Real Estate Shameless Self Promotion on

December's note

In February of this year, I wrote my first monthly note. I’d like to think that I’ve shared some useful knowledge and insight about the Charlottesville real estate market, the practice of real estate and other, tangential subjects. I know this – one of the most clicked-on parts has been the “blog recap” in which I summarize some of the better posts from RealCentralVA and RealCrozetVA. Above all, I’ve loved writing these notes and I hope I’ve been able to convey that through my writings. Aside from the writing, the best part has been the one-on-one interaction readers have shared – the format of the note is such there are no comments, but a lot of readers have chosen to reply to the note, and that’s enormously gratifying.

With that preface, the early outline of December’s note (lamentably, I suspect this will exceed my goal of no more than 1500 words)

– The market (I start all the notes with this)

– An interesting home inspector update

– A great builder anecdote

– Agent reviews (the current hubbub about AgentMatch) – determining the “best” real estate agent for you entails more than data.

– Life after being on the Realtor Board of Directors

– Brief recap of some of my favorite stories from this year’s notes

If you find subscribing to my blogs by email cumbersome (three-four emails a week from one site would be cumbersome for me too) – please consider subscribing to my monthly note.

Update: published late last night; at 2,000+ words, it’s the longest ever (and I’ll return to sub-1500 words in January). My monthly note really is where I write my best stuff.

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Have a Favorite Charlottesville Food Truck?

in Charlottesville on

The number of food trucks in Charlottesville seems to be growing every day. When last I wrote about them in 2011, there weren’t quite so many. Now, there are way more. I see them all over Charlottesville and frequently at Starr Hill in Crozet, but I tend to either not have the time to stop or I see the food trucks before or after they’re serving. But they intrigue me.

Life would be easier if all of the food trucks in Charlottesville had twitter accounts (here’s a list of the ones I found who are on Twitter) – better yet, if they’d update their twitter accounts and if someone would do a food trucks map …

Thanks to @CorcoranGroup, I’ve created a Foursquare list to which we can all contribute. (Social media is great when it works; thanks Matthew)

After the break is a non-comprehensive list of the food trucks in the Charlottesville area, plus a Storify that led to the list. If I’m missing one, please let me know.

What do you think? Have a favorite?

Interesting, two Charlottesville places are trying to raise money on Kickstarter for their food truck offerings – Blue Ridge Pizza and The Flat Creperie – both of which offer delicious food. (I pledged a little bit to each as well)

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