Posts tagged charlottesville real estate

Friday Chart – Charlottesville & Albemarle – February Homes Under Contract

in Albemarle Charlottesville Friday on

We’ve been talking recently about what the effects the various snowpocalypses have had on the Charlottesville real estate market; people were snowed in, buyers couldn’t get out to see houses (yet another argument for high-quality photos and videos in the Charlottesville MLS), sellers couldn’t get their houses ready or activated on the market … the consensus has been that February 2010 was going to be a pretty sorry month for home sales. … This clearly does not account for canceled contracts, contracts that fall apart due to home inspections, financing or appraisal issues …

Homes – single family, attached and condos – that went under Contract in February in the Charlottesville MSA* Homes – single family, attached and condos – that went under Contract in February in Charlottesville and Albemarle – 12 condos went under contract in February. 8 were foreclosures or short sales. … For Charlottesville and Albemarle in February 2010 for far: – 2 were new construction attached – 31 were resale attached – 0 were new construction single family detached – 64 were resale single family detached – 12 were condos – 0 were new construction condos (and yes, I added the above manually and they match the spreadsheet. 🙂 ) Charlottesville MSA for these purposes includes Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson

Read More

Charlottesville and Albemarle Governments Clash. Again.

in Albemarle Charlottesville Politics on

For anyone interested in a prime example of the City of Charlottesville’s and County of Albemarle’s occasionally dysfunctional relationship, Rachana Dixit and Brandon Shulleeta have great story in today’s Daily Progress . … The clash over money between Charlottesville and Albemarle County is turning into a political civil war, with warnings that each step from here will undermine collaborations that would cut expenses and instead possibly cost taxpayers big bucks down the road.

…Many county officials say it’s unfair that a state formula that determines education funding for localities — based largely on localities’ wealth — fails to account for the revenue-sharing agreement. Bell’s amendment proposal would count the money Albemarle pays Charlottesville toward the city’s wealth instead of the county’s wealth — which would increase state education funding for Albemarle in fiscal 2012 by $2.6 million and decrease Charlottesville’s state education funding by that same amount. …

Read More

Foreclosures, FHA and Tax Credit Timelines and a Look at 2010

in General Real Estate Shameless Self Promotion on

Some of the topics we discussed: – Foreclosures in Charlottesville’s MSA – FHA’s increasing limits/guidelines (story coming later this week) and their impact on the real estate market, specifically first-time homebuyers. – The homebuyer tax credit’s impending expiration – If you’re buying a home, you must have it under contract by 30 April 2010 . – How much time do buyers and sellers have before FHA and homebuyer tax credit hit the market? … I appreciate you waiting while I could do that because I wanted to share that press conference with people because folks haven’t have a chance yet to hear WINA has been playing extended clips but they haven’t had a chance to hear the entire thing from beginning to end and if we have time again today I’m going to play that again and it will be podcast www.wina.com and www.cvillepodcast.com .

…We have the volume of sales in the Charlottesville area are up in some categories dramatically from a percentage wise year over year or actually quarter over quarter, but what we’re seeing is I think that that may be a false indication of what’s going to happen in the next three to five years. … Duncan: One of the things that I think we’re seeing now is that the people who are buying now are doing it now with the intent to be in the community and that’s something that we haven’t seen over the last five to seven years.

Read More

City of Charlottesville’s Assessments Decline

in Charlottesville on

In its annual review of Charlottesville properties, the City Assessor’s Office released figures that show the total value of property — including new construction — declined by .76 percent. … The city has 12,820 taxable residential parcels, and approximately 54 percent will have a decline in value and 40 percent will not show a change, excluding improvements and new construction. … Here are some details of this year’s figures: — Assessment for existing residential property declined in value by 2.19 percent.
… — When new construction is added to the value of existing property, the total value of property in the city declined by .76 percent.

Read More

Walkability – More than a Fad

in General Real Estate on

“For the typical metropolitan area, each additional point of Walk Score was associated with a $700- to $3,000- increase in home values, after controlling for other observable factors. To give you an idea of what kind of difference that makes in the marketplace, we looked at the difference in home values between a typical house that had the 50th percentile Walk Score, compared to an otherwise identical house that had the 75th percentile Walk Score. Going from the average level of walkability to the 75th percentile raised the value of the median house by between $4,000 and about $34,000, depending on the market.”

…Even more on walkability from the New York Times : REAL estate agents often chant the mantra “location, location, location,” which essentially means “find a home in a well-kept neighborhood with good schools and a low crime rate.”

Read More

Should I get Three Competitive Market Analyses?

in Stupid Real Estate Questions - AKA: What are the questions you think you should know but have never asked? on

The best may not be the highest, in fact, the worst may be the highest because that realtor may be trying to buy your listing and then in three months come and say: well, you know, we really kind of missed it, let’s reduce the price. You want to try and price it right from day one, as challenging as that may be and the worst may be the lowest because that realtor may be trying to just get a quick sale and not look out for your best interest. … Look at the amount of inventory in your segment of the market and look at those trends, the pricing trends, the market trends and anything that I can look at and then what I do after I come to my conclusions of a price range and look at my market plan, I give everything to my potential client so that they can see what I’m looking at and so that I can back up my advice. Ultimately the decision is my clients, but I want to make sure that they are as educated as possible on what my marketing strategies are and what my pricing strategy is because again, it’s not my money we’re talking about or my life, it’s my clients.

Read More

March 18 2010 – UVA Match Day

in General Real Estate on

A place that is close enough to see family within a days’ drive, you know, a place with few earth quakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, kinda like the BEST OF EVERYTHING?!

…Match Day 2009 – March 19 Match Day 2008 – March 20 Usually , Medical Residents coming to the University of Virginia Medical Center are looking for homes in either the City of Charlottesville or County of Albemarle under $300k. … If you think you’re going to match at the University of Virginia and have questions about the area that you may not have found the answers to online, please feel free to contact me with any questions . If you’re putting Charlottesville at the top of your list and have questions about relocating to Charlottesville, please take a look at this work-in-progress page . (here’s a tip: “Charlottesville” frequently means “Charlottesville, Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna, Nelson and/or Louisa” Most likely, you will be targeting Charlottesville, Albemarle, and maybe parts of Greene and Fluvanna )

Read More