Crozet Growth “town meeting” Feb. 9

I received the following in the mail the other day - (I’m not that special, I just happen to live in Crozet) - an invitation to a public hearing in Crozet regarding growth, the discrepancies in the projected number of residents of Crozet and much more.  An open forum to discuss the County’s credibility issues, growth numbers, etc. is needed.

At least “they” acknowledge this -

One area of common ground that we all agree on is that Crozet is changing and growing beyond its current infrastructure, and those needs must be addressed.

Those who have said in the recent past that the County has prepared Crozet’s infrastructure for its current and projected growth should be ashamed.

This should be a very interesting meeting. Much of the issues discussed will be applicable to the entire County in some form or another - growth is certainly not isolated to Crozet. Hopefully a candid, calm discussion and listening will result, rather than emotional folk trying to shout down others. I think that somewhere the County acknowledges that they have made a major mistake. Let’s see if they address that in this meeting.

The DP has a good round-up of some growth issues on the agenda.

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January 31, 2006 | Filed Under Albemarle, Growth, Politics | Leave a Comment 

Inventory is up in CharlAlbemarle

The moderation continues - In January 2005 in Albemarle and Charlottesville, there were 228 active properties on the market. In January 2006, there are 275. Is the market softening? I am not sure yet to what extent. April and May will be more telling. Rates remain historically low; they rose very slightly this week. We’ll see. It’s a good time to be a buyer …

Under Contract in January 2006: 186
Under Contract in January 2005: 234

This indicates a real shift in the market, from the insane Sellers’ market of the past several years to a more reasonable market, one with a greater sense of equilibrium. Perhaps the greatest aspect of the market that will have to change is Sellers’ expectations.

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January 31, 2006 | Filed Under Albemarle, Charlottesville, General Real Estate | Leave a Comment 

Blogging’s rise

This article from the current American Journalism Review examines blogs’ influence on the recent political campaign in the Commonwealth. I personally see blogs contributing to the dispersion of news and information rather than replacing mainstream newspapers. I say newspapers and their online arms because I tend to not watch any television news and read mainly the WSJ and occasionally the Daily Progress in print. We need “big media” for several reasons - the inherent trust which blogs for the most part have not yet developed or cultivated.

But most acknowledge their dependence on newspapers for the raw material on which they then riff. “I’m not a journalist and don’t claim to be,” says Chad Dotson, the 32-year-old prosecutor whose Commonwealth Conservative blog was perhaps the season’s most popular pro-Republican site. “But I do some reporting, and I aim to be reliable. This is the Wild West of reporting (and I use that term very loosely), but if I said something completely off the reservation, I would expect that bloggers on the left side would come on my blog and correct and criticize me. It is self-governing in that way.”

That’s what I try to do - in an open, honest and decidedly interested way, here in my little corner of the blogosphere (there’s got to be a better name than that!) I don’t aim to be political; I intend to write about real estate; however, the two cross paths more often than I realized before I started writing.

One of the greatest differences between the mediums is the speed of reaction.

But Jaquith is clear that blogs operate in a different universe, with different rules: “Bloggers are not a model of bipartisanship or a model of journalism. We jump to conclusions; we say stupid things; we say things that are wrong.”

There is a level of accountability and desire to be accurate due to that accountability. That’s a good thing.

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January 30, 2006 | Filed Under Blogging | Leave a Comment 

No support on weekends

Realtors work on weekends (we work other days, too). This isn’t surprising to most; we work around others’ schedules. It’s the nature of the business. The company that provides the online contract forms we use, Zipform, apparently does not know this, as their tech support is closed on the weekends. Nifty. They implement a change and then their support department is closed.

Sales is open, support is closed. They support only Internet Explorer. Bah. If I chose to use curse words on this blog, I would. Narrow-minded and short-sighted business practices bother me. Off to use a pen.

Update 1/31/06: Spoke to customer support; he immediately asked for my email address so that he could send me the fix. In response to my question as to whether this “fix” was on their site, he said “no, but will be soon.” Love that quick response to the customers’ needs.

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January 28, 2006 | Filed Under Technology | 2 Comments 

New listing in the City

More information can be found at my website, Google Base and Craigslist.

A true renovation opportunity in the City. A two to three minute walk to the thriving West Main corridor, close to coffee shops, restaurants, Starr Hill music, UVa, the Hospital and more. This home and mostly level lot define potential. Nalle Street, in the heart of Fifeville, is experiencing tremendous revival, evidenced by the homes being restored and built up and down the street and the new condos close by.

Please let me know if you are interested.

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January 27, 2006 | Filed Under Charlottesville, General Real Estate, Marketing, Sellers | Leave a Comment 

Population increases (shocking!)

The Weldon Cooper Center has released a study showing population increases throughout the Commonwealth. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District (our region) has seen a fairly significant increase in its population - 7.5%.

Albemarle has seen a provisional change of 7.4%.
Charlottesville - (-.5%)
Greene - 11.2%
Fluvanna - 24.4%
Louisa - 12.1%
Nelson -  4.2%

The above numbers are the total percentages, combining the natural increases and the change due to migration. Settlement patterns continue to fascinate me. Even if we don’t build the roads, apparently people continue to come here. Where, however, is the Tipping Point?

Supply and demand (and interest rates) has thus far kept housing prices increasing. With growth such as this, I think that we are on track to maintain a moderate increase in prices, so long as government stays out of the free market.

Thanks to Bacons’ Rebellion for the heads-up.

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January 26, 2006 | Filed Under Albemarle, Charlottesville, General Real Estate, Greene, Growth, Louisa, Nelson | 2 Comments 

Another way to provide affordable housing?

This is ludicrous. (courtesy of WVIR)

Caravati visited Richmond on Wednesday for the third time in two weeks. He’s pushing an amendment to the City’s Charter that would make developers set aside parts of their projects as low- and moderate-income housing. Caravati says the city has had some success partnering with developers but now, “they’re just not answering the call there and hopefully this will be another inducement to get them to build more affordable units for those families that can’t quite afford it in a very expensive city.”

If the developers “aren’t answering the call” why doesn’t the City go after the employers for not “answering the call” to pay their employees more? (I know about the Living Wage, but even that is not sufficient) The median sales price for a house in Charlottesville is almost $250k; “affordable housing” would make developers set the prices at around $200k. What do you think will happen to the prices of the other houses?

Neil Williamson of the Free Enterprise Forum responds:

“I consider the other ten buyers the ones that won the lottery and won the opportunity to have the below-market cost house and the other 90 are the ones that subsidized it,” Williamson said.

From the City’s website:

Affordable Housing is defined, for the purpose of this policy, as those houses affordable to the sixty - seventy percent of the City population that have household incomes at or below 80% of the 2004 metropolitan area median household income of $63,700 for a family of four. For 2004, the maximum affordable home for purchase (by those making 0-80% of the median area household income of $63,700) would be approximately $218,300, using the latest VHDA limit, and maximum housing costs (rent and utilities) for tenants would be $796 …

The intent may be good, the method is not. Penalizing developers may make some “feel good,” but it’s not right. Nor is it right to penalize those who can legitimately afford homes in the are. The solution to the affordable housing crisis is out there somewhere. This is just not it.

How does one regulate the free market?

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January 26, 2006 | Filed Under Affordability, Charlottesville, General Real Estate, Politics | 5 Comments 

Amendment to City’s “Affordable Housing” Bill

Very good amendment to the bill I wrote about last week.

The  [exercise of any powers granted in this section is hereby declared to be a public purpose and public use. city shall not exercise the power of eminent domain pursuant to any power granted in this section. ] (bolding mine)

As to the rest of the bill …

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January 26, 2006 | Filed Under Affordability, Charlottesville, Politics | Leave a Comment 

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