Browsing Category Louisa

April 2012 Charlottesville Real Estate Market Report

Highlights:

– Days on Market (an inherently flawed data point) are down in Charlottesville, Albemarle and Fluvanna.

– Average Sales prices are down (not surprising)

– Total sales across the MSA are down (not surprising)

Thoughts/initial conclusions:

– More buyers are looking to be closer in/closer to stuff

– Good properties are selling and selling quickly

– Interest rates remain low – a good thing for buyers.

– I think we may have pulled the spring market forward a bit; the early spring may have pulled transactions into the earlier months of the year.

Dead simple Takeaways:

– Buyers: do your due diligence, don’t let emotion enter the equation and make sound, rationale decisions with the intent of holding the property for at least five to seven years

– Sellers: do your due diligence and realize that buyers most often don’t have to buy, but want to buy – it’s your job to make them want to buy your house. This means: price, presentation, perfection … and a great location and setting.

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Connected communities

As our region continues to grow, each area has its own perspective on how to handle growth – Orange County – Resident, after resident, after resident lined up to speak in strong disapproval to the proposed Annandale development.  The 244 acre site would sit just outside of Gordonsville and house nearly 500 single family homes for people ages 55 and up.  Some residents felt this many homes could destroy the small town feel.Nelson County – In addressing Nellysford, Rue said there could be three routes taken to complete the plan.  They include long-term transportation and business growth, a focus of safety issues on Virginia 151 or a plan that looks at safety as well as business growth.Louisa County: questions are raised regarding the mixed-use implementation as they revise their Comprehensive Plan – The suggested changes would define “very low density residential development” as one dwelling unit per acre and “low density residential development” as up to two dwelling units per acre.  High density residential development would be defined as more than six units per acre….  (and one person remarked) “If [one house per acre] is very low density,” she said, “I don’t know what life is going to be like around here.”What if a rural county wants to maintain its rural character?  And one of my favorites comes from Trish, who laments the changing landscape of the CharlAlbemarle area – Why do we have to completely strip the land to build anything?…  The land-use decisions in Louisa will impact the real estate market in CharlAlbemarle – if more people are able to comfortably buy, live and work in Louisa, perhaps fewer people will move to CharlAlbemarle.

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