I’ve long advocated for civic and community involvement.

Chris Graham with the Augusta Free Press wrote a timely article last week describing the Waynesboro 2020 initiative -

And yet we have so much potential. Our tradition here of hard work and high worker productivity is a great building block and draw for potential industrial and manufacturing suitors. And our location basically at the hub of Charlottesville and the economic engine that is the University of Virginia and Harrisonburg and the economic engine that is James Madison University gives us a unique opportunity to attract the industry of the 21st century. The future of industry is in the kinds of technological innovations that will come out of UVa. and JMU and the former Stanford Research Institute that is now working with both of our region’s major universities on the next computer mouse and the next Internet, to name two projects that SRI led in its early years in California.

At some point soon the Charlottesville-Harrisonburg corridor will come to resemble the North Carolina Research Triangle. All we’re really waiting for is the third leg.

This presented the perfect opportunity. I’ve written about the emerging Waynesboro/Augusta County market for some time. I live in Crozet, so it’s actually closer than the 29 North region of CharlAlbemarle, and the upside is great.

I cannot say that I’ve ever garnered direct business from any of the committees on which I’ve served. I know this – I am a far better, and better informed Realtor for my clients than I would be if I did not participate in the ways I have.

So, onward and upward.

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Located just west of Charlottesville/Albemarle, the Waynesboro and Charlottesville real estate markets are becoming closer and closer.

They say that pictures say what words cannot –

Listing volumes for Waynesboro and Augusta

List to Sell for Waynesboro and Augusta

Days on market:

2005 – 104
2006 – 105
2007 – 126
2008 – 144

Contact me if you would like more detailed information, market statistics or other market data for Waynesboro and Augusta. No market is not immune to the current market volatility, and the Waynesboro area is affected as well.

I’ve said for some time now that the Waynesboro area is about three to seven years behind the CharlAlbemarle area with regards to the real estate market (but Waynesboro has FIOS!), and this trend is no different. However, the trend lines are going to be less profound than Charlottesville/Albemarle with more shallow ups and downs.

Search the Waynesboro MLS here.

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- One thing that didn’t make it in last week’s Daily Progress story

- (Hopefully) more on homeowner’s insurance and vacant houses – about 33% of the houses currently on the market in Central Virginia are vacant – so this is a very pertinent issue.

- A breakdown of the state of the Central Virginia (including Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Nelson – not Louisa) real estate market by price range.

- Duplicate content on real estate blogs – good, bad, indifferent?

- I’m sure going to try to do a market update for Waynesboro and Augusta.

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While I had planned to release the market report for the Charlottesville market today, I have noticed that even properties that closed ten days ago have not yet been closed in the MLS. In an attempt to provide the most accurate data, I’m going to wait until Sunday afternoon to write the report. (and I still need to find the best report to present the median price)

Thanks for your patience.

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As promised (while delayed) this is a brief market report for the Waynesboro and Augusta part of the market. More and more, I am representing buyers in this market about 15 minutes to the west of Crozet and 25 minutes to the west of Charlottesville. Quite simply, housing is more affordable here, and the Crozet and Waynesboro MSAs are very integrated – very much so .

Keep in mind that these commuting numbers are from 2000; I predict that 2010 will show these numbers to have at least tripled:

In 1970, 799 people were commuting from Waynesboro/Augusta/Staunton to Charlottesville/Albemarle. As of 2000, nearly 2,200 were making that commute. The markets are compressing.

On to the market report:

I apologize for the display issues; I am still working on reports from their MLS. In short, they did not have the same run-up in price or inventory that the Charlottesville market did. However, their market now has about seventeen months of inventory (PDF here) versus about five months of inventory at this time in 2007 and almost four months of inventory in 2006.

The Median Sales report for March 2008 is here.

The Sales History report for March 2008 is here.

The Sales Trend Report for March 2008 is here.

There seems to be slightly less negotiation in price in this market as well, across the board, but – Waynesboro is growing – rapidly. I have heard rumors of an Olive Garden, and Outback Steakhouse and a few additional places (did you know they have a drive-through Starbucks? Charlottesville doesn’t have a drive-through Starbucks!) Just look at the Waynesboro Town Center’s plan! Many of the people in Crozet have very little reason to even go to Charlottesville.

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And Colfer graciously explains.

Technorati Tags: charlalbemarle, charlottesville, waynesboro

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I’ve spent the past few days immersed in the Waynesboro, Virginia real estate market; the differences between it and the Charlottesville market are frequently striking.

It’s not an apple-to-apples comparison, but …

In Charlottesville/Albemarle, using the Charlottesville MLS, there are currently 1181 residential properties on the market and 295 under contract.

In Waynesboro/Augusta, using the Waynesboro/Augusta MLS, there are 678 active, and 79 properties under contract. (Using the C’Ville MLS, those numbers are 291 and 43, respectively).

* In Waynesboro Trulia shows 197 homes for sale and Zillow shows 10.

A few observations –

- The Realtors and sellers tend to all be very friendly.
- There are far fewer vacant houses on the market in Waynesboro than in Charlottesville.
- Showings are much easier to set up in Charlottesville – all we typically do is call the owner and leave a message with the time we expect to arrive. Contrast that with the Waynesboro experience – many of the houses seem to request 24-hour notice for showings and almost all properties seem to have “Call the listing office” as the showing instructions. (This may be attributable to the different lockboxes as much as to the cultural differences)
- My favorite agent remarks so far – “No magnetic Realtor signs on car when showing.” Ah … stealth marketing!

Waynesboro is much closer in reality than it appears on the map:

View Larger Map

And the number of commuters between the localities is growing every year. It’s a shame that the most recent data is seven years old. I expect that today’s numbers are much, much greater.

* Coincidentally, a “cost of commute” calculator just came into my email – more on this later.

Technorati Tags: albemarle, charlalbemarle, charlottesville, real-estate, waynesboro

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The wussification of American children is a relatively recent phenomenon, but a very real one. We pamper our kids, over-schedule them, overemphasize fairness in competition (the score ends in a tie … again!) and keep them indoors too much, to the point that we’re doing them a huge disservice. Kids aren’t learning how to get hurt, lose, fend for themselves, find their balance and discover minor dangers on their own – all important parts of growing up.

Posts like this are why I read Seth Godin’s blog. Add passion, and it’s nearly complete.

An interesting twist – absorption rate versus “sales rate” – this will likely find its way into my data analysis of the Charlottesville market soon.

Navigating social networking tools

The shift from Charlottesville to Waynesboro continues.

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How much is Waynesboro benefiting from Crozet’s growth? How much does Crozet benefit from Waynesboro?

“We’ve seen the dynamic and the shift of people when we look at the demographics and why Wal-Mart and why Home Depot and why Lowe’s have come to Waynesboro sitting right on the 64-81 interchange. Their draw to come here was being able to draw from the Nelson County area, the Crozet area, Charlottesville. So I have to look out beyond that boundary of Waynesboro a little bit in terms of our vision and what I see down the road and be planful about that,” Smith said.

We may have to expand our definition of what is our Metropolitan Statistical Area beyond Charlottesville, Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna, Nelson, which was added in 2003. I tend to include Louisa and Madison from time to time when I ponder what is “our region;” is the time near for us to include Augusta as well?

Economics know no boundaries. Localities may not see the need for expansion, but businesses most certainly do.

Technorati Tags: charlalbemarle, growth, politics, waynesboro

Why else would I join their MLS?

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As the Central Virginia region has grown and stretched itself wide, the need to join more data aggregators has similarly expanded. For this reason, I have just joined the Staunton/Augusta (Waynesboro) MLS. This is in addition to the Charlottesville area MLS and the Northern VA MLS, which includes Greene, Madison and Orange.

With all of this overlap and extraordinary business expense, I would gleefully welcome a regional aggregator! One or two closings a year per MLS, and I’ve paid my dues.

Charlottesville/Albemarle commuting numbers

Since 1970, the number of commuters from Staunton/Augusta/Waynesboro to CharlAlbemarle has nearly tripled (as of 2000)

Technorati Tags: charlalbemarle, waynesboro, real-estate, realtor, realtor.com

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