Tag Archives: Charlottesville
What are the Negatives of Living in Charlottesville?
I don’t “sell” Charlottesville – I educate and inform my clients so that they can make the best decisions possible. Charlottesville is truly a great place to live; while I’ve been here for only 24 years, I wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else.
With that preface, there are negatives about Charlottesville and while they’re all relative (traffic) I’d like to think there are solutions.
I’ve been having this conversation on Google+ and on Facebook in advance of posting here.
My answer to the question: Perhaps the single greatest negative with living in CharlAlbemarle is the collective inability of the City and County to implement plans – specifically for infrastructure. Their constant bickering, planning, fighting, planning, discussing, planning and then planning some more is remarkably irresponsible.
My other response was – when I have the free time, choosing what to do from the plethora of options – sporting events, theater, music, arts, etc. Seriously. There is so much to do that choosing how to fill my limited free time is challenging.
The responses have varied from lack of Implementation of infrastructure plans to bickering of the localities.
I said last year: When explaining the City/County relationship to relocating buyers, I often describe the governments as being akin to estranged husbands and wives who are sharing custody of the kids. Or as brothers and sisters who occasionally poke each other in the eye, just to see what will happen.
It’s true, and it’s pathetic. And ultimately detrimental to the quality of life. Continue reading
How Much Does this House Cost? (To Run)
How much does this home cost to run? It’s become one of the most important question my buyer clients ask … and an answer that Sellers need to be prepared to answer.
In today’s market, much more so than the previous one(s), buyers are much more cognizant of the costs to operate a home.
Everyone can calculate the PITI payment – Principal + Interest + Taxes + Insurance
What’s not easily calculable by buyers is -
- How drafty is the house?
- What’s the natural gas bill?
- What’s the electric bill?
- What’s the water bill?
- Trash/recycling is a fairly fixed cost.
- Do the parents scrap over the thermostat?
- How much is my commute going to cost? (this is huge; many of my buyer clients are looking forward to the time when gas goes to $6/gallon … )
If the mortgage is going to be $2500 per month, but the utilities are $900/month, I’m thinking that my clients may be disinclined to move forward with an offer … or they might knock $30k (or some other number) off the offer price.
I said late last year that I suspect 2012 will be the year when buyers start doing energy audits as part of the home inspection process … sellers need to be prepared for this component to the home selling process.
Thanks for the Biking Directions, Google!
Thanks, Google. I’m looking forward to using these to show houses to clients … on bikes!
If you’re looking for new ways to get around for fun or to work, or might be trying to live a greener lifestyle in 2012, why not try biking? In March 2010 we introduced biking directions and since then Google Maps has been sharing biking directions with cyclists across the U.S and Canada.
Charlottesville Real Estate Market Conversation – 29 January 2012
Matt Hodges and I had a good time on WNRN radio yesterday discussing what’s happening in the Charlottesville real estate market, mortgages, buyer activity, real estate assessments, government interference, gas prices’ impact on real estate decisions, and a whole lot more.
I’m going to listen to the show (thanks to Charlottesville Podcast) and put up some show notes, but in the meantime, feel free to what I think was a pretty interesting hour of real estate. Continue reading
Sunday Morning Wake Up Call: Real Estate & Financing with Jim Duncan and Matt Hodges [ 59:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadHotel-a-Palooza in CharlAlbemarle
C-Ville reports on the coming boom of hotels in Charlottesville-Albemarle.
In light of the Cavalier Inn’s reprieve, (from 2009) …
When the Board of Visitors first approved the Arts Gateway to the University of Virginia in 2007, the project—an estimated $118 million plan that would include, among other buildings, a new art museum at the current site of the Cavalier Inn—was slated to begin construction during the spring of 2009. Now, with renovations underway for the UVA Art Museum on Rugby Road, Vice Provost for the Arts Elizabeth Hutton Turner says that plans for the Arts Gateway are on “indefinite hold.”
… it seems there are going to be quite a supply of hotel rooms in Charlottesville. Continue reading
Charlottesville Really is a Great Place to Live
No we didn’t make another list (that I’m aware of), but this weekend my family went to a town in another state for my older daughter’s soccer tournament.
The contrasts between that town and ours are remarkable – ours is green, vibrant, thriving, with contrasts between city, country, mountains and flat land. Theirs is none of those. It’s interesting here, the topography, the culture, the things to do …
On the days where I read about a story about the stunning ineptitude of our politicians systems bureaucracy, the perspective of going to a place that is desolate, boring, depressed and uninteresting is immensely valuable.
For all of Charlottesville’s* faults and shortcomings (I’ll identify a few in a forthcoming story), we live in a pretty nice place and I count myself as damn lucky to live here.
Spend a few minutes browsing James Marshall’s photo stream on Flickr and tell me that Charlottesville’s not an awesome place to live. Seriously.
