Date Archives January 2006

Crozet’s Growth

The DP has a nice summary this morning of last night’s Crozet Community Association meeting.It was an interesting meeting, attended by approximately 300 people, most of whom may fit directly into the”How many people want Crozet to be half the population of Charlottesville?”The County has created this Master Plan, in essence asking for the public’s trust.  This is a different situation – it is imperative to coordinate infrastructure and growth.  The argument against building the infrastructure – roads/schools/etc.  seems to hold less weight and value when the County is currently planning for that growth.  The growth is not unexpected; it is in fact targeted for the Crozet area.  Why Dennis Rooker played the role of politician extremely well.  It is no surprise that he was re-elected last year.

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Recycling in Albemarle?

The HooK has an interesting story this morning (story not up yet) that says that even though Albemarle County does not pick up recycling anymore, …  county code mandates that haulers have to offer the service, “but doesn’t say how it should be managed,” …  and George Shadman, Albemarle County’s director of general services, urges residents whose recycling isn’t getting picked up to call general services at 296-5811.  “We will call the hauler,” he says, “and remind them of their obligation.”  I called my hauler and they do not in fact offer recycling, for simple reasons with which I can understand….  They would have to come around with another truck to pick up the recycling, on a different day most likely, and this would cost more – gas prices have gone up, labor costs, etc. Personally, I would be willing to pay a little bit more so that I could feel better about subscribing to the Wall Street Journal.Maybe if we were all more willing to pay for this service, it would be more freely offered ……  I know that I and many of my clients (and friends and neighbors) would love the option to easily recycle.  One would think that a progressive community such as ours would be able to achieve a progressive recycling program.

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Transportation items

Charlottesville Tomorrow has a detailed report on yesterday’s Meadowcreek Parkway Interchange meeting.  Meadowcreek Parkway has been discussed, and planned, and discussed for an obscene amount of time.  Our area needs this to be built.  I hadn’t seen this before – 250 Bypass Interchange Project site.This is what happens when government is not involved in a construction project (for better or worse) – The North Grounds Connector will be open for traffic Friday.  The new route connects Massie Road with the 29/250 Bypass.  The University used its own money to build the Connector, which is opening five months ahead of schedule.  (bolding mine) A project gets done!

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Buyer Presentation Letters

“Who are they?”  That is the question that almost every single one of my Seller clients asks …  immediately following “What is the price?”  “When do they want to close?”I was looking at some of the keyword phrases that brought visitors to this site, and saw “realtor buyer cover letters;” leading to this previous post titled “It’s not always about the money.”  Given appropriate time, I always write cover letters presenting my Buyers to the Sellers.  Especially in a highly competitive market, that letter may make the difference between the Seller’s acceptance of our offer versus one of the others.  Even in a less competitive market, I think that a presentation letter is 1) a nice thing to do and 2) something that sets me apart from the competition.

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Cheap marketing for developers

Giving away bikes with new homes.  What a perfect idea for the vaunted New Urbanist developments in the area.  If they truly want to encourage “alternative methods” of transportation, how much could it cost to throw in a couple of bikes?  This would be great advertising as well.  A small development in the City of C’Ville included Vespas in their deals, but think about the opportunity here.  For each new house in, say, Old Trail, or at the Hollymead Town Center, all new residents (of biking ages) were given a bike …  that would be a pretty decent incentive to not hop in the car each time to go to school or the market …  just a thought.

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Property tax insight

For those of you who have the pleasure of paying property taxes, this is a good explanation of localities’ needs and methods for determining their millage rates.The key insight here is that aggregate real estate tax rates are set simply to cover the locality’s budget.  There is no ‘fair,’ ‘equitable,’ or ‘normal’ real estate tax rate.  It all depends on two things: How much the locality wishes to spendHow much local voters are willing to tolerate as their individual tax burdens.Here are the local mil rates for Central Virginia.  Aargh.  Government is the only “business” that I know of that seems to determine how much they need, and then they go out and take it.

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