Rate your agent sitesHome buying one step at a time – a great wiki entry from Zillow.
Date Archives February 2007
Two inches of snow cripple Albemarle County
If you are thinking about relocating to the Charlottesville area, be prepared for two to three inches of snow to close schools for two days in a row (in Albemarle County at least). I know, I know – it’s the re-freeze on the roads.
Required property tax rate reduction?
When any annual assessment, biennial assessment or general reassessment of real property by a county, city or town would result in an increase of 1 percent or more in the total real property tax levied, such county, city, or town shall reduce its rate of levy for the forthcoming tax year so as to cause such rate of levy to produce no more than 101 percent of the previous year’s real property tax levies, unless subsection B of this section is complied with, which rate shall be determined by multiplying the previous year’s total real property tax levies by 101 percent and dividing the product by the forthcoming tax year’s total real property assessed value. An additional assessment or reassessment due to the construction of new or other improvements, including those improvements and changes set forth in § 58.1-3285, to the property shall not be an annual assessment or general reassessment within the meaning of this section, nor shall the assessed value of such improvements be included in calculating the new tax levy for purposes of this section…. If you do the math–and allow the extra 1% provided by the state code–the result is a new tax rate of $0.576 per $100 of assessed value.Two years ago, our tax rate was $0.76, and it was automatically lowered to about $0.61 due to the increase in assessments…. Encourage them to read this article, and to call their supervisor too.Together, we can stop another huge tax rate increase!After reading the cited law, one would think that we can expect our tax to be reduced.
Is volunteering worth it?
A wise person told me years ago that, in a multiple offer situation, if there were three Realtors bringing offers, the one known by the listing agent may have a better chance of acceptance due to the Realtors’ prior relationship…. Because of these committees, I consider myself better informed than the average Realtor on many matters that affect my clients – roads, developments, eminent domain, grantors taxes, land use policies and legislation – politics that affect and impact real estate…. For the State, I recently accepted an offer to be on the Public Policy and Governance committee as well as the request to be a Delegate (not really sure what that means yet, other than I have a couple meetings in Richmond throughout the year)…. (I said no to another request – a fleeting feeling of liberation!)Nationally, meeting Realtors and Brokers of the caliber that serve on various Leadership Teams, Presidential Groups, etc. was fascinating (I lucked my way into this committee because of a meeting made through my participation in last year’s Leadership Academy).There are at least two dangers to volunteering and participating so much – 1) Too much time spent away from representing clients in the buying and selling of real estate is fiscally (as well as to my psyche) damaging.
Charlotttesville-Albemarle conflict continues
For those who are relocating to or unfamilar the area, the County of Albemarle surrounds the City of Charlottesville…. asked the City to close Old Lynchburg road immediately as a way to improve the position of the (Albemarle County) Board of Supervisors in their negotiations on Biscuit Run (a proposed 3,500 unit development) as well as to spark acceptance by County residents for additional road interconnections from neighborhoods like Redfields to Route 29. He argued that only if County residents were literally running into a wall at the City line would they then accept the bitter pill of a political decision by the Supervisors to build alternate paths around the City and through some County neighborhoods.It’s interesting to hear councilors complaining about how roads are needed when many of them have been fighting the Meadowcreek Parkway, one of the most-needed roads, for years. People want roads; the localities have neither the money nor the will to build them.The City has closed connector roads before, but not yet to such a major artery as Old Lynchburg Road.
Searching for new construction
From the Real Estate Journal. Quite literally, some have told me that they have been getting “absurd” offers considered and even accepted.
Charlottesville Neighborhoods – Starr Hill
I sold a couple houses (two of them) in this neighborhood several years ago – one of them twice – and met many of the neighbors along 6th Street NW – all of whom were good folks…. This is one of those areas that thrives on neighborhood.When marketing the houses along this street, which range from colorful stuccos to brick to aluminum siding, my marketing tag-line was “Sell the car!”… A primer from the Charlottesville Community Design Center – (excellent maps here)The City Yard occupies most of the property between residential Brown Street and Preston Avenue…. During the first half of the 20th Century the Union Station property on West Main Street was the transportation hub of the Charlottesville community.One minor irritation – it has taken me this long in the Neighborhood Series to discover the comprehensive maps offered by the Design Center!?Read about all the neighborhoods I have covered here.