Best in the World gets more challenging all the time.Charlottesville Blogger MeetupAlbemarle County lessened their tax hikeThe real-time passenger information system will cover about 400 bus stops for the city’s 28-strong bus fleet. The City needs to do more than track the buses stuck in traffic. To Buy or Rent? Two good tools to help determine the answer to this question – one from Noah and one from the NYTimes.Green roofs take off.
Date Archives April 2007
New soccer park in Charlottesville?
The Soccer Organization of Charlottesville is seeking to build, and build big near its current facility on Polo Grounds Road.The project proposal consists of an outdoor, lit, synthetic surface, full-size soccer field; a small, indoor soccer field with synthetic surface; two mini-soccer fields suitable for pick-up play and training; and the club’s permanent offices…. No public address or amplified sound system has been proposed as part of the project.I received an email yesterday seeking Realtors to speak in favor of this proposed soccer facility.Neighbors in nearby subdivisions believe their property values could be adversely affected (specifics not sited yet but I’m thinking traffic count and lights)…. This agent was going to say that property value is in the eye of the buyer and that the added facilities could just as easily attract potential buyers as dissuade them from buying- that it would likely not affect property values.Can anybody speak definitively to an increase in property values?… That [facility] is not appropriate around our place.”The reality is that this is a much-needed facility that will serve to enhance all property values by providing an asset that the community can use (assuming that in practice, this is the case).
Virginia leading the way on energy savings
Bacon’s Rebellion and Waldo report. Even if you don’t buy the environmental aspect, certainly even a skeptic can get on board with saving taxpayers’ (our) money. Charlottesville and Albemarle have been slightly ahead of the curve. Folks, we might be witnessing a movement.
Charlottesville is the #19 Best Small Place For Business And Careers
Forbes ranks Charlottesville as the nineteenth best place for business and careers. The accolades keep on coming. That’s 13 spots higher than last year.Note two things – 1) the cost of living and the fact that despite the fact that they say “Charlottesville,” they mean “Charlottesville and Albemarle,” hence CharlAlbemarle.
Monday links – 9 April 2007
Freakonomics’ take on Zillow, Google etc. One of my favorite comments:Google and the other big players have a very long term view of this service, while the everyday realtor doesn’t think more than 45 days out.Combine the different business goals with increased competition and a poor market and we have a really fun drama starting to unfold. I’m late to the Google “My Maps” news, and there are several locally already. Anybody know if there is an easy way to move the data from this map to a My Map?A pending earthquake in Virginia’s development?Price per square foot isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.Rising Foreclosures Endanger Condo AssociationsMass Transit and the 1/4-Mile DictumLocal governments’ dependence on property taxes may be their downfall.
The little things matter
Light blogging ahead as typing with a broken pinky is might painful.If only I could email my doctor and ask for an X-ray and go from there. Interesting read at the WSJ about the health-care industry (permanent link) (and real estate is targeted as being anti-competive?)Our public-school system and our health-care system may seem as different as night and day. Yet both systems share something in common: Mediocrity is the rule and excellence, where it exists, is distributed randomly….Sometime in the early 20th century, lawyers, accountants and most other professionals discovered that the telephone was a useful instrument for communicating with clients…. Sometime in the late 20th century most other professionals discovered email.
1st Quarter Market Report for the Charlottesville area
In this quarter for the CharlAlbemarle Market:From 1 Janurary 2006 to 5 April 2006 in Charlottesville/Albemarle, there were 259 price changes and there were 451 price changes in 2007. There is no way to discern whether these were all price reductions, but a reasonable assumption is that the vast majority of the changes were downward.476 properties (single family, attached and condos) sold in 2006 and 342 sold in 2007.665 went under contract in 2006 and 635 went under contract in 2007.1555 were listed in 2006 and 1216 were listed in 2007.For the entire MSA**:2148 were listed in 2006 and 1850 were listed in 2007.943 went under contract in 2006 and 888 in 2007.715 were sold in 2006 and 532 were sold in 2007.* Source: Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors MLS, whose data is “good enough for now”** Charlottesville MSA = Charlottesville, Albemarle.