Date Archives March 2010

The Most Succinct Example of Charlottesville Real Estate Market’s Meteoric Up and Down

February 2005 : Asking Price – $345,000 Selling Price – $345,000 Days on Market – 119 April 2007 : Asking Price – $399,000 Selling Price – $399,000 Days on Market – 13 March 2010 : Initial Asking Price – $366,000 Current Selling Price – $299,999 Days on Market – 76 Now in a short sale It’s a very interesting house. If you’re interested, ask me . 🙂

Read More

Charlottesville Short Sales and Listing Agents’ Responsibilities – Part 1

If I were a buyer and saw potential short sale/foreclosure, I would probably move on to some other property given the amount of time I hear it takes to complete a short sale. … The Charlottesville MLS now has a required field from which Realtors much choose one of the following when inputting a listing: – Standard – Lender Owned – Short Sale (of 2323 active listings, 53 are noted as being short sales … this seems ridiculously low ) Short sales take longer – in everything, they take longer . … Let prices fall until the goods find a buyer.    The question in the first paragraph was posted on a conversation at the Charlottesville Bubble Blog , and it is very pertinent question, particularly as short sales are becoming more and more a part of the Charlottesville* real estate market.

…Buyer Agents would be wise to put language in the contract that ensures the Buyer’s contingencies (such as home inspections) do not begin until approval from the Lender to proceed at the current price.

Read More

Not Much Building in Fluvanna County

Courtesy of the Free Enterprise Forum blog : Fluvanna officials recently released the annual Development Activity Report, which covers 2009. It highlights, in this case, the lack of development activity in Fluvanna over the past year. For example, residential building permits declined another 5 percent last year to 112, continuing the downward trend that began in 2001. … One final, and telling, statistic from the report: the average new home price in 2009 was just $160,118, twenty-eight percent below the average price in 2007. adf

Read More

Housing Sales Down in Charlottesville and Albemarle – February 2010

I know this – independent of me, a new client came to me last week and said, (paraphrasing here) – “I think that right now in Charlottesville/Albemarle, there is a unique and perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a home for my family.”

…We know this: Charlottesville and Albemarle home sales in February: 64 homes sold in 2010 79 homes sold in 2009 72 homes sold in 2008 105 homes sold in 2007 141 homes sold in 2006 124 homes sold in 2005 108 homes sold in 2004 Homes under contract – first 23 days of March … …

…I know this – independent of me, a new client came to me last week and said, (paraphrasing here) – “I think that right now in Charlottesville/Albemarle, there is a unique and perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a home for my family.” … From today’s Wall Street Journal : For those trying to figure out how much further U.S. house prices could fall, it would help to know how many more foreclosed homes banks need to sell.

Read More

More Bike Lanes in Charlottesville?

Council commits additional funds to build more bike lanes In February, Neighborhood Development Services Director Jim Tolbert told Council that there are very few opportunities to create additional bike lanes in Charlottesville without removing on-street parking or widening roads. … Tolbert said he would be bringing a proposal to Council this summer that would address the possibility of removing on-street parking and widening roads to increase the network of bike lanes. … The current year’s capital budget set aside that amount for “bicycle infrastructure” and the money was used in part to develop special signals to allow cyclists to trigger traffic lights. … DOT Secretary Ray LaHood stood on top of a table to address the National Bicycle Summit last week, but he waited until a few days later to reveal on his blog a new federal approach in transportation priorities:

Read More

Building a Backyard Garden

More and more people (and my clients) are building gardens, more buyers in the Charlottesville area are wanting garden spots/areas when they’re looking for homes. … The garden : – $82 of lumber from Nature Neutral – 8 scoops of dirt at AM Fog in Afton – $75 design and planting schedule from C’Ville Foodscapes – My neighbor’s time, trailer, tiller and building knowledge. – A bit of an education and supplies from Fifth Season Gardening Co. on Preston Avenue (in the former Vespa dealership). – About 10 hours of work. … Inc. and try not to come to some of the same conclusions we have. – We want to teach our children about where their food comes from, give them knowledge and skill they won’t learn anywhere else. – We wanted it in our backyard; our neighborhood has an organic community garden, but it’s about 300 yards from our house. We want to integrate the garden into our lives. – I’m tired of feeling incompetent and impotent; I want to empower myself and my children. – I grew up with a huge garden and I remember how great the food tasted, weeding, pulling carrots out of the ground and beans off the plant and eating them right there.

Read More