Date Archives September 2014

Engaging with Albemarle County

An easy way to learn about and engage with Albemarle County – Engage Albemarle.

Here’s an interesting topic:

The Comprehensive Plan is Albemarle County’s most important document regarding growth, development and change. It establishes government policy to help guide public and private activities as they relate to land use and resource utilization. What general thoughts would you like to share about the Comprehensive Plan as it is being reviewed by the Board of Supervisors this summer and fall?

Better to express your opinion now in the hopes the Comp Plan can be altered than complain about the decisions that have already been made.

What would be helpful would be if the County would identify which specific parts of the Comp Plan are, or are likely to be, up for debate/discussion – in the Housing section, for example (pdf).

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September’s Monthly Note – Community, Oil Tanks & the Market

One note a month. Usually less than 1500 words, I tend to write my best stuff in this note.*

One of the highlights of every month’s note, in addition to the market insight and stories I write, are the blog summaries, in which I highlight some of the best posts on RealCentralVA and RealCrozetVA from the previous month.

Jim Duncan's September's Monthly Note

Curious? Interested in learning a bit more about the Charlottesville market?

Two clicks here and you’ll get this month’s note as soon as I publish it, and hopefully you’ll stick around for each successive month.

* It’s really the only stuff I write that’s edited.

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Radio Recap from WNRN 7 September 2014

Today was an interesting radio show – some real estate and more community, community building, and becoming part of the community. I’m going to update this post with detailed show notes, but in the meantime, the podcast is here.

Enormous thanks to those who responded so quickly on twitter to my question – how do you assess/define community? (I’d say community is something that helps answer a question about community quickly!)

A few stories we discussed:

Pipeline stories:

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WNRN Radio – 7 September 2014 – Lots to Talk About

This Sunday should offer a fun hour of radio. Thanks to Rick for asking me to join him on Sunday, I asked friends for topic suggestions to fill an hour of live radio. We should be ok.

Suggestions welcome.

Tune in this Sunday at 11 on WNRN.

I asked for suggestions, and some of the early ones are

– This should be a fascinating topic, should be get to it – America is rapidly aging in a country built for the young

– Which meshes well with this – “What will be/is the impact on the Charlottesville / Albemarle economy as the aging baby boomer population moves from homes, to apartments to retirement communities and assisted living over the next ten years.”

– And this – “Who are the local first time buyers? Are they local? What types of jobs do they have? Starter properties affect the entire real estate food chain, so I’d like to know if our local economy provides opportunities for them.”

– And ties in with this – “Impact of bringing to market so many high-end apartment plexes in Charlottesville over the last decade, most recently The Flats at West Village for the students and CityWalk for the yuppies.”

We have a lot to talk about.

– “Realistic pricing for sellers. when I had to sell my mom’s condo in CT, I first visited competing units and saw how long they had been on the market, and then priced to sell within 90 days – didn’t give it away, but did not want to sit on it for a year, either!”

Some of Rick’s early thoughts as we prep

– What makes a good neighborhood? (coincidentally, I’ve had this tab open for a couple days – When buying a home, what do you want to live or not live next to/nearby?)

– Uber (and urban vs suburban vs rural)

Triangles (a story I wrote last month)

And I love this prompt – “What do we discuss for listeners who aren’t buying/selling but want to learn more about our area?”

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