Posts Published by Jim Duncan

Father, husband, Charlottesville real estate agent, bicycle rider & soccer coach. And more. Lots more.

City Buying Land for Homeless Shelter

The enrollees got either an efficiency at the Y.M.C.A. or an apartment rented for them in a building somewhere else in the city, provided they agreed to work within the rules of the program. … An efficiency apartment in Denver averages $376 a month, or just over forty-five hundred a year, which means that you can house and care for a chronically homeless person for at most fifteen thousand dollars, or about a third of what he or she would cost on the street. The idea is that once the people in the program get stabilized they will find jobs, and start to pick up more and more of their own rent, which would bring someone’s annual cost to the program closer to six thousand dollars. … I wonder how much is being spent now in the City on services related to caring for the homeless and whether there are parallels to the Gladwell story.

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Albemarle County Budget – 2010 – Reductions all Around?

If you’re pressed for time or attention span, start with the Budget Summary (pdf) – that’s where I found this unfortunate nugget:

…One-time funding for this program in FY 10/11 could be available and considered for reappropriation if this program does not meet its anticipated demand in FY 09/10

Find the fat, suggest changes (the first public hearing in 3 March at 6pm at the Lane Auditorium at the Albemarle County Office Building ). This is a hard year for localities’ budgets – Charlottesville , Fluvanna , Greene , statewide (and nationwide ), and Albemarle County is no different. – There is a great discussion at cvillenews , with Jeff Uphoff getting his math on in the comments . – There’s a petition to “fully fund” Albemarle County Schools . – The Daily Progress details the discussions on how to cut teachers .

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City Neighborhood Liaison – Needed?

The City of Charlottesville is contemplating adding a “neighborhood advocate” to liaise with City neighborhood associations . … I vote for her: “It’s a bad use of city funds and there are too many other programs and efforts that I think the city should be involved in,” said Adena Imlay, president of the Meadowbrook Hills/Rugby Neighborhood Association. Imlay said creating another layer of bureaucracy in local government to work with neighborhoods is not the answer. … I’m curious – why can’t people who want to be involved call the city and advocate for themselves ?

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Friday Chart – Charlottesville & Albemarle – February Homes Under Contract

We’ve been talking recently about what the effects the various snowpocalypses have had on the Charlottesville real estate market; people were snowed in, buyers couldn’t get out to see houses (yet another argument for high-quality photos and videos in the Charlottesville MLS), sellers couldn’t get their houses ready or activated on the market … the consensus has been that February 2010 was going to be a pretty sorry month for home sales. … This clearly does not account for canceled contracts, contracts that fall apart due to home inspections, financing or appraisal issues …

Homes – single family, attached and condos – that went under Contract in February in the Charlottesville MSA* Homes – single family, attached and condos – that went under Contract in February in Charlottesville and Albemarle – 12 condos went under contract in February. 8 were foreclosures or short sales. … For Charlottesville and Albemarle in February 2010 for far: – 2 were new construction attached – 31 were resale attached – 0 were new construction single family detached – 64 were resale single family detached – 12 were condos – 0 were new construction condos (and yes, I added the above manually and they match the spreadsheet. 🙂 ) Charlottesville MSA for these purposes includes Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson

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Check Out Crime in Charlottesville

Is one of the most important questions my buyer clients ask. … This is the perfect opportunity for the County of Albemarle and City of Charlottesville to cooperate, share, partner, whatever. … For buyers looking in the City of Charlottesville – search for crime by neighborhood, address, intersection, bus stop, Charlottesville City parks … at Charlottesville Crime View . Thanks to WCAV for the report .

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