Have $100 Million to Spend? (in Albemarle)

Have a look at Patricia Kluge’s estate in Southern Albemarle County. From the Wall Street Journal: Virginia winemaker and philanthropist Patricia Kluge is offering her 300-acre English country estate in Charlottesville, Va., for $100 million, one of the most expensive listings in the U.S. … The property includes a pool, pool house, log cabin, a greenhouse and several staff cottages. There are three stocked ponds,…

Read More

Friday Chart – Homes Under Contract in October

Homes placed under Contract in Charlottesville and Albemarle in the month of October: These numbers do not reflect much new construction or properties that will not proceed to closing for any number of reasons, such as home inspection negotiations not coming to terms, financing issues, etc. As I mentioned last week, we may be seeing a blip of hope. (in light of the anticipated wave…

Read More

Google, Garmin and Realtors

Re-purposing a post from my posterous: If Google announcing their GPS did this to Garmin’s and Tom Tom’s stocks,         What’s this going to do to Realtors’?   Google announced a big real estate move about two hours ago: listings can now be viewed on any Google Map by clicking on the “More” button, a position heretofore reserved for photos, transit information…

Read More

Homebuyer Tax Credit (May Be) Extended

It looks like the homebuyer tax credit will (likely) be extended. Maybe. Via Calculated Risk and Bloomberg: – Income eligibility for home buyers increases to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for couples. – The tax credit for first-time home buyers (anyone who has not owned in the last 3 years) will be the lesser of $8,000 or 10% of the purchase price. – For move-up…

Read More

Print Media is …

In 2006, I was a few years early in my prediction. There’s a place for print media, and advertising homes for sale in Charlottesville ain’t it. Branding a brand – or brokerage – consistently in print gives readers the impression (and illusion as the case may be) that a brokerage is viable and successful. “Have you heard of Google? Search “Gourmet”! There’s a ton of…

Read More

Charlottesville and Albemarle – Real Estate Anecdotes and Anomalies

There’s more to the Charlottesville real estate market than data – it’s crucial to look beyond the numbers. Transcription: Jim Duncan from RealCentralVA.com here. It’s Monday morning and I’m nursing a sore throat. But I wanted to talk about how the Charlottesville and Albemarle real estate markets are full of anomalies and anecdotes that can clarify and confuse. Here are two examples that are not…

Read More

On Villages in Charlottesville and Albemarle

Charlottesville architect/developer Bill Atwood in Brandon Shulleeta’s story in today’s Daily Progress: Atwood said that in the retail world, “the longer you can get people to stay, the better the pay. In other words, if you have somebody who’s actually going to stay and eat at dinner and actually walk around, you’ll be viable faster. … Having people live there is the ultimate.” Atwood said…

Read More