Posts tagged Fluvanna

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Elections 2011 – What’s on Your Ballot?

in Albemarle Charlottesville Fluvanna Greene Politics on

“Politicians are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason.” ― Mark Twain

We vote on Tuesday in what’s termed an “off-off election” meaning … fewer people vote, so your vote will matter more. Please vote.

Here are a few resources:

– Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Candidate information

– Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Charlottesville City Council Candidate information

– Unfortunately, Charlottesville Tomorrow doesn’t cover the other important races, but luckily The HooK offers snapshots of the various races, including Albemarle County School Board (I’m endorsing Ned Gallaway for this race), Soil and Conservation District (I like Lonnie Murray)

– cvillenews gives a succinct rundown of which races are on the ballots. I’d clip a bit of Waldo’s post, but really, just read the whole thing.

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Charlottesville MSA Real Estate Market Update – August 2011 – How This Matters to You

in Albemarle Charlottesville Fluvanna Greene Market statistics on

Pending Contracts in the Charlottesville MSA are UP, year over year. But if you’re looking to buy a home in the Charlottesville area or if you’re trying to or thinking about selling, this number doesn’t matter to you one bit. What matters is – what is the market doing on my street? In my neighborhood? In my elementary school district? What happens at the top level – national, state, MSA, locality – is darn near irrelevant other than from a psychological point of view.

Here is why the top numbers don’t matter … there are extremes and outliers everywhere; today’s example:

A house just went under contract in the Bentivar neighborhood. A first look says that the house came on the market at $595k and went under contract in 6 days. If that house sells for $595k, the MLS data will show that it sold for 100% of its asking price. Which isn’t accurate.

  • The house first came on the market in February 2010 for $1,100,000.
  • Reduced to $835,000
  • Came back on the market at $833,000
  • Reduced to $735,000
  • Came on the market for $595,000
  • Went under contract quickly.

Look beyond the numbers presented to you. Here and everywhere. Good real estate professionals don’t try to hide the information, but it takes work to discover what’s actually happening.

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Fluvanna County’s Fiscal Pickle

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Arguably, local governments have an equal and in many cases more significant impact on homeowners’ lives and property values – schools, fire and rescue, transportation infrastructure, snow removal … what happens if the tax rate rise so dramatically, and the budget becomes unmanageable? … Currently the real estate tax rate in Fluvanna County is $0.54 per $100 of assessed value ; the County is proposing a four cent increase in the tax rate in 2012 … and calling for a $1.22 per $100 rate in 2016 .

…With the pending reassessment, the audit calls for a fiscal year 2016 real estate tax rate of $1.22 per $100 to meet all expenditures and capital improvements.

…The tax options were part of a larger FY 2012 budget proposal that currently calls for a four-cent increase in the real estate tax rate, to $.58 per $100 of assessed value.

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Not Much Building in Fluvanna County

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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

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The Toy Lift in Charlottesville

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If you would like to donate a toy to the lift before Dec. 5th the early drop off locations are: Anytime Fitness – Crozet , CVaMP , Creative Press, Gold’s Gym , The Running Company, Seminole Total Health , Wilson School of Dance or you may email me for pick up service.

…– Kids Lift Foundation Toy Lift / Books Lift Kids PO Box 6762 Charlottesville, VA 22906 (434) 975-TOYS info@kidslift.org www.kidslift.org” * Even if I didn’t believe in the Toy Lift, I’d be writing about it – my wife is on their Board.

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