Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
8 Cymlin Ter., Palmyra, VA 22963 (Lake Monticello Waterfront)
May 25th, 2010 categories: Lake Monticello Listings, Listings, Uncategorized, Waterfront Listings
8 Cymlin Terrace might be just the watefront retreat you have been looking for! The home is located on the main lake, but towards the end, where it is a bit more quiet than the rest of the water. Set on a large, wooded .70 acre lot, you have an opportunity to experience the quietude that is so rare nowadays. The home is also located only a short walk from Lake Monticello’s Beach 5.
The home itself was constructed by the noted local custom builder, Mike Himes. The home features a wonderful stone fireplace, large sunroom with Andersen windows, and a full finished basement with workshop/storage area. You can see more details, along with the current pricing information, below. If you have any additional questions, or would like to schedule a showing, just let us know!
We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 472309 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.
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Lake Monticello Waterfront Real Estate Update– April 2010
May 4th, 2010 categories: Communities, For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Monticello, Market Statistics and Information, Uncategorized, Waterfront Updates
Yesterday, we took a look at the April sales stats for the Lake Monticello real estate market. Today, we are going to take a closer look at a more specific subset of that market– the waterfront homes.
Here is where the Lake Monticello waterfront market stands after April*:
- There are 25 waterfront homes currently listed. The average price of the active listings is $498,084.
- 3 waterfront homes went under contract in April. The average listing price of these homes was $585,667.
- 2 waterfront homes sold in April. The average sales price of these homes was $497,500. They sold for 94.5% of their listing prices.
For some historical perspective, let’s take a look at April 2009. Unfortunately, there is no way to see how many waterfront listings were on the market in April of 2009, we do know that 1 waterfront home sold in Lake Monticello in that month. It sold for $406,750.
Comparing the waterfront market of 2010 to 2009 shows us that through April of 2010, 3 waterfront homes have sold. This number matches the 3 waterfront homes that sold through the same time frame of 2009.
Remember, you can always count on us to provide you the stats you need to stay on top of the waterfront market at Lake Monticello. If you would like to receive personal updates on the waterfront market delivered to your email inbox, we encourage you to become a member of our Lake Monticello Waterfront Email Club.
*Waterfront stats refer only to properties on the Main Lake. All stats provided come directly from the Charlottesville Area Association of REALTORS MLS. They are believed to be accurate, but are not guaranteed.
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Charlottesville 365: Run a 10-mile Race for Charity!
March 23rd, 2010 categories: Charlottesville, Charlottesville 365, Communities, Uncategorized, Why Charlottesville?
Local Resident Todd Wickersty Runs the Charlottesville 10-miler
Charlottesville is an incredibly beautiful city, especially in the Spring. Sure, you can always enjoy it from your car, but as one of our Facebook Fans, Keith, pointed out– you could always enjoy it by running a 10 mile race to benefit local charities!
The Charlottesville 10-miler is an annual race held to benefit local charities. This year’s 10-miler will take place on Saturday, April 3rd. Proceeds from the race will go to benefit the Emergency Food Bank, the Blue Ridge Food Bank, and Meals on Wheels.
For more information about the race and to fill out an entry form, just visit the Charlottesville 10-miler website.
(this post is part of our 365 Things to Do in the Charlottesville Area series. If you want, you can add your own favorite things to do on our Facebook Page)
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toddwickersty/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
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Charlottesville Named one of America’s Best (and Healthiest) Neighborhoods by Men’s Journal
January 21st, 2010 categories: Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Communities, Fluvanna County, Fun Stuff, Lake Monticello, News, STR Market Info Blitz, Uncategorized
This post is part of the Strong Team REALTORS Market Info Blitz. We’re heating up the Winter market by giving you three-months worth of the information you need, November through January. Check out the latest posts in the blitz, here.
Life is good in the Charlottesville Area.
Buying real estate is always about more than just the square footage of a house, or whether or not is has a garage. We move into a house not only for the house itself, but for the area where that house is found. It is often the area around a house that helps turn it into a home.
Residents of the Charlottesville area know how valuable the area is to their quality of life. Sure, there are great houses in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Fluvanna, and Lake Monticello, but it is often the quality of life in the Charlottesville area itself that attracts people to these properties.
Charlottesville is consistently recognized by national publications for its high quality of life. One of the latest publications to recognize Charlottesville is Men’s Jornal. Charlottesville was recognized in the June 2009 edition of Men’s Jornal as being one of the best neighborhoods in America. Charlottesville was once again recognized by Men’s Journal in the January edition as being one of America’s 5 Healthiest Towns, using statistics from BestPlaces.net
It is always good to see the Charlottesville area receive recognition for the things that really set it apart and make it a wonderful place to call home.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maong/ / CC BY 2.0
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10 Things to Know About the Charlottesville Area Real Estate Market in 2010
January 4th, 2010 categories: Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Communities, Financing, First Time Buyers, Fluvanna County, For Buyers, For Sellers, Helpful Tips, Info, Lake Monticello, News, STR Market Info Blitz, Uncategorized
This post is part of the Strong Team REALTORS Market Info Blitz. We’re heating up the Winter market by giving you three-months worth of the information you need, November through January. Check out the latest posts in the blitz, here.
10 Things to Know About the Charlottesville Area Real Estate Market in 2010
We recently came across a very interesting article published a few weeks ago by U.S. News & World Report that was all about the national real estate market. The article was called, “10 Things to Know About Real Estate in 2010.” The article is well done, and definitely worth reading.
We thought that the predictions in the article were spot-on. All 10 of them, in fact. We realized, however, that the article focused on the national real estate market. Since you aren’t buying or selling all over the country, but rather buying or selling real estate right here in the Charlottesville area, we though it might be a good idea to adapt the 10 things from the article to the Charlottesville areal real estate market.
In fact, the article itself mentioned the need for local real estate analysis:
“. . .anyone interested in buying real estate next year can’t just read the national headlines. Instead, find a good blog that covers the local housing market and consider speaking with a real estate agent with experience in the area. “
We’d like to think that we fit squarely into that category. 
So, let’s get started. . .
10 Things to Know About the Charlottesville area Real Estate Market in 2010
1. Prices to bottom: We think this will be true in the Charlottesville area. In a few days, we will be releasing our 2009 Real Estate Year-in-Review Market Report. The data in that report should give us a good idea as to how prices will react in 2010. Given the trends that we saw in the 4th quarter of the year, it appears that prices have stabilized. It is important to note that reaching a bottom is very different from climbing. While we expect prices to stabilize, we certainly don’t expect to see a tremendous appreciation of prices. As we’ve been saying for a long time now, the days of 10% appreciation per year are over for the foreseeable future.
2. Mortgage delinquencies up: This is unfortunate, by probably true. We expect to see more foreclosures and short sales in the market this year than we saw in 2009. The state of the economy is a major factor in the rise in delinquencies, as is the fact that many homeowners owe more than what the home is worth. Those two factors inevitably lead to a rise in delinquencies. That being said, the Charlottesville area has fared much better than many parts of the country. While their may be increased foreclosures and short sales here in 2010, it will be much less than other areas, even in our own region.
3. Foreclosures move upstream: This is a rather interesting prediction that is made in the article. Basically, economists are predicting that foreclosures will increase among “prime” borrowers, and homes in higher price ranges. Remember how everyone was saying that the chief cause behind the mortgage meltdown was the “subprime” borrowers? Well, many of those borrowers are already in foreclosure, or have been through foreclosure. There are a lot of “prime” borrowers out there who might now be in danger. Most economists think this is due in large part to the number of Adjustable Rate Mortgages that are set to have interest rate resets in 2010. It is difficult to predict whether or not this will be true in the Charlottesville area. It stands to reason, however, that if there a high number of ARMs in the area, we might see increased foreclosure numbers in higher price ranges.
4. Mortgage rates to rise: Since mortgage rates are not geographically dependent, any national prediction about mortgage rates will be just as true here in the Charlottesville area. Mortgage rates have remained at historic lows, thanks primarily to programs put in place by the Federal Reserve. As those programs expire throughout the course of the year. Expect rates to rise. Their is a very good chance that rates could be at or near 6% for 30-year mortgages by the end of 2010.
5. Buyer’s market remains: With prices at the bottom, and mortgage rates at historic lows, this is obviously a buyer’s market. That most certainly will continue throughout 2010. As previously mentioned, however, mortgage rates are sure to rise, and prices probably won’t continue to fall in the Charlottesville area. This means that the leverage buyers currently have will probably decrease as the year goes on. One factor that will play a big part in the market shift will be inventory. If inventory numbers remain high, buyers will have continued leverage just because they will have a greater selection, and more competition among sellers. If inventory numbers start to fall, that will erode that leverage more quickly. By the end of 2010, the market should still favor buyers, but things will be much more even than they are now.
6. Modification plan could be modified: The Federal loan modification program is a mess. It simply hasn’t done what it was intended to do– keep borrowers in their homes. The program doesn’t address two of the key factors that lead to loan delinquencies– negative equity, and job loss. While job loss hasn’t been as big a problem in the Charlottesville area as it has in other regions, negative equity is certainly a concern. Only a relative handful of people have been helped by the program. If the government really wants to do something, the program is going to have to be modified. If that does happen, it could stem the tide of foreclosures and delinquencies predicted by numbers 2 & 3.
7. FHA lending standards may increase: This one is pretty much guaranteed. Loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration have been very popular. Unfortunately, that popularity has meant that FHA loans have also been hit hard by foreclosures. This has lead the FHA to push for increased standards. Increase the standards might have the effect of eliminating potential buyers from the marketplace. While such an increase should help stabilize the market in the long-term, it could have a short-term chilling effect.
8. Tax credit available through June: We’ve talked about what extending and expanding the tax credit might mean for the Charlottesville area before. November certainly saw an increase in closings due to the originally proposed expiration date for the tax credit. It is difficult to determine if the extension and expansion will have the same effect of bringing more buyers into the marketplace. Overall, we feel that the impact made by extending and expanding the tax credit program will have only a slight positive effect on the Charlottesville area real estate market.
9. Markets will vary a great deal by region: This is true every time, all the time. It is true on a macro level, and also on a micro level right here in the Charlottesville area. The different localities have been effected differently by the market changes. Albemarle has been effective differently than real estate in Lake Monticello or Fluvanna. Even different neighborhoods have been effected differently. As the article suggests, it is extremely important to find an agent who is knowledgeable about the market conditions in the area and/or neighborhoods in which you are interested.
10. Mobile maps can help: This one was a bit of a stretch by the author of the article, but it is still applicable in the Charlottesville area. Both Trulia and Zillow have iPhone apps that will allow you to search for homes by your current location. It is a neat feature, to be sure. We have found that our clients appreciate the visual feedback that map-based searching can provide, which is why our Charlottesville area real estate search engine has a map-based element to it. Since all three of us are dedicated iPhone users, never hesitate to ask when you have questions about mobile real estate applications. Between the thee of us, we’ve tried just about all of them.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23727257@N00/ / CC BY 2.0
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