Charlottesville News

City of Charlottesville to Hold Citywide Tree Debris Collection next week!

February 19, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

From the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce ChamberBits newsletter….

Citywide Tree Debris Collection

The City Public Works Department will provide a FREE citywide collection of winter storm related TREE DEBRIS for City residents during the week of February 22-26.

City Residents may place tree limbs at the curb for collection no later than 7am of their scheduled trash and recycling collection day. Each street will be worked one time only.

Tree debris cut up by contractors for residents should be hauled away by contractors and will not be collected as part of this collection.

Questions may be directed to the Public Service Division at 970-3895.

For Those Really Interested in the Status of UVA; Casteen’s 2008 – 2009 President’s Report Just Released

February 5, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

This is a really nice piece of information to be able to look through- in the past it has only been mailed to select UVA faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends, but this year U.Va. has digitized it so we can all check it out.

It’s a very nice summary of what has been going on at U.Va., and also gives us some expectations for the future.

Click here to check it out!

[Photo Credit: Cover of U.Va. President's Report]

Check Out The United Way- Thomas Jefferson Area “All Around Town” Auction in Charlottesville February 3-10

February 1, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

The United Way- Thomas Jefferson Area is holding their All Around Town Auction from February 3-10, and there are definitely some great items up for auction, all for a great cause!

The All Around Town Auction features tons of participating companies around town, all of whom have different auction items present at their stores and shops, that shoppers may bid on while they peek around.

All proceeds benefit the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area toward furthering their mission to serve those at the greatest risk and with the greatest need.

Areas all over Charlottesville are participating, and are broken down into the following segments of town;

• 250 West
• 29 North
• Barracks Road
• Crozet
• Downtown Charlottesville
• Pantops/East

There are definitely plenty of stores participating, so if you’re out and about taking care of your shopping, or looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, consider stopping in some of these stores to bid on their featured items.

Click here for a PDF Auction Brochure of all of the stores represented, along with their auction items! PDF Auction Brochure

Additionally, here is a brochure listing all auction items, and where they can be found! AuctionList2010.pdf

This is a great program, for a great cause- keep it in mind over the next two weeks!

Happy Shopping!

February Give Where You Live: Charlottesville’s Salvation Army Shoe Drive

January 30, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

This month’s “Give Where You Live” focuses on the Salvation Army Shoe Drive.

U.Va’s Office of Community Relations and the Salvation Army are running a shoe drive!

This is a great chance to donate your used, but usable men’s, women’s and children’s shoes to those in need.

Monday Feb. 1 – Friday Feb. 5!

Drop Off Points:

• Fontaine Research Park (1st Floor Kitchen)
• Piedmont Center
• Health System Development (2410 Old Ivy Road)

Additionally, volunteers are needed for shoe sorting!

• February 12 @ 4:00P
• February 13 @ 12:00P

Click here for more information!

—–

Every month, I will post a segment called “Give Where You Live,” which will be focused on Charlottesville and the surrounding counties, reminding us of little things we can do to make our community a better place. There are tons of incredible non-profits and charities around the area, and hopefully these segments will help residents become more familiar with some of the different needs in the community and maybe even inspire some giving!   

I will try to post about a variety of needs and programs, from big to small, so if you know of a great local cause that is running a donation-based or volunteer campaign, please feel free to send the details my way and I will make an effort to include them in an upcoming “Give Where You Live”!

Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce Summarizes some of Charlottesville’s Recent Rankings

January 30, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

Thanks to the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce for this nice summary of recent rankings for the City of Charlottesville! I’ve elaborated on many of these and tried to catalogue them here already on the Charlottesville Rankings page, but I definitely missed a few along the way and will be adding more to the page soon!

It’s hard to debate it- Charlottesville is a great place to live!

From the January 21 Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce ChamberBits Newsletter;

Recent other acknowledgements for the City of Charlottesville include:

• 4th Best Place to Live in the Country - Kiplinger’s Magazine 2009
• Best Place to Launch a Business – Fortune Magazine 2009
• 11th Best Town to Find a Job - Forbes Magazine 2009
• One of the 30 Coolest Neighborhoods, Belmont - Men’s Health Magazine 2009
• 18th Safest Mid-Sized Cities in the Country (populations between 150,000 and 500,000), Farmers Insurance 2009
• AARP, Top 10 Healthiest Places to Retire, 2008
• Best Places to Retire, Black Enterprise Magazine, 2nd in 2008
• Best City for Living and Launching a Business by Fortune and Money Magazines – 18th Place in 2008.
• Best Small Market for Business by Forbes Magazine - 9th Place in 2008.

According to Bestplaces.Net and Mens Journal Magazine, Charlottesville Ranks #5 For Healthiest Towns in the U.S.

January 18, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · 1 Comment 

Thanks to Tom Sellman with C&F Mortgage for this great find!  

Men’s Journal Magazine

February 2010

Volume 19, Number 1

According to Men’s Journal Magazine, Charlottesville is competitive on the following items;

• Local Farms
• Short Commutes
• Sidewalks
• Low Pollution
• Green Spaces
• Good Weather

The other top ranking cities were;

• Iowa City, IA
• Boulder, CO (we are often compared to this city)
• Logan, UT
• Northampton, MA

New Forms to Claim The First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

January 17, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · 1 Comment 

The new forms to submit when claiming the first time homebuyer tax credit have finally been released! Form 5405 will now be needed when submitting a tax claim, and this is likely mainly due to the large numbers of tax fraud we were experiencing in res

ponse to the First Time Homebuyer tax credit. Please be sure to file this along with your claim, so you don’t experience any sort of delay in claiming your credit!

Click HERE to directly download a copy of Form 5405 from the IRS website for yourself.

From the Washington Post coverage of the new forms…

“Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit and Repayment of the Credit” can be downloaded from the IRS web site.

First-time buyers will have to send a copy (keep your originals!) of one of these documents to back up their claim to the tax credit:

• A copy of their HUD-1 Settlement Statement, complete with dates and signed by all parties.
• Mobile-home buyers can send in a copy of their signed, dated and fully executed sales contract.
• New-home buyers who don’t have a HUD-1 settlement statment must send in a copy of the certificate of occupancy.

All of these documents need to show names, dates, addresses, signatures, and prices.

[From Local Address - New tax forms released for claiming the home buyer credit ]

The experience of my clients thus far has been that getting the credit has been fairly painless. I hope that this will continue through the extension of the credit in 2010, but I would love any feedback you may have!

[Photo Credit: The Backyard Wealth Blog]

Just Released! The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors’ Year-End Market Report

January 14, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors has just released it’s Year End Market Report this morning, and it includes some very valuable information that home buyers and sellers should really be aware of.

Click here to download and read the full report. 2009 CAAR Year-End Market Report

I will be doing a more thorough analysis this weekend, but until then, some of the salient points…

Some people have suggested that the first time home buyer credit hasn’t been effective, but I have completely disagreed with that, and while this data isn’t a clear indicator that the credit is working, it would suggest that more first time buyers (in the below $300,000 price range) have been in our market in Q4 2009, than we are typically used to.

As reported for the past two quarterly reports, significantly lower home prices (down 20% or more) are driving the pick-up in sales. In addition, the $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers supercharged the sale of starter homes (below $300,000) in 2009. 67.5% of home sales for the year were in this starter home category, which is approximately a 10% increase in this category.

- CAAR Year End Market Report.

One thing to be aware of is the average price per square foot we’re seeing across the different counties. This is one of the more profound ways to see that our pricing has returned to that of 2005 levels (at least), if not gone lower. My personal belief is that our prices are actually closer to what they were in 2004. Take a look at the $/SF analysis below to see how your county has fared.

Price Per Square Foot (Finished)

Another indicator that allows us to see the decline in home prices is a major drop in the price per square foot numbers. The average price per square foot of finished space in homes is not a scientific number, but a downward trend over the years clearly indicates a decrease in prices (and vice versa). According to the chart below, prices peaked in 2006 and have declined for the past three years. There has been a $28 per square foot drop since the peak in 2006. The current $143 per square foot is the lowest number since 2004.

- CAAR Year End Market Report.

According to the CAAR Year End market Report, our inventory of homes is slowly declining. Of course this was the main aim of the First TIme Home Buyer tax credit, and we are all anxious to see what will happen to inventory once it expires.

Inventory of Homes for Sale

“The inventory of homes for sale in the Charlottesville has continued to decline very slowly. As we have reported for the past several quarters, the excess of inventory is causing many of the problems with our local housing market. The decline in inventory is very encouraging, but we will still have too many homes on the market for the current demand. This could change very quickly going into the busy spring market.”

- CAAR Year End Market Report.

Average Days on Market

One piece of information that I always want future sellers to be acutely aware of is the average days on market. The days on market is a measure of homes SOLD BY AN AGENT THROUGH THE MLS, and how long they’re taken on the market being actively marketed before they have sold. This number does not include some very high days on market numbers for all of the homes that never sell, it only calculated DOM for solds, so it is artificially lower than days on market of ALL HOMES. If you are thinking of selling your home in the near future, you need to be acutely aware of the average days on market for your county and be sure to give your real estate agent a reasonable amount of time to accomplish your goals.

Will be elaborating more on this report later, but would love some questions from all of you!

Once Again, UVA is Named by Princeton Review as the Best Value in Public Schools

January 13, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · 1 Comment 

According to the Daily Progress coverage…

The University of Virginia has been named the top university in The Princeton Review’s latest “Best Value Public Colleges” list.

The College of William and Mary is ranked third in the 2009 list, behind New College of Florida. State University of New York at Binghamton and Florida State University round out the top 5. UVa came in fourth in the previous rankings, released in 2007.

The “Best Value” rankings, which the test-preparation company jointly released with USA Today, are based on surveys of students and administrators at hundreds of colleges and universities.

[From UVa Named Best Value]

Evidently the choices are made on over 30 criteria;

Overall selection criteria included more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs and financial aid. Academic ratings were based on student surveys about such issues as professors’ accessibility and class sizes, as well as institutional reports about student-faculty ratios and percent of classes taught by teaching assistants.

[From Best Value Colleges for 2010 and how they were chosen - USATODAY.com]

Photo Credit: GetMoreU

Blue Ridge Outdoors Reader Poll Reveals Several Charlottesville Favorites!

January 9, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

The Blue Ridge Outdoors January Issue “Best of the Outdoors” article highlights several beautiful areas in Charlottesville. This article is reader voted- polling readers from Baltimore to Atlanta to pick their favorites of the Blue Ridge.

Here are a few of the places that Charlottesville was competitive;

1. Favorite Section of the Blue Ridge Parkway; Humpback Rock voted #3!
2. Favorite Waterfall Section in the Blue Ridge; Crabtree Falls is voted #1! (biggest waterfall East of the Mississippi)- Nelson County
3. Best Ski Runs in the Blue Ridge; Wintergreen Resort Cliffhanger mile long run voted #2!
4. Best Snowboarding Event in the Blue Ridge: Blue Ridge Double Cross voted #1!
5. Favorite Section of the Appalachian Trail: Shenendoah National Park Section voted #5!
6. Best Road Race: The Charlottesville Ten Miler voted #5!
7. Favorite Terrain park: Wintergreen Terrain Park voted #6!

Check out the full video interview of Tom Daly, from Blue Ridge Outdoors on the Newsplex website here and be sure to read the full article at the Blue Ridge Outdoors website here!

Photo Credit: http://www.blueridgelocksmithing.com

Building Goodness Foundation Accepting Proposals for Local Fall Building Projects

January 9, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

The Building Goodness Foundation is a Charlottesville non-profit that focuses on construction improvements and renovations for communities and families in need. Their projects span the globe, from right here in Charlottesville to Mississippi, Guatemala, and Haiti. They are currently taking proposals for their upcoming Fall Building Project (which occurs in Charlottesville) and I would encourage anyone who is aware of a community or civic center, school, or library that is in need of some structural repair and renovation to submit a proposal to BGF!

From their monthly newsletter;

We are now accepting proposals for our third annual Local Fall Building Project. In partnership with local nonprofit agencies, BGF volunteers will donate hundreds of hours of skilled labor to consult, design, build or renovate a building that serves a community need in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area. Renovations or additions to existing buildings such as clinics, schools or community centers are examples of likely candidates. The Local Fall Building Project will not accept proposals for individual housing improvements.

Proposal applications for the Local Fall Building Project will be accepted until 5:00pm on Friday, February 26, 2010. A pdf version of the form is available here for download and also on our website. If you have questions, please contact Ethan by email or call the office at 434.973.0993.

Download the Request for Proposal here (aka the RFP pdf for BGF’s LFBP)

I hope you will consider submitting a proposal or perhaps volunteering with the Building Goodness Foundation!

Charlottesville’s Restaurant Week January 25-31!

January 6, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

I could not have been more excited than I was to hear that Restaurant Week was coming to Charlottesville last year, and now, it’s back! From January 25 – 31, Charlottesville has 20+ restaurants participating in “Restaurant Week”, which involves $26/person prix-fixe menus, all of three courses- an appetizer, entree, and dessert. Last year only about 10 restaurants participated, but this year the list is much longer. Book your reservations now!

So far, the following restaurants are participating;

• Aberdeen Barn
• Blue Light Grill
• The Boat House
• Brassiere Montiel
• C&O
• Camino
• Carmello’s
• Cassis
• Fossett’s at Keswick Hall
• Horse and Hound
• l’etoile
• Maya
• The Melting Pot
• Old Mill Room at The Boar’s Head Inn
• The Pointe at The Om
• Ventana
• Vivace
• Zinc

Visit the Restaurant Week website to check out the prix-fixe menus for each restaurant!

From the Restaurant Week website;

“For any diner who has ever dreamed about fine dining without breaking the bank, Restaurant Week is that dream… come true. Modeled on similar events in other cities, this is seven days of good food and good fun. Diners get to choose from each participating restaurant’s special prix fixe menu and enjoy three courses— an appetizer, an entree, and dessert— for just $25 [CORRECTION- actually $26 this year]. (Beverages, tax, and gratuity not included.)

Charlottesville Restaurant Week is January 25-31 and July 12-18, 2010.

[From About Restaurant Week » Charlottesville Restaurant Week - ]

According to Kiplinger.com, UVA is #3 in the Nation for Best Value in Public Colleges

January 6, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

The University of Virginia always seems to fare pretty well in this review, but we have once again been ranked high nationwide based on cost versus value.

How is this determined? According to Kiplinger.com;

“Kiplinger’s bases its rankings on a combination of academics and affordability. We start with data from more than 500 public four-year colleges and universities, provided by Peterson’s/Nelnet, then add our own reporting.

We narrow the list to about 120 schools based on measures of academic quality — including SAT or ACT scores, admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios, and four- and six-year graduation rates, which most schools reported for the class entering in 2002.

We then rank each school based on cost and financial aid. In our scoring system, academic quality carries more weight than costs (almost two-thirds of the total).

To assess costs, we look at total expenses for in-state students (tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and books); the average cost for a student with need after subtracting grants (but not loans); the average cost for a student without need after subtracting non-need-based grants; the average percentage of need met by aid; and the average debt per student before graduation. (In the table, aid is need-based assistance.)

To determine out-of-state rankings, we run the academic-quality and expense numbers again, this time using total costs for out-of-state residents and average costs after aid.”

[From How We Rank the Schools - Kiplinger.com]

John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville Voted Best New Arena by Sports Illustrated

January 3, 2010 by Sasha Farmer · Leave a Comment 

We all know that the John Paul Jones Arena is hugely successful and has brought lots of great attention and activity to Charlottesville, but it doesn’t hurt to have Sports Illustrated agree!

BEST NEW ARENA: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, Va.

The University of Virginia spent $140 million to build John Paul Jones Arena, which opened in 2006. The arena is a perfect size (capacity 14,593), includes state-of-the-art practice, training and academic facilities, and it blends perfectly into UVA’s stately campus.

[From Tyler Hansbrough, Jonny Flynn shaped decade in college hoops - 2000s: The Decade in Sports - SI.com]

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Creative Commons

Give Where You Live: December: Charlottesville SPCA Blanket Drive

December 29, 2009 by Sasha C. Farmer Realtor · Leave a Comment 

The December “Give Where You Live” focuses on the Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). They are currently partnered up with the City of Charlottesville for their 4th Annual Blanket Drive.   

There is no better time than now to support this drive, as I’m sure we are all mindful of the bitter temperatures Charlottesville has been experiencing! While we are all trying to keep warm from the bitter cold this winter, many of the SPCA animals are housed in outdoor runs and kennels and can use any extra warmth that we might be able to spare! If you have old blankets that won’t hold up in your home much longer, make sure to drop them off at the Albemarle SPCA (Berkmar Drive) or Charlottesville City Hall in Downtown Charlottesville!

[From 4th Annual SPCA Blanket Drive - NBC29]

Charlottesville is teaming up with the SPCA for the 4th Annual Blanket Drive to make sure man’s best friend isn’t left out in the cold.

The shelter houses dozens of animals, and while a lot of the kennels are indoors, several have an outdoor component as well. Last year, the drive brought in 600 blankets. This year the city is hoping for 750.

Susanne Kogut of the Charlottesville – Albemarle SPCA said, “It’s really incredible, I mean during the winter it gets pretty cold. We have the outdoor runs and it gets pretty cold no matter what you do so having the dogs have the blankets, it’s really awesome.”

If you would like to help, you can drop off your donation in the front lobby at Charlottesville City Hall or the Charlottesville – Albemarle SPCA on Berkmar Drive.

For more information, call 434-970-3129.

[Photo Credit: Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA]

—–

Every month, I will post a segment called “Give Where You Live,” which will be focused on Charlottesville and the surrounding counties, reminding us of little things we can do to make our community a better place. There are tons of incredible non-profits and charities around the area, and hopefully these segments will help residents become more familiar with some of the different needs in the community and maybe even inspire some giving!   

I will try to post about a variety of needs and programs, from big to small, so if you know of a great local cause that is running a donation-based or volunteer campaign, please feel free to send the details my way and I will make an effort to include them in an upcoming “Give Where You Live”!

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