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.

If you’re planning to utilize FHA financing to purchase your next home, you have to use a little bit of caution when considering condos in Charlottesville, as not all of them are approved for FHA financing.

Check out the link below to see whether or not the condo you’re considering is approved for FHA;

HUD.GOV Condos with FHA Financing

If the condo community you’re considering is not on this list, you may need to check with your mortgage lender to see if you will be able to come up with an alternative type of financing. Additionally, if you live in one of the condos that is not able to provide FHA financing, you should be aware that it may limit the potential number of Purchasers who will have the ability to buy your home on the resale market!

Please give me a call if I can help connect you with a lender who may be able to help you find alternative financing, or get you pre-qualified!

[Photo Credit: http://www.radrounds.com]

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]

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!

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!

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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”!

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.

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

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]