Moving to Crozet? (via Reddit)

This question on Reddit was a fun writing prompt for me.

Hi all hoping you can give me the local’s perspective of Crozet. My wife and I are lifelong Marylanders seriously looking at moving away from the DC area to the greater Charlottesville area in the next 2-3 years. We’ve got two kids in elementary school and are looking for a lot of what the area has to offer. We came down earlier this summer and stumbled upon Crozet as a potential area of interest.

Is it really as nice as it seems? What are you’re thoughts? We want to be close enough to Charlottesville but be able to maintain a small-town feel.

And my answer

Lots of people from NoVa/DC/Maryland move to Crozet/Charlottesville.

Crozet is a great place to live; we’ve raised two kids here. Close to mountains, hiking, biking, 25-30 minutes to Charlottesville, and Crozet is becoming more self-sufficient all them time. The mountains aren’t going anywhere.

But … as I tell my clients (yes, I’m an agent), there’s a ton of growth yet to come, and in my opinion (as someone who’s lived in Crozet for 20 years, and as a Realtor), this growth comes with challenges. Much of the growth is homogeneous with limited character, but that’s the nature of such production-built-homes, schools are crowded, and traffic (yes, really) can be a challenge. 64 can be a disaster, but they are improving 118B.

Keeping the “small town” feel is one of the key points in the Crozet Master Plan, and is often discussed. But … I don’t have great confidence in the Plan being followed; it’s an aspirational document it seems. If you live close to the elementary schools (there are two, Brownsville Elementary and Crozet Elementary), you can walk or ride bikes to school with your kids. This was one of the best things I did as a parent.

Quite a few links:

I’d be happy to put you in touch with clients who have made the same move.

Continue reading “Moving to Crozet? (via Reddit)”

CCAC Meeting – February 2019 | Schools, and Recycling

This should be an interesting meeting, seeing as how most everyone in Crozet benefits from having a great school system. I’ll reserve my cynicism for my in-meeting tweets.

#CCAC0219

Crozet Library 
Wednesday, February 13, 2019 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. 

Agenda 

1.    Introductions and Agenda Review (Allie Pesch – CCAC chair) 

2.    Approval of Minutes 

3.    Recycling in Western Albemarle (Trudy Brement, Emma-Caroline Avery, and Maren Eanes, Henley Middle School – 20 min) 

Due to illness, the recycling discussion will be postponed. Instead, our neighborhood planner Andrew Knuppel will be presenting the county’s new development dashboard and giving us an overview of Crozet developments currently “in the pipeline.”

4.    Western Albemarle Feeder Pattern School Capacity and Enrollment (Rosalyn Schmitt, ACPS Chief Operating Officer – 60 min) 

5.    Items Not Listed on the Agenda 

6.    Announcements 

7.    Future Agenda Items 
        –  Joel DeNunzio, VDOT (March) 
        –  Chesterfield Landing Phase III Review 
        –  Albemarle County Development Pipeline Dashboards (Andrew Knuppel) 
        –  The Square and Barnes Lumber Updates? 

Insight for Buyers and Sellers in Crozet, Looking to 2019

We are releasing our Annual Nest Report shortly; if you’d like a copy, please email Jim or Greg.

Transcript

Jim: Hey. I’m Jim Duncan with Nest Realty (434-242-7140).

Greg: And I’m Greg Slater with Nest Realty (434-981-6655). We wanted to take this opportunity to talk to you a little bit about the Crozet Market. When we talk about the Crozet Market, we define it as the elementary school districts of Brownsville Elementary and Crozet Elementary.

Continue reading “Insight for Buyers and Sellers in Crozet, Looking to 2019”

Crozet Real Estate Market – Nearing End of 2018

Sales are slowing, inventory is creeping up, new construction is moving along, and we’re seeing price moderations. Watch the whole video, skim the transcript; ask us questions.

 

Jim: Hey there, I’m Jim Duncan with Nest Realty here in Crozet.

Greg: And I’m Greg Slater with Nest Realty. We define the Crozet market as the school districts of Brownsville Elementary and Crozet Elementary. We gave you some stats in our last video. We were talking about the fact that sales in Crozet were down about 10% at that point. Moving ahead, we’re looking a little bit past the third quarter to the end of October, year to date. We’re still going in the wrong direction. Now we’re about 16% off.

Continue reading “Crozet Real Estate Market – Nearing End of 2018”

Mid-2018 Crozet Real Estate Market Update

Crozet real estate market update with Greg Slater and Jim Duncan with Nest Realty.

The first half of 2018 is behind us, and we talked about resales vs new construction, home prices, where in Crozet homes are selling, what happened with home inventory over the past few years.

Note that this is a longer video than typical; we covered a lot.

Thanks to the Rooftop for letting us use their … Rooftop.

(Greg and I are getting accustomed to doing these videos together … we will get better)


Transcript

Continue reading “Mid-2018 Crozet Real Estate Market Update”

Drink it Forward – For Crozet Park

Thursday, 12 April 2018.

Beer at Rooftop.

For Charity. (and community)

Tip: Ride a bike or walk. It’s going to be 75º at 6pm tomorrow.

Each month Nest Realty hosts a social soiree to benefit a different organization or charity. This month we’ve teamed up with Piedmont Place to benefit Claudius Crozet Park, Inc.

Thursday, April 12th, starting at 5:30pm, we’ll have a keg tapped and flowing at The Rooftop Crozet. All you have to do is ask for the Nest keg! We’ll have a donation box available that you can drop a $5, $10 or $20, if so moved.

 

 

*real estate disclosure: many readers know that I am a realtor and Partner at Nest Realty

Why Move to Crozet?

It’s a real estate post; I’m real estate agent. One of the best additions to Nest’s site over the years is the Seller’s Scoop – where the seller tells their story. Pictures are worth 1,000 words, but a few authentic words are invaluable. I love the words of my clients.

Wickham Pond

  • Living Here Has Been: We have loved that we have found this place in Wickham Pond in Crozet, VA. We had no idea how much we would fall in love with this place every. single. day. The mountains, the people, the energy! We love that we can go to D.C. or Richmond or just stay home. There is magic in these mountains!!
  • View: We love our mountain view from the master bedroom. It faces toward the farm with rolling hills with the mountain as a back drop. You can literally see the weather move in as it approaches.
  • Room: We love to watch the fire in the living room especially on a chilly night.
  • Walk: We love to walk through our neighborhood and even the Wickham Pond trails. There is even a trail that crosses over into Western Ridge. It is easy to walk to Highlands as well. So many ways to walk or run. All the neighborhoods have hills and flat areas
  • Hike: We love to hike Sugar Hollow, Humpback and even Mint Springs. We just discovered the Ragged Mountain area where you can hike around the reservoir. The options are endless from the Monticello Trail to the Shenandoah National Park right in our backyard!
  • Breakfast: A new local breakfast place just opened in downtown Crozet. Simple menu. Good food. We love to go to Charlottesville and eat at the Bluegrass Grill! YUM.
  • Lunch: Roots Natural Kitchen in Charlottesville is the best. A great meal that fills your belly and doesn’t empty your wallet! A UVA student started/run business. Greenwood Gourmet Grocery Store is such a fun place to shop for local and interesting goodies and
  • Dinner: Sal’s Pizza in Crozet is our go to Pizza Shop! Restoration in Old Trail in a wonderful place to chill out and enjoy a beautiful view!! On the Downtown mall, we love to go to the Red Pump. Delicious farm to table.
  • Pub/Winery: Fardowners….local fare and hometown feel right next to the Crozet Hardware store and Mudhouse Coffee Shop!!!

Parkside Village

SELLER’S SCOOP

  • Living Here Has Been: Community. We’ll miss it. Crozet parades, special events. Passing books from one person to the next in a long line stretching from the “old Crozet library” to the beautiful new building will be something we remember forever!
  • View: Bathroom picture window. Most mornings I wake up, walk into the bathroom, and spend a second to take in the mountain view looking south from the house to Heards Mountain.
  • Room: Kitchen, as seen from the family room. Claudine loves to cook so I have spent many an evening sitting in the family room reading or watching TV while smelling the delights she’s cooking up from the kitchen. When onions, garlic, and olive oil hit the pan
  • Tree: The maple in our back yard. It’s beautiful in the spring and glorious in the fall. Best of all it’s far enough away from the house that I haven’t had to clean a gutter since moving in!
  • Walk: Name one. From this location we can walk to our favorite downtown shops or restaurants, hit the Crozet trails to surrounding neighborhoods, walk the new track around Crozet Park, or simply stroll the Parkside neighborhood.
  • Hike: Mint Springs Park – great mountain trails with great views. Once while in the park we may have even ventured off the beaten path and up Bucks Elbow Mountain to find the site of the 1959 plane crash.
  • Breakfast: Coffee and a pastry at Mudhouse
  • Lunch: Sandwich at Greenhouse or Crozet Pizza.
  • Dinner: Fardowners – Sunday evening especially – $2.50 pints on VA brewed beers!
  • Pub/Winery: Stinson Vineyards – unbelievable mountain views, great wine, and live music on Thursday evenings in the summer.

Questions/Curious about the Crozet Real Estate Market?

If you are curious about the market, and googling isn’t doing it for you, come talk to two experts about the Crozet real estate market.

Questions about the Crozet real estate market? Curious about the new construction or resale market? Stop by NestWest in Piedmont PlaceThursday from 5 to 7, grab a drink Blue Ridge Bottle Shop, a bite from Morsel Compass, dessert at Crozet Creamery, and chat with David & Jim!

NestWest is right next to Over the Moon Bookstore & Artisan Gallery!

Crozet Real Estate with David & Jim – Start of 2018

We went for a shorter, tighter segment this time. What do you think?

Mark  your calendars – 18 January from 5 to 7 at the Rooftop. Come talk about the Crozet real estate market with David & Jim.

Questions? Ask David or Jim.

Read all of the real estate posts here on RealCrozetVA.


Transcription is in the works; I’ll update this post then.

Legal Disclosure: David and I are real estate agents with Nest Realty in Charlottesville.


Quick data points from our notes

* 150M vs 129M
* 313 vs 282 up 11%
* New construction – 113 vs 90 – up 26%
* Resale market – pretty flat 200 sold in 2017 w/ 61 DOM vs 192 in 2016 with 57 DOM
* 55 sales over 1 acre vs 52 – people want small yards
* 21 land sales
* 5 distressed

Tight inventory continues
New construction continues to do extremely well.

In Old Trail, in 2016 87 sold, and 2017, 80 sold

Fun Fact – 55 new construction sales in Old Trail both years

Fun Fact – Trails mentioned 5 times in 2007, 35 in 2016 and 40 times in 2017

December 2017 – 29 ratified contracts in 2017 vs 17 in 2016.

 

 

Transcript

 

Crozet Real Estate Market – Starting 2018

Jim: Hey there. Jim Duncan with Nest Realty.

David: David Farrell with Nest Realty, sitting here at Nest West.

Jim: Do a little bit of Crozet real estate. Looking back at 2017, Crozet had 115 million dollars of real estate sales, versus 129 million in the previous year.

David: It was a heck of a year, Jim. We had 313 sales. That was up 11% from last year — the most ever in Crozet. Remember we’re defining Crozet by the Brownsville —

Jim: And Crozet Elementary.

David: — and Crozet Elementary school district.

Jim: New construction?

David: Was also up. 113 new homes build in Crozet last year, up from 90 the year before in 2016, so that a 26% increase, new home constructions.

Jim: Heck of a year for new.

Resale, actually, was kind of flat. I think, driven by the new construction taking it. 200 sold in 2017 with 61 days on the market, and 192 sold in 2016 with about the same, 57 days on the market.

David: Still impressive though.

We had 55 sales on an acre or more. Those are typically a couple of the older subdivisions in town, but mostly properties outside of the area.

Jim: Right.

David: There were 21 land sales overall for the year, which is the same as in 2016\. The good news is, we only had five distressed sales over the whole year — short sale, foreclosures — there were 7 in 2016\. So we’re thrilled to see that.

Jim: That’s a great thing.

David: Good to see that figure drop.

Jim: Looking forward to 2018\. We’re going to have continued tight inventory. It’s going to be hard to buy a house for a lot of people. New construction is going to continue to kill it, I think.

David: Yes.

Jim: — but for those looking for stuff under 500 in Crozet…

David: It’s getting hard.

Jim: It’s going to be hard, getting harder.

David: Attached home in Old Trail or lock into a resale.

Jim: Yes.

Old Trail, 2016, 87 sold, and 2017, fewer — 80 sold.

David: I thought it was extremely interesting in Old Trail that 55 new construction sold in 2017; the exact same as in 2016\. So even though we see dirt flying over there constantly, the build-out rate seems to be around 55 — between 50 and 60…

Jim: Which is good. A good stable rate of new construction.

My fun fact for this one is that in 2007 in the MLS, trails were mentioned as a selling point five times; 2016, 35 times, and last year, 2017, 40 times. So huge kudos to the Crozet Trails crew for all that they do.

David: Great growing trail system.

Jim: Yes.

And, busy, busy December. In Brownsville and Crozet there were 29 ratified contracts in 2017, only 17 in 2016.

David: Pretty impressive.

Jim: Very.

David: Busy drinking beer around here also?

Jim: Oh, there’s lots of places to drink beer.

David: Third Thursday of the month, we’re going to be up at the Roof Top, so that’s Thursday, January 18th; we’ll be up there from 5 to 7 if you want to come talk about real estate. If you have any questions about heading into 2018, just stop by and have a beer, and we’ll be happy to chat with you.

Jim: If you’re thinking about selling your house, I think now is the time to start having the conversation about getting ready for the spring market, because it is really and truly right around the corner.

David: I’ve got listings coming on this week. I bet you do also?

Jim: Same too.

David: OK. I’m David Farrell of Nest Realty.

Jim: Jim Duncan of Nest Realty.

David: Good luck with your real estate in 2018.