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Walk To School Day This Friday at Crozet Elementary

Update: Walk to School Day is “canceled due to ice and snow on the sidewalks”

This Friday, 19 February is Crozet Elementary’s Monthly Walk to School Day. We probably won’t be walking as we would be walking in the middle of the road for most of the way due to snow.

I asked on Twitter if Brownsville does “Walk to School” days – (and really meant Western and Henley as well) and got an interesting response. Is it true that kids are discouraged/disallowed from walking to school on their own?

Continue reading “Walk To School Day This Friday at Crozet Elementary”

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Crozet Housing Prices and School Quality

Crozet has traditionally been regarded as having high-quality public schools; as such we benefit from the market created by our schools.

Do better schools increase house prices? From my perspective as a Realtor in the Crozet area, the answer is yes. I have never had buyers tell me that they wanted to live in a bad school district; but virtually every single one – whether they have kids or not – wants to be in a good school district. Frankly, I don’t need metrics or analysis or data to support my conclusion; I know that people buying homes in Charlottesville and Albemarle want good schools.

All the data in the world isn’t going to change my opinion, either as a Realtor or as a parent, that good, quality schools matter – to our kids and to our housing values.

From The Impact of School Characteristics on House Prices: Chicago 1987-1991

For many people, an important consideration when buying a house is the quality of the local public schools. There is a general perception that, all else equal, houses in better school districts will cost more.
…

Our results indicate that individuals pay attention to both per-pupil expenditures and test scores when deciding where to locate. However, when purchasing a home, individuals do appear to consider the current test performance of students in the local school rather than the extent to which a community’s schools contribute to a cohort’s test performance.

So what? What happens to Albemarle County home values if:

1 – Albemarle County schools cannot trim the fat sufficiently and
2 – They have to make so many dramatic cuts?

This is an email sent by the Albemarle County Parents’ Council with five attachments that will help you get acclimated … before the public hearing tonight at 6:30.

And now the meat of the post – if I’m a homeowner in Albemarle County, what are you talking about? How much more would I pay in taxes?

Continue reading “Crozet Housing Prices and School Quality”

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Crozet Twitter Updates – Brief Notes for 2010-02-14

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More on the Crozet Library

Update 10 February:

Ann Mallek writes that the meeting tonight is questionable due to the weather. Make sure you check albemarle.org before you go.

From the CrozetEagle listserv:

Many of you may not know that the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has spoken about closing Scottsville Library and our own Crozet Library. Due to budget constraints, they say there is not enough money for these libraries. It has been shown that the cost of running the libraries in Albemarle County is well below the other areas in Virginia. Also the Crozet Library has increased their volume of circulation over the last 2 years. As you know, once they do close this library, it is very likely we will not get another one – new or old back into this area.

Please help us save our local library! They are trying to brainstorm ideas of how we can help save the library. Right now due to weather conditions, they are not having a library meeting scheduled. But, there is a Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday Feb. 10th. Anyone who wishes, can go and sign up to speak out for the library.

We also have petitions to sign against closure put out at Crozet Pharmacy, Crozet Hardware Store, Mudhouse and the Post Office. I will try to put out more petitions as weather clears. Also there is a website I have created for people to post on and I am sending these to Board of Supervisors:www.savecrozetlibrary.webs.com . Please forward this info to anyone you can! On this website is a calendar for future events. If we can get the weather to co-operate, I will try again to post new dates for any meetings.
Continue reading “More on the Crozet Library”

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Home Contracts up in Crozet

Nearly twice as many homes have gone under contract in Crozet (defined as Crozet and Brownsville Elementary) in the first 38 days of the year compared to the first 38 days of 2009. It’s not a rebound or a recovery, but it’s definitely a good sign.

Sure, we’re talking small numbers:

9 homes – attached and single family – went under contract between 1 January and 8 February 2009

18 homes – attached and single family – went under contract between 1 January and 8 February 2010

Continue reading “Home Contracts up in Crozet”

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Charlottesville regional real estate market update

Download a copy of the Nest Report, which is what we believe to be the best, most “comprehensive and transparent analysis of the residential real estate market in Charlottesville, Albemarle and surrounding counties, prepared quarterly by Nest Realty Group.”

It’s a PDF, and it is a good, insightful and thorough analysis of what is happening in the broader Charlottesville real estate market:

2010 will be an interesting year to watch. Employment numbers continue to creep higher throughout the country and the state; national debt and deficit levels are of a constant concern; the foreclosures and short sales will increase; and yet there are positive signs that our market is making a stride toward normalcy. Number of transactions increased from Q2 to Q3. On a seasonally adjusted rate, sales increased from Q3 to Q4 by more than 10.8%. Charlottesville remains lowest of all Virginia for unemployment rates. And while statewide and nationwide unemployment numbers are up, Charlottesville has fallen for four straight months (Aug thru Nov) to 5.1%, which is lower than we have seen since December of 2008.

The big “what-if” for 2010 will be keeping an eye on Short Sales and Foreclosures across Central Virginia. We will go into this in more detail, but the basic issue is that Short Sales are up all across our state, and Charlottesville is not completely immune. Foreclosures are up significantly in Central Virginia, but are still way behind rates in other parts of the state. If that trend ends, and Central Virginia catches up with Richmond and Northern Virginia, we will see a significant erosion on prices throughout this year. As it stands, signs point to another 6-9 months of price drops followed by some stabilization, but no sign of increases in the next 18-24 months.

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Crozet Twitter Updates – Brief Notes for 2010-02-07

  • Power just flickered. #
  • RT @LisaCurcio: RT @NBC29: Traffic Alert: I-64 westbound at MM 107 (Crozet), disabled vehicle blocking one lane. #
  • Roads in Crozet are slushy; driving slowly is recommended. #
  • Parking in Mudhouse/Hardware store is crazy. Crazy, I say. #
  • RT @MudhouseCrozet: Crozet Hardware just received a shipment of snow shovels… get them while they’re still there! #
  • RT @CrozetGazette: Just how far back does the Crozet Library go? 1907. http://bit.ly/bnduHo #
  • Disappointed I’m going to be missing the Charlottesville Realtor meeting this morning. Darn 2 hour school delay. #
  • RT @amywebb: Harris Teeter in Crozet is surprisingly quiet at this hour. Glad I got that over with. [beating the panic. Good job. 🙂 ] #
  • Off to the gym. #
  • Albemarle County Schools closed tomorrow. I know. You’re shocked. #
  • Hey @511northwestva All the rumors I hear of snow coming in excess of 20 inches start with “VDOT says ..” – how much snow are you expecting? #
  • RT @DailyProgress: Conflict grows over planned Crozet gas station: … http://bit.ly/dcQ3up #
  • Sirens in Crozet. Apparently there’s already a wreck. Be safe, people. #
  • Friend is Harris Teeter just said they’re calling for 41-50 inches this weekend. Come on, now. Really??? #
  • Del. Landes’ bill struck down in Committee. ‘cuz the internet’s a fad. http://bit.ly/9FJCyD Read more here – http://bit.ly/9zN2Oi #
  • An excellent question begging clarification re: proposed Yancey Business Park in Crozet http://ow.ly/1263P #
  • Yep. Albemarle County Schools closed tomorrow. Shocking. #
  • RT @bradramsey: RT @JimDuncan: Dominion Power hit one of their own poles at Park and High in Crozet. #

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Snowpocalypse Part Deux

If you take pictures of the snow (and really, why wouldn’t you? It’s beautiful!), please consider uploading them to flickr and tag them with “crozet” – then they will show up in the slideshow at the top of RealCrozetVA.

Nice update from the Daily Progress this morning:

Updated: 11:00 a.m. As the snow began to fall Friday morning and the roads had yet to become impassable, dozens of Crozet residents rushed out to Crozet Hardware after hearing—primarily over Twitter—that the shop had received a last-minute truckload of snow shovels. By 10 a.m., more than 80 percent of the 230 shovels had been bought up.

A few doors down, the Crozet Mudhouse was doing brisk business as residents took advantage of the final few hours they could travel freely before hunkering down inside their homes. The coffee shop planned to stay open until 5 p.m. Friday and expected to re-open Saturday between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

And from cvillenews:

With the last big storm, the best outlets for regular updates about the outside world came from The Daily Progress on Twitter, CBS-19 on Twitter, and The Hook’s blog, so folks hungry for information might check there for the best updates.