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marys1000

Anyone in Charlottesville VA?

marys1000
14 years ago

Toying with the idea of moving and wondering about real estate there. I know its more expensive than Dayton )how much more?) but I am thinking there would also be more appreciation, more of a market if I leave when retiring.

Comments (9)

  • dreamgarden
    14 years ago

    You might want to check out City Data forums. I saw a thread about this there.

    A link that might be useful:

    www.city-data.com/forum/virginia/221580-charlottesville-va.html

  • grassgirl
    14 years ago

    I'm close. I'm in Richmond about an hour east of C'ville. Beautiful area. College town -- UVA. LOTS of money up in those hills, some very rich people live in Albermarle county (which is where Charlottesville is located).

    I'd like to move out to that area too (well maybe not quite that far west but out away from the ever sprawling Richmond)

    Sorry I don't have any real estate connections though.

  • marys1000
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks grassgirl. Sounds maybe more expensive than even I was thinking. The city data forum link is pretty slow. Mostly links to city website etc. but I thank you for the effort.
    grassgirl - one thing besides all the other (family, expense etc.) that I've been thinking about is......ticks. Another thread on city forum sounds like Virginia, being further south than I've ever lived, has lots of ticks - I hate ticks! And I like to birdwatch etc. in the country. What's your experience?

  • ncrealestateguy
    14 years ago

    You can google "city cost of living" or soeting like this and are more than likely to find a calculator that compares the two cities as far as income and expenses are concerned.
    As far as ticks... I do know that Northern VA has some of the Country's highest cases of Lymes disease and have lots of deer ticks.

  • grassgirl
    14 years ago

    Yes there are definitely ticks. Charlottesville probably isn't quite as bad as where I am b/c they usually get colder weather in the winters, which tends to reduce the summer populations of them.

    I hate ticks too. Can't stand them. We've been in this house 7 years and actually a month ago was the first time either me or my husband had one. (It was him but I got to do the honors). Not completely sure if he got it in our yard or where he goes walking but still, they are definitely here (as are fleas).

    If you have dogs, you have to keep them on heartworm medicine all year round.

    As for expense, I don't know that C'ville is terribly expensive. I'm sure some areas are affordable but there are lots of rich folks there with lots of land too.

    Perhaps you should come down for a long weekend and visit. See how you like the area first.

  • bob_cville
    14 years ago

    I live in Cville, and love it. I'd write a longer message, but I'm leaving work right now, I'll check back in with a longer response tomorrow.

    P.S. I'm originally from the Cincinnati area.

  • bob_cville
    14 years ago

    marys1000,

    You can find local real estate listings at http://www.caar.com I think there is little doubt that the prices for real estate in Charlottesville and in the surrounding county are higher than other areas. A quick search shows that the cheapest thing available is ~$90K for a 2Br/1Ba 800 sqft cottage that needs work and is likely a sell-it-quick-before-the-bank-takes-it. Nearly everything else below $150K seems to have major drawbacks as well; either tiny or needing major work or bad location (either remote or in one of the few bad neighborhoods) Whereas a quick scanning of listings of Dayton shows a median price for new listings of around $75,000. And a quick comparison of comparable-seeming houses shows that for a given house you'd pay about $100K more in C'ville that in the Dayton area. With that said, I think prices haven't really fallen appreciably here over the last year or two, and may start ticking back up while other places are still plunging. (although that may just be wishful thinking on my part.)

    Part of the reason for the higher prices is that it is a great place to live, many people move here and never want to leave. It has a great funky pedestrian mall downtown, good schools, many great, unique restaurants and dozens of nearby wineries. Another big part of the higher prices is IMHO that 20 to 30 years ago the local zoning board decided they didn't want the rampant sprawling development that had even by that time had transformed Northern Virginia into an evergrowing endless sea of housing developments and strip malls, and passed fairly strict rules about how existing properties could be divided up in an attempt to preserve the rural flavor of the area.

    Other than housing price, I don't think C'ville is especially more expensive that anywhere else. I also haven't found there to be may more ticks here than other places I've lived.

    If you have any specific questions about the area I will try to answer them.

    -Bob

  • charlottesestates
    12 years ago

    Hi There,

    I can suggest you to visit virginiaestates.com, offer a comprehensive array of services for the Charlottesville real estate market.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Charlottesville real estate

  • terezosa / terriks
    12 years ago

    charlottestates, I can suggest that you take note that this thread is 2 years old, and the rules of the forum prohibit spammers!