The growth of the beer and wine industry in Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Nelson County over the last few years has been amazing. Local vineyards and breweries are flourishing and this region is becoming known for not only its variety, but its quality. And these businesses are not only reaching out to and appealing to area residents, but tourists are coming from far and wide to experience what these Virginia vineyards and breweries have to offer.

It’s pretty amazing to see this growth over the last 4-5 years.  I think the best part about the success of these wineries and breweries is that they are creating fantastic events and interactions with the local community.  From Starry Nights at Veritas Vineyards to the polo matches at King Family Vineyards to movie nights at Blue Mountain Brewery, all of these businesses are creating exciting and fun opportunities for residents and tourists.

We’d like to thank King Family Vineyards, Blue Mountain Brewery, and Starr Hill Brewery for their help with this video. But there are countless others wineries and breweries out there that are helping to make this region well known for grapes and hops.  And best of all – they all work together.  Check out the Brew Ridge Trail and the Virginia Wine Trail for more information.

Photo Courtesy of Wintergreen Resort

While many folks throughout Central Virginia are enjoying this mild winter, Wintergreen Resort seems to be cursing it.  After a 2009 winter that brought record snowfall to the entire state of Virginia, 2011 marks the second straight winter of warm temperatures and basically no snowfall.  Combine the weather with an economy that is only now starting to chug a little…and that’s a recipe for disaster for Wintergreen.

The Daily Progress and multiple other sources have reported that Wintergreen has seen a $2.5 million operating profit shortfall this season…and it could only get worse if our February heat wave continues.  In other bad news, it has also been reported that Bank of America has terminated Wintergreen’s line of credit.

Sales in Wintergreen and Nelson County have struggled for the past few years.  However, there have been some positive trends in Nelson.  Here are a few from our 4th Quarter 2011 Nest Report:

- Median prices were down only 4.3% from Q4 2010.  Some other areas were much worse.

- Days on Market for sold properties were down about 5% (from 118 days to 112)

- Total sales jumped in Q4: up 15.8% from 2010

- Months of inventory continued to creep down year-over year…decreasing about 4% to 23.1 months.

23.1 Months of inventory is still an extremely high number.  However contracts written in Q4 2011 were also up (almost 20%), so the inventory levels looked like they may continue to decline.

All in all, Nelson County and Wintergreen are beautiful places.  We’re lucky to have them so close.  So, if you are looking for something to do this weekend or searching for a new place to eat, we’re sure that our friends at Wintergreen would love your support.  Here’s a few ideas of things to do there:

Places to Eat at Wintergreen

Places to Stay at Wintergreen

Wintergreen’s Winter Zip Line

Ridgely’s Fun Park for Kids

Wintergreen Snow Tubing

And of course, there is plenty of skiing and ski lessons.

Over the past few years, Crozet and Northern Albemarle have been the big development spots in Albemarle County.  Neighborhoods like Old Trail and Belvedere have blossomed and have created opportunities close by.  But it looks like 5th Street could be one of Charlottesville’s development centers in the coming months.

Here’s a few examples of what’s happening just south of Downtown Charlottesville:

1. Site work has begun on the Cracker Barrel location along 5th Street – just next to the Holiday Inn by Interstate 64.

2. On the residential side, Whittington is getting closer to fruition.  If you’re familiar with that side of town, it will be close to Mosby Mountain and will include approximately 96 single family homes on 1 acre home sites.  Piedmont Realty and Construction will be building in Whittington’s first phase.

3. The biggest news seems to be what’s happening at the approved Avon Center development.  Rumors are swirling of a Wegman’s Grocery Store and a Target (pronounced Tar-zhay). This would be a big boom to the south side of town, but it will definitely change the landscape.  A major shopping area on this side of Charlottesville that is accessible from Downtown, Interstate 64, Avon Street, and 5th Street could actually alleviate some traffic issues along the 29 corridor, the 250 Bypass, and Hydraulic Road.  We’ll see…

We’ll keep you posted on what we hear – stay tuned to the Nest Report for more updates.

* Photo courtesy of our friends at Charlottesville Tomorrow.

We’re venturing into Nelson County for the next episode in our Live Where You Love video series.

If you haven’t been to Nelson recently, there’s a lot going on.  Between the increased tourism from the Brew Ridge Trail, the Virginia Wine Trail and Wintergreen to Nelson’s sheer beauty, it’s really an amazing part of our region.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help you with your Nelson County real estate needs.

The Nest Realty Q4 Nest Report was picked up yesterday by two local news stations.  If you haven’t read our report, check out these quick snippets…and then touch base with your favorite Nest Realty agent to get a little more of a recap.

Overall, we’re using the two words: CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM.  For the first time in years, there is actually a string of positive news in real estate.  It’s a combination of positive national news and positive stories locally from the real estate trenches.  Want a great story ‘from the trenches’?  This past weekend, one of our Nest agents, Janice Kavanagh, hosted an open house and had 33 visitors.  Yes, 33!  That’s a sign that buyers are beginning to look.

Here’s the story and video from Charlottesville’s NBC 29.

And here’s one from the Charlottesville Newsplex.

Stay tuned for more analysis on the Charlottesville real estate market in coming days.  We’re really working hard to dig through the numbers so that our agents and clients have a better take on what’s happening in the market.

Overall, we’re seeing some very positive signs in the local marketplace.  Besides many national economic indicators having upward trends, there’s a really good vibe locally…and we hope that continues.

Nest Report Charlottesville: Q4 2011

Nest-Report-Charlottesville-Q4-2011

If you are intrigued, give us a shout and we’ll shoot you over some more info.

Over the last few years, we’ve consistently had tidbits of positive news here and there: interest rates creeping down, a slight uptick in sales, a bump in consumer confidence…

As we know, since around 2007 the majority of real estate news has been negative.  That being said, there is a bit of optimism in the air – not just in Charlottesville, but throughout the country.  Builder confidence is up again. Consumer confidence, although down slightly last month, has been on the rise. At Nest Realty, we’ve definitely seen a lot of home buyer activity in Charlottesville and Albemarle County during the first few weeks of the year.  So, overall, the market seems to be moving in a positive direction.

One of the drivers for sales in the Charlottesville area real estate market during 2011 was new home sales. Approximately 20% of home sales in Albemarle County during 2011 were new home sales – pretty amazing.  Low land prices and low material prices were major driving forces in generating so many new home sales.  In reality, there were a lot of buyers that got great deals on new homes over the last year or so.

But here’s an interesting twist: we’ve heard grumblings of building material cost increases over the last few days. Drywall, shingles, lumber, etc, etc all are increasing in price.  According to Charlottesville new home expert Greg Slater (who represents Piedmont Realty and Construction - one of the region’s largest homebuilders), drywall prices are jumping around 30%, shingles are up 15%, and other materials will surely soon follow. Check out Greg’s post and analysis here.

So, what does this mean?

1. New home prices are probably inching up over the next few weeks. If you are tracking new homes in the Charlottesville MLS, you can expect to see some price increases for homes that are either a) not completed yet or b) To-Be-Built.  I would expect that most of the major builders in our area will be raising their prices after they discuss these materials price increases with their suppliers.

2. This could actually help stabilize re-sale prices a bit.  New home pricing is a major factor in determining re-sale prices – many home buyers consider new and re-sale homes when looking to purchase and if they can buy a new home for considerably less than a comparable re-sale, then they will typically choose the ‘new’ option.

So, we’ll track this closely over the coming months to see how this national trend affects us locally.  Stay tuned…this could be another interesting year.

Special thanks to Marijean Jaggers of Jaggers Communications, Barbara Hutchinson of CHO, Ron Morse of Baja Bean, and ACAC for their help.

Nest Realty is proud to announce 2 exciting additions to our Charlottesville office.  Robert Russo and Janice Kavanagh have both joined Nest and we couldn’t be happier to have them on our team.

You can get to know Robert and Janice a little better by checking out their bios on our web site.

If you do know them, I think everyone will agree that they are tremendous real estate agents that represent their clients and the Nest brand very well.

Welcome to our ‘nest’, Robert and Janice!